Diggs v. State

219 S.W.3d 654, 93 Ark. App. 332
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 7, 2005
DocketCA CR 05-392
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 219 S.W.3d 654 (Diggs v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diggs v. State, 219 S.W.3d 654, 93 Ark. App. 332 (Ark. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

Robert J. Gladwin, Judge.

Appellant Michael Shane udgeby . Garland County jury of residential burglary and sentenced to eighteen years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence related to the conviction and argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to enforce a plea offer made by the State, which was subsequently withdrawn. We affirm.

On or about October 27, 2003, Phyllis Johnson was alone in her home in rural Garland County, Arkansas. She retired to her bedroom at her usual time of approximately 11:15 p.m. As she typically did, Ms. Johnson turned on the lamp and television in her bedroom, but soon thereafter, she experienced a power outage. This was a frequent occurrence in the area, so Ms. Johnson initially attempted to go to sleep without investigating the power outage.

After approximately fifteen or twenty minutes, Ms. Johnson heard knocking sounds at the door leading to her carport. She ignored it, but the knock repeated a short time later. Ms. Johnson got out of bed and walked to the living room to look outside for the source of the noise. She did not see anyone at the door when she looked through the window; however, she did notice that she was the only one on her block experiencing a power outage and that all of the street lights were operating normally.

It was at this time that Ms. Johnson became extremely frightened. As she walked back to her bedroom to retrieve her gun, she heard a voice outside the house in the front part of the garage. Next, when she reached her bedroom, she heard a heavy scratching sound above her, specifically a “long, drawn-out, shuffle, slide, dragging-type noise” in the attic that sounded too heavy to be an animal. In her frightened state, Ms. Johnson broke off the key of her gun’s trigger lock in the lock, effectively rendering the gun useless to protect her. Her land-line phone would not operate without electricity, but Ms. Johnson remembered her mobile phone and used it to call 911. She remained on the line with the 911 dispatcher until Garland County Sheriff’s Department officers arrived.

Corporal Scott West, one of the first officers to arrive, accompanied a shaken Ms. Johnson outside to survey the area. They noticed muddy footprints and small dents on the hood of her car and realized that the attic-access door, which was located just above the car, was open. Once other officers arrived, Officer West made his way up into the attic where he noticed what appeared to be a “trail” where someone had crawled through the insulation. At the end of the path, appellant was discovered lying between two floor joists under the insulation. He was wearing a black jacket, and when he initially put his hands up in the air at the direction of the officers, the officers noticed he was wearing latex or surgical-type gloves. Appellant quickly put his hands back under the insulation, prompting officers to order him to raise them again. When he did, the gloves were no longer on his hands. Subsequent to appellant being removed from the attic, Officer West returned to appellant’s hiding place where he discovered the latex gloves and a large, serrated kitchen knife. Ms. Johnson testified that she did not store knives in the attic and that the knife was not hers.

Deputy Ron Stone arrived at the scene later and stayed with Ms. Johnson while the other officers took appellant into custody. While Officer Stone and Ms. Johnson looked around the house to make sure the area was secure, they noticed that the breaker box had been opened and the power shut off. They flipped the switch, and the power was restored. Nevertheless, Ms. Johnson spent the remainder of the night with her son. The following day, she returned to the house with her daughter and discovered that the telephone lines had been pulled out of the box through which the line passes into her home.

Appellant explained to the officers that he had escaped from Robert Blackstead, who had kidnapped him, and that he had taken the knife from Blackstead’s residence during his escape. He claimed that he was merely hiding from Blackstead in Ms. Johnson’s attic and then asked to speak to a “Hot Springs drug agent.”

Appellant was charged with residential burglary, specifically with entering or remaining unlawfully in a private residence with the purpose of committing assault in the third degree, an offense punishable by imprisonment. At the close of the State’s case, the trial judge ordered a short recess. The parties and counsel met in chambers during the recess, at which time appellant moved for a directed verdict. The motion was denied, and appellant’s counsel rested the defense’s case without putting on any evidence. While appellant did not renew his motion for a directed verdict, as generally required by Rule 33.1(a) of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, he was not required to do so, where, as here, he rested without presenting a case. See Robinson v. State, 317 Ark. 17, 875 S.W.2d 837 (1994); Chrobak v. State, 75 Ark. App. 281, 58 S.W.3d 387 (2001). The jury was instructed that, in order to find appellant guilty of residential burglary, they had to find that he intended to commit third-degree assault, which was defined as purposely creating apprehension of imminent physical injury in the victim. From his conviction on that charge, comes this appeal.

I. Denial of Motion for Directed Verdict

We treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Williams v. State, 363 Ark. 395, 214 S.W.3d 829 (2005). The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Substantial evidence is evidence that is of sufficient certainty and precision to compel a conclusion one way or the other and pass beyond mere suspicion or conjecture. Id. On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, considering only that evidence that supports the verdict. Id. Additionally, when reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we consider all the evidence, including that which may have been inadmissible, in the light most favorable to the State. Id.

A person commits the offense of residential burglary if he “enters or remains unlawfully in a residential occupiable structure of another person with the purpose of committing therein any offense punishable by imprisonment.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-39-201 (a)(1) (Repl. 1997). A person commits third-degree assault, which is punishable by up to thirty days’ imprisonment, if he “purposely creates apprehension of imminent physical injury of another person.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-13-207(a) (Repl. 1997). Appellant maintains that the State failed to prove that he had the. intent to commit third-degree assault. With regard to a person’s intent, the Arkansas Supreme Court has stated:

A person’s state of mind at the time of a crime is seldom apparent. One’s intent or purpose, being a state of mind, can seldom be positively known to others, so it ordinarily cannot be shown by direct evidence, but may be inferred from the facts and circumstances shown in evidence.

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Related

Stewart v. State
374 S.W.3d 811 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2010)
Eaton v. State
249 S.W.3d 812 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
219 S.W.3d 654, 93 Ark. App. 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diggs-v-state-arkctapp-2005.