Douglas v. State

2019 Ark. 57, 567 S.W.3d 483
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 7, 2019
DocketNo. CR-18-597
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2019 Ark. 57 (Douglas v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Douglas v. State, 2019 Ark. 57, 567 S.W.3d 483 (Ark. 2019).

Opinion

KAREN R. BAKER, Associate Justice

Appellant Courtney Jerrel Douglas appeals the denial of his petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Rule 37 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure. Douglas was convicted of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm and was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for his murder conviction plus an additional fifteen years' imprisonment for the use of a firearm. For his possession-of-a-firearm charge, Douglas was sentenced to forty years' imprisonment and a fine of $ 15,000. Douglas's probation was also revoked on three controlled-substance offenses, and he was sentenced to a total of fifty years' imprisonment to be served consecutively to his other sentences. Douglas's convictions and sentences were affirmed in Douglas v. State , 2017 Ark. 70, 511 S.W.3d 852 ( Douglas I ). In Douglas v. State , 2018 Ark. 89, 540 S.W.3d 685 ( Douglas II ), Douglas appealed the denial of his petition for postconviction relief under Rule 37. The following facts relevant to the present appeal were set out in Douglas II :

Douglas's convictions and sentences stem from an altercation between the victim, Terrance Billings, and Douglas. On August 5, 2015, Douglas and Billings got into a verbal altercation at Douglas's home. After the altercation, Billings returned to his home. After Billings had left to go home, Douglas retrieved a firearm and drove to Billings's home. Jennifer Henry, Billings's girlfriend, testified that Douglas came to their home uninvited, and when she answered the door, "[Billings] pushed [Douglas] back outside the door and turned back around. I heard the gunshot. Then [Douglas] came and finished shooting inside the house where [Billings] fell on the floor and died. [Douglas] still stood there and shot when there wasn't no more bullets in the gun ... I kept hearing the gun clicking." D.H., Jennifer's fourteen-year-old son, testified that when Douglas came to their home, he witnessed Billings and Douglas as they "tussled" on the porch. D.H. further testified that Billings was inside the home when Douglas began shooting Billings. John Henry, Jennifer's father, testified that he witnessed Douglas and Billings scuffling on the porch as well. John further testified that it looked like Billings had Douglas in a headlock and Jennifer was standing behind them. Sergeant Jim Sanders with the Union County Sheriff's Office testified that upon arriving at the crime scene, it was his duty to immediately begin taking photographs. Sergeant Sanders testified that there did not appear to be any blood, tissue, or other bodily fluids on the porch or door. However, inside the threshold, but not on the threshold itself, there appeared to be bodily fluid. Further, Sergeant Sanders testified that there was no indication that Billings's body had been moved. Chief Investigator Ricky Roberts, also with the Union County Sheriff's *487Office, testified that there was no indication of blood on the porch, and based on the evidence, it was apparent that Billings was shot while standing inside the house.

2018 Ark. 89, at 2-3, 540 S.W.3d 685, 687.

In his petition for postconviction relief, Douglas argued that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to present the proper jury instructions on (1) justification and (2) extreme-emotional-disturbance manslaughter. In Douglas II , we affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part. Specifically, we affirmed the circuit court's denial of postconviction relief with regard to the justification jury instruction. However, as to the extreme-emotional-disturbance-manslaughter jury instruction, we held that the circuit court failed to make written findings in accordance with Rule 37.3(a) of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure. Accordingly, we reversed and remanded for written findings in compliance with Rule 37.3(a). On April 6, 2018, the circuit court entered its written order denying Douglas's petition without a hearing:

Concerning the alleged failure of trial counsel to request or proffer the jury charges pertaining to manslaughter under extreme emotional disturbance, the Court finds that there was lacking any reasonable or rational basis for so instructing the jury under the testimony presented at the trial of this cause. The proof was undisputed that defendant and the victim had a verbal confrontation at defendant's home at which time defendant armed himself with a handgun which he retrieved from a dresser drawer in a bedroom of his home. Any threat to defendant's person had fully concluded. The victim returned to his home and relaxed himself on a sofa, with his pregnant girlfriend inside and her minor son standing in the yard. Defendant, then armed and angry, drove to the victim's home and stormed onto the porch, calling out the victim. As found by the Supreme Court in affirming point one of the Petition, the victim who was unarmed was entitled to defend his home and premises by pushing the defendant away from the entrance doorway. Rather than retreat as required under A.C.A. 5-2-607, defendant then brandished his handgun and fired multiple shots into the victim, who was standing inside the doorway of his home, which gunshots resulted in his death. Defendant failed to retreat and he was the aggressor in this new physical confrontation on the premises occupied by the victim. It is not disputed that the victim was not armed or otherwise is possession of any weapon, deadly or otherwise. Defendant utilized such excessive force, i.e. deadly force, against such unarmed victim, in shooting the victim numerous times with the handgun as the aggressor in this murder. In overcoming the defendant's present claim, the Court finds, and it is critical to emphasize, that the undisputed proof is the initial confrontation had ended and the victim had removed himself completely from defendant's premises. The Court finds that "armed and angry" under the facts of this case does not constitute "extreme emotional disturbance."
....
As set out above there is no prejudice arising out of this allegation inasmuch as the record is absolutely devoid of any factual basis upon which there existed any basis, rational or otherwise (except mere conjecture), which may have warranted that the Court instruct the jury on the lesser offense. The right to have the jury instructed on lesser included offenses is not a fundamental right that gives a basis for relief when raised for the first time in a Rule 37.
*488Kennedy v. State , 338 Ark. 125, 991 S.W.2d 606 (1999). The defendant did not testify at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
2019 Ark. 57, 567 S.W.3d 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/douglas-v-state-ark-2019.