Flamer v. State

490 A.2d 104, 1984 Del. LEXIS 358
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedSeptember 20, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by144 cases

This text of 490 A.2d 104 (Flamer v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flamer v. State, 490 A.2d 104, 1984 Del. LEXIS 358 (Del. 1984).

Opinion

McNEILLY, Justice:

At approximately 8:00 A.M. on a snowy February 7, 1979, Arthur Smith, thirty-five year old son of Alberta and Byard Smith, walked across the street to his parents’ home and found them sprawled on the living room floor obviously murdered in cold blood. 1 The ensuing police investigation led to the arrest, separate jury trials, convictions, and mandated death sentences for Andre Deputy and William Henry Flamer. In this appeal, we are concerned only with the convictions and sentences of William Henry Flamer and the record of the suppression hearing held before the Court pri- or to the severance for trial of the charges against the two individuals, Flamer and Deputy.

William Henry Flamer appeals his convictions and sentences on four charges of Murder in the First Degree, one charge of Robbery in the First Degree, one charge of Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, and one charge of Misdemeanor Theft. As to the four counts of Murder in the First Degree, the jury in a separate hearing following the guilt phase of trial mandated the death penalty. Defendant asserts fifteen separate grounds for reversal, and we consider each ground as we find it to be applicable to the guilt phase or death penalty phase of trial. For the reasons herein elaborated upon, we affirm.

As Arthur Smith approached his parents’ home that morning, he first noticed the car *108 was gone. Receiving no acknowledgment of his presence, Arthur entered the house and saw his dead bloody parents lying on the floor. He noticed that their television was missing, but without further investigation he went to a garage across the street and called the police.

In response to Mr. Smith’s call received at Troop 5 in Bridgeville, State Police officers Daral Chaffinch and Raymond P. Call-away, Jr. proceeded to the victims’ home, a small two-story house just west of the Harrington town limits fronting on State Highway Route 14. Entrance into the home was gained through a side door which opens into the kitchen. On the highway side of the kitchen there was a living room and a small unused front room. The victims’ bodies were found on the floor of the living room with apparent stab wounds in the throat and chest areas. Byard Smith’s trouser pockets were turned inside out, chairs were overturned, bags of frozen food were strewn about the kitchen floor, and there was what appeared to be blood on the floor around the victims and on the couch next to the body of Alberta Smith. A sofa cushion also had apparent cut marks around the blood stained area.

Earlier that morning, Clara Green of Fel-ton, Delaware was awakened by the flashing lights of a four door car parked on the opposite side of the road from her home on Church Street near the town limits of Fel-ton. She went back to sleep but sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 A.M. she awakened again and noticed the car still there with its lights flashing and motor running. After breakfast, she saw a man walking toward downtown Felton with a suitcase and something else under his arm. The man she saw was dressed in dark clothes and cap, and appeared to be a black man. At that time, the car was not running and the lights were out.

At approximately 10:30 A.M., the investigating officers received, a call from Troop 3 that one of their officers had recovered the Smiths’ vehicle on Church Street just north of the town limits of Felton. Upon receiving that information, the officers proceeded to Felton and interviewed possible witnesses. Among those interviewed was Mrs. Green and a William Wooters, who at approximately 7:30 that morning had opened the Felton Hardware Store where he worked. Within an hour or so, a man entered the store and asked to use the phone. Wooters later that morning gave the police a description of that man which led to the identification of defendant, William Henry Flamer, by a daughter of the victims who knew Flamer because of their family ties. Flamer’s mother was a half-sister to Alberta Smith, one of the victims, and both families had always lived in close proximity to each other.

The police then went to the Flamer residence at 147 Mispillion Street in Harrington, approximately two hundred yards distance from the victims’ home. Mrs. Florence Benson, grandmother of defendant Flamer, answered the door, and after informing Detectives Chaffinch and Calla-way that Flamer was not at home, asked them in to look for themselves. The house is a two-story four room house heated only by a wood stove in the living room. At the time the detectives entered, no one appeared to be downstairs except Mrs. Benson and a man identified as William Johnson, Flamer’s father. 2 Mrs. Benson asked the detectives if they wanted to go upstairs. They replied in the affirmative, and as soon as they walked into Flamer’s bedroom, a cardboard box was observed containing frozen food packaged in bags of the same type as those strewn about the victims’ kitchen floor. Downstairs they found a bayonet on a stand in the kitchen with what appeared to be dried blood stains on the blade. They also found a suitcase and, in the kitchen closet, a television set which was identified a short time later by Arthur Smith as the television set missing from his parents’ home. Armed with this evidence, *109 the detectives went to Justice of the Peace Court 6 in Harrington and obtained a warrant for Flamer’s arrest for Murder in the First Degree.

While at Court 6, information was received that Flamer was at the Blue Moon Tavern, south of Woodside on Route 13. Detective Callaway, Corporal Porter, Detective Brode, and two Harrington police officers were dispatched to the location for the purpose of apprehending Flamer. Corporal Porter volunteered to join the group because he was a lifelong resident of Harrington and had known Flamer for a long time. Flamer, Andre Deputy, and Ells-worth Coleman were apprehended walking near the Tavern and were taken to Troop 5 at Bridgeville. Coleman was soon released; Flamer, of course, had been arrested; and Deputy was detained for further questioning. Corporal Porter had become suspicious of Deputy because he gave his name as Ray Anderson, a resident for one year of Harrington, and Porter had a feeling that if Anderson was, in fact, a year long resident of Harrington he would have known him by name or sight since Harrington is a small town of approximately twenty-five hundred people. In addition, Corporal Porter felt Deputy was being evasive, and he was not sure of Deputy’s connection with Flamer and the murders. In any event, at Troop 5, Corporal Porter for his own safety patted down Deputy and discovered in his coat pocket two watches, folded money, a black wallet containing victim Byard Smith’s Delaware driver’s license with the victim’s picture on it, an automobile registration card in the name of Byard Smith, a newspaper coupon, thirty-nine dollars, and Byard Smith’s Social Security card.

The questioning of Flamer and Deputy, sometime separately and at least once together, continued from approximately 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon until 7:30 or 8:00 o’clock in the evening. During the interrogation, Detective Chaffinch noticed what appeared to be blood around the cuticles of the fingernails on both hands of Flamer. Likewise, there appeared to be blood on the sleeves of Flamer’s coat and fresh scratches on his neck and chest.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dillard v. State
Supreme Court of Delaware, 2025
Watson v. State
Supreme Court of Delaware, 2024
Prince v. Synoski Real Estate Management, LLC
Supreme Court of Delaware, 2020
Fry v. Lopez
447 P.3d 1086 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2019)
Fry v. Lopez and Allen v. LeMaster
2019 NMSC 013 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2019)
Laster v. State
Supreme Court of Delaware, 2019
Clean Harbors, Inc. v. Union Pacific Corporation
Superior Court of Delaware, 2017
Benson v. State
105 A.3d 979 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2014)
Lowther v. State
104 A.3d 840 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2014)
Evans v. State
Supreme Court of Delaware, 2014
State v. Addison
7 A.3d 1225 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2010)
Hankins v. State
976 A.2d 839 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2009)
Freed v. D.R.D. Pool Service, Inc.
974 A.2d 978 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2009)
Norman v. State
976 A.2d 843 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2009)
Turner v. State
957 A.2d 565 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2008)
Sammons v. Doctors for Emergency Services, P.A.
913 A.2d 519 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)
Guy v. State
913 A.2d 558 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)
Beebe Medical Center, Inc. v. Bailey
913 A.2d 543 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)
Starling v. State
903 A.2d 758 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)
Manlove v. State
901 A.2d 1284 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
490 A.2d 104, 1984 Del. LEXIS 358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flamer-v-state-del-1984.