Gilcrease v. State

2009 Ark. 298, 318 S.W.3d 70, 2009 Ark. LEXIS 380, 2009 WL 1423544
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 21, 2009
DocketCR 08-1058
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 2009 Ark. 298 (Gilcrease 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
Gilcrease v. State, 2009 Ark. 298, 318 S.W.3d 70, 2009 Ark. LEXIS 380, 2009 WL 1423544 (Ark. 2009).

Opinions

ANNABELLE CLINTON IMBER, Justice.

| ,A Pulaski County jury convicted Appellant Nathan Gilcrease of two counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping for the assault, abduction and murder of two young men, Sean Johnson and Monte Johnson. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Thus, we have jurisdiction over the instant case pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. l-2(a)(2) (2008). Appellant raises eight arguments for reversal. Because of double-jeopardy concerns, his fifth point, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, will be addressed first. Grillot v. State, 353 Ark. 294, 107 S.W.3d 136 (2003).

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

At the close of the State’s evidence, Appellant moved for a directed verdict on grounds that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support convictions on the ^capital murder and kidnapping charges. Specifically, he argued that Albert Reed and Mariah Powell, the two witnesses who testified against Appellant, were accomplices as a matter of law. The trial court ruled that Albert Reed was an accomplice as a matter of law but submitted the question of whether Mariah Powell was an accomplice to the jury. Appellant argued that the testimony of the accomplices had not been corroborated by independent evidence linking Appellant to the crimes. The circuit court denied Appellant’s directed-verdict motion. Following deliberations, the jury found Appellant guilty of two counts of kidnapping and two counts of capital murder.

On appeal, Appellant renews his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Specifically, he asserts that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict because his conviction was based upon uncorroborated accomplice testimony. We treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Boldin v. State, 373 Ark. 295, 283 S.W.3d 565 (2008). In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and considers only the evidence that supports the verdict. Id. Substantial evidence is that evidence which is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the other, without resorting to speculation or conjecture. Id.

As stated earlier, Appellant was convicted of two counts of kidnapping and two counts of capital murder. Under Arkansas law, a person commits kidnapping if, “without | ^consent, the person restrains another person so as to interfere substantially with the other person’s liberty with the purpose of ... (3) Facilitating the commission of any felony or flight after the felony; (4) Inflicting physical injury upon the other person.” Ark.Code Ann. § 5-ll-102(a) (Repl.2006). A person commits capital murder if “(4) [w]ith the premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of another person, the person causes the death of any person.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(4) (Repl.2006).

When accomplice testimony is considered in reaching a verdict, Arkansas law provides that a person cannot be convicted based upon the testimony of an accomplice “unless corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant ... with the commission of the offense.” Ark.Code Ann. § 16-89-lll(e)(l)(A) (Repl. 2005). Furthermore, “corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows that the offense was committed and the circumstances thereof.” Ark.Code Ann. § 16-89-111(e)(1)(B) (Repl.2005). It must be evidence of a substantive nature since it must be directed toward proving the connection of the accused with a crime and not toward corroborating the accomplice testimony. Stephenson v. State, 373 Ark. 134, 282 S.W.3d 772 (2008). The corroborating evidence need not be sufficient standing alone to sustain the conviction, but it must, independent from that of the accomplice, tend to connect to a substantial degree the accused with the commission of the crime. Id. The test is whether, if the testimony of the accomplice were completely eliminated from the case, the other evidence independently establishes the crime and tends to connect the accused with its commission. Id. The 14corroborating evidence may be circumstantial so long as it is substantial; evidence that merely raises a suspicion of guilt is insufficient to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony. Id.

The trial court concluded that Albert Reed was an accomplice as a matter of law. Albert Reed testified that he wanted to “beat up” Monte Johnson because Monte happened to be an ex-boyfriend of Reed’s girlfriend Mariah Powell and he suspected them of seeing each other again. Reed further testified that he knew Mari-ah was taking Monte Johnson and his cousin Sean Johnson to a house on Reck Road where Reed was waiting in the backyard. When he saw Mariah, Sean and Monte drive up to the house in Monte’s white Chevrolet and enter the house, Reed went inside the house and walked into the bedroom where Mariah stayed periodically. At that point, he saw Appellant emerge from a bathroom and another man, Cameron Williams, jump out of a closet. Both Appellant and Williams were wearing masks. Appellant was armed with a .22-caliber rifle and Williams had a .38-caliber revolver. As soon as both men appeared, Mariah ran out of the house. According to Reed, he complied when Appellant directed him to call Mariah and tell her not to call the police. Appellant then started questioning Monte about some rims that Monte allegedly possessed. When Reed called out Appellant’s name, Appellant became enraged and decided to kill Monte and Sean Johnson. Appellant and Williams ordered both men to strip down. After being duct taped, the victims were placed inside the trunk of Monte’s car. Reed then drove Monte’s car to Hindman Park while Appellant and Williams followed in Appellant’s | f,maro on SUV, which had been parked near the Reck Road house. When they arrived at the park, Reed untaped the victims. As Monte and Sean tried to escape, Appellant and Williams fired several shots at them, killing both men. After the shooting, Reed called Tim Mathis and asked to meet him at a nearby carwash. Reed wanted Mathis to help him wash Monte’s car and then hide it. When Reed and Mathis were at the carwash, both men saw Appellant’s maroon SUV leaving the same carwash.

Mariah Powell’s testimony largely corroborated Reed’s testimony except that she testified it was Reed who told her to take Monte and Sean Johnson to the Reck Road house. Appellant argued below that Mariah Powell was also an accomplice as a matter of law. The trial court did not declare her an accomplice as a matter of law, but submitted the question to the jury. For an individual to be an accomplice, he or she must engage in one of the activities articulated in Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-403 (Repl.2006). It is Appellant’s burden to prove that a witness is an accomplice whose testimony must be corroborated. Bush v. State, 374 Ark. 506, 288 S.W.3d 658 (2008). In this case, the instruction given to the jury allowed it to determine whether Mariah was an accomplice, but we have no knowledge of whether the jury did in fact make such a determination.

When the evidence is viewed in a light most favorable to the State, Mariah’s testimony alone was enough to corroborate Reed’s testimony.

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Bluebook (online)
2009 Ark. 298, 318 S.W.3d 70, 2009 Ark. LEXIS 380, 2009 WL 1423544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilcrease-v-state-ark-2009.