Goodwin v. State

281 S.W.3d 258, 373 Ark. 53, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 186
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 20, 2008
DocketCR 07-906
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 281 S.W.3d 258 (Goodwin 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
Goodwin v. State, 281 S.W.3d 258, 373 Ark. 53, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 186 (Ark. 2008).

Opinion

ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice.

Appellant Charles Edward Goodwin appeals his judgment of conviction for aggravated robbery and attempted capital-felony murder and his sentence of life imprisonment for the attempted capital murder. 1

The facts in this case are gleaned from witnesses at trial and Goodwin’s statement to police officers. At approximately 10:15 a.m. on June 7, 2006, Betty Word, the owner of the Fashion Center in Bearden, was working at the store when a longtime customer, Rosetta Milton, came in and paid forty dollars towards her account. While Mrs. Milton was looking at dresses, a thin black man dressed in dark clothes, wrap-around sunglasses, and a Nike headband came into the store and began shopping. Both Mrs. Word and Mrs. Milton identified this man as Goodwin. After Mrs. Milton left the store, Goodwin continued shopping and asked Mrs. Word several questions about her merchandise. Fie then asked Mrs. Word whether she knew who he was, to which she responded that he was Virginia Marshall’s son. They continued to chat for a few minutes. She then turned around and began putting shoes on a shelf.

Goodwin approached Mrs. Word with one hand behind his back and said, “This is a robbery.” Mrs. Word offered to get him as much money as he wanted, but he said that, since she knew who he was, he would have to kill her. He took her into a back room and started strangling her. When she continued to struggle, he tried to suffocate her with plastic bags. Eventually, he struck her three times on the head with an unidentified object. Thinking she had been shot, she fell to the floor, bleeding, and pretended to be dead.

Goodwin left the back room but came back later and kicked Mrs. Word. She remained motionless, and he checked her pockets. He then left the store. Law enforcement officers from the Ouachita County Sheriffs Department and the Arkansas State Police, as well as the Bearden City Marshall, responded to the scene after Mrs. Word was discovered by a friend who worked at a nearby store. Mrs. Word was conscious when the police officers arrived. Although she did not know Goodwin’s real name and expressed some confusion as to his nickname, she identified her attacker as Virginia Marshall’s tall, slender son. The forty dollars paid by Mrs. Milton and all of the quarters from the cash register were missing. Goodwin was arrested by police officers that afternoon. He was wearing dark clothes and had a Nike headband in his pocket. Both Mrs. Word and Mrs. Milton later identified Goodwin in a photo array prepared by police officers.

After his arrest, Goodwin made a videotaped statement to police officers, in which he said that he had gone to a drug dealer on the morning of the robbery and had gotten some crack cocaine. He stated that, after smoking the cocaine, he began to consider how he was going to get money to buy some more. He admitted to going into the Fashion Center and talking to Mrs. Word, eventually telling her that he was going to rob her. He stated that she told him she did not have much money at the store but would take him to the bank. He also admitted taking her into the back room and pushing her hard before taking money from the cash register.

Defense witnesses, however, had a different version of the events of June 7, 2006. Goodwin’s sister and her twelve-year-old son testified that they were with Goodwin at his stepfather’s house between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on the day of the robbery. Goodwin also testified in his own defense to the effect that he was awakened at around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m. on the day of the robbery by his mother, because he had a phone call from his wife. According to Goodwin’s version of events, after talking to his wife for about ten minutes, he left the house and got crack cocaine from local drug dealers. He stated that, after obtaining the drugs, he returned to his stepfather’s house at 11:00 a.m. and smoked crack on the back porch. At around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m., he testified, he left the house for a while. He further testified that, when he returned to the house, his sister told him that people were saying that he had shot Mrs. Word, and he fled before being arrested. Goodwin also testified that the only reason that he made an incriminating statement on the day of the robbery was that police had coerced him and threatened him with violence.

On June 20, 2006, Goodwin was charged with aggravated robbery, attempted capital murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, theft of a firearm, and forgery. 2

One of the issues that arose before trial in a motion to suppress filed by Goodwin was the voluntariness of his videotaped statement to police. A hearing on Goodwin’s motion to suppress was held on January 22, 2007. At that hearing, Investigator Terry Smith of the Arkansas State Police and Sergeant James Bolton of the Ouachita County Sheriffs Department, the two police officers who interrogated Goodwin, testified about the circumstances surrounding Goodwin’s statement. They testified that Goodwin was read and signed a form advising him of his Miranda rights, that he did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that he was not promised anything in exchange for his statement, and that he was not threatened with force at any time. Investigator Smith, who was primarily responsible for interviewing Goodwin, testified that he lied to Goodwin during the investigation, telling him falsely that the events at the Fashion Center had been captured on videotape. Fie also testified that, before the recorded portion of his interview with Goodwin, he left the interrogation room and called the prosecuting attorney. Upon his return to the interview room, he told Goodwin that he had talked to the prosecutor and told the prosecutor that Goodwin was being honest and remorseful.

Goodwin also testified at the suppression hearing. He denied having committed the crimes with which he was charged and stated that Sergeant Bolton had threatened him with physical violence if he did not confess. He further testified that Sergeant Bolton told him that he would get the electric chair if he did not confess and that Investigator Smith told him what to say in his statement.

Having viewed the video of Goodwin’s statement, the circuit court denied the motion to suppress, saying:

Looking at the video, the defendant, I mean, he just presented — it looked to me as if the defendant was speaking from his heart. It didn’t come across as if someone had coached him. I mean, he was too good. I saw, thought viewed [sic] some pain on his part. I viewed true remorse, I believe, on his part, regret. He would leave an area and then come back to some remorse and regret on the video.
I’m not convinced at all that defendant’s statement was the result of threat, intimidation, coercion. I’m satisfied that it’s voluntary. It was voluntarily and intelligently given.
So I’m not convinced at all by the defendant’s version at this stage of the facts, credibility under the circumstances. I’m satisfied that this is voluntary. There was nothing inappropriate that occurred that led to the defendant giving this statement.

A jury trial was held on January 25, 2007. The jury convicted Goodwin of aggravated robbery and attempted capital murder.

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Bluebook (online)
281 S.W.3d 258, 373 Ark. 53, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodwin-v-state-ark-2008.