Humphrey v. State

2015 Ark. App. 179, 458 S.W.3d 265, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 231
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 11, 2015
DocketCR-14-677
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2015 Ark. App. 179 (Humphrey 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
Humphrey v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 179, 458 S.W.3d 265, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 231 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

LARRY D. VAUGHT, Judge

|! This is a no-merit appeal from two May 7, 2014 sentencing orders entered by the Mississippi County Circuit Court, revoking appellant Rokosi Humphrey’s suspended impositions of sentence (SIS) in CR-2012-262 and CR-2013-148, and sentencing him to eight years and ten years, respectively, in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), to be served consecutively. Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), and Rule 4-3(k) of the Rules of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, Humphrey’s counsel has filed a motion to withdraw on the ground that this appeal is wholly without merit. The motion is accompanied by an abstract and addendum of the proceedings below, alleged to include all objections and motions decided adversely to Humphrey, and a brief in which counsel explains why there is nothing in the record that would support an appeal. The clerk of this court provided Humphrey with a copy of his counsel’s brief and notified him of his right to file a pro se statement of points 12for reversal. Humphrey filed pro se points, and the Attorney General has filed a brief in response. We affirm the sentencing orders and grant counsel’s motion to withdraw.

On May 13, 2013, Humphrey entered a guilty plea to the charge of residential burglary in Mississippi County case number CR-2012-262 and was sentenced to serve forty-eight months’ incarceration in the ADC with an additional seventy-two months’ SIS, subject to conditions of suspension. On July 24, 2013, Humphrey entered a guilty plea to a second charge of residential burglary in Mississippi County case number CR-2013-148 and was sentenced to 120 months’ SIS, subject to conditions of suspension.

On February 21, 2014, the State filed a motion for imposition of sentence in case number CR-2013-148, alleging that on December 23, 2013, Humphrey committed residential burglary and two counts of theft of property. Also on February 21, 2014, the State filed a motion for imposition of sentence in case number CR-2012-262, alleging that on December 25, 20.13, Humphrey committed residential burglary, criminal attempt to commit theft of property, criminal mischief, and possession of a firearm.

A hearing on both of the State’s motions was held on May 7, 2014. Taylor Fowler testified that on the evening of December 25, 2013, she and her family had just returned home from celebrating Christmas with family when she heard glass breaking in her dining room and saw a man, whom she identified as Humphrey, trying to climb into the window. When she yelled for and ran toward her husband, who was outside in the driveway, Humphrey ran away. Her husband, Wesley Fowler, testified that he chased Humphrey but was unable to catch him. | sWesley testified that he recognized Humphrey because he had mowed the Fowlers’ yard two or three years prior. Wesley also stated that Humphrey caused $2000-2500 damage to their home.

Mark Blount testified that on December 23, 2013, he returned home to find that his truck, along with other items inside his home (three TVs, a laptop, a cell phone, a shotgun, a change jar, a camera, and a bucket of pecans), had been stolen. His truck was later found and returned to him. Inside the truck, Blount found a key ring with an “R” on it. Blount said that the key ring was not his. He also found his stolen camera, and the memory card in the camera contained a photograph of a man. Blount, who did not know Humphrey, testified that the man in the photograph resembled Humphrey. Blount also testified that police officers later recovered a shotgun that he identified as his.

Katrina Evans, Humphrey’s cousin, testified that she was a probation-parole officer. 1 After the break-in at Blount’s house, she stated that she and several other officers conducted a search of the home in which Humphrey lived, which was owned by Evans’s mother. During the search, officers found a handgun, some ammunition, and a TV. Later that day, Evans returned to her mother’s home and found a shotgun in the alley behind the house. She testified that she gave the shotgun to Detective Sergeant Vanessa Stewart of the Blytheville Police Department..

Detective Stewart testified that she turned the shotgun over to Blytheville Police Department Detective Josh Long. He showed the shotgun to Blount, who stated that it was his. Long also confirmed that Blount’s truck was recovered in Memphis. Blount later gave Long a key ring with an “R” on it that Blount said was found in the truck upon its return. Long said he|4tried the keys in the locks of the home in which Humphrey lived, and while they did not work on the front door, they worked on the side door.

Latryce Humphrey, Hutaphrey’s mother, lived with him and his brother, Latron. Latryce testified that the key ring belonged to (Rokosi) Humphrey. However, she testified that when Long tried the keys in the locks of her home, they did not work on any of the doors. Shanteria Mhoon, Humphrey’s cousin, testified that he spent most of December 25, 2013, with her at her apartment, which was across town from where the Fowlers lived. 2 She said that he left on foot at noon and returned at 4:00 p.m., and left again on foot around 7:00-7:30 p.m. Humphrey’s brother, Latron, testified that the handgun found in the house was his.

Humphrey was the final witness to testify. He denied involvement in both the December 23 and 25 incidents. He testified that he was home alone on December 23 and with Shanteria on December 25. He denied that the handgun found in his house was his. He denied mowing the Fowlers’ lawn. He claimed that it was a coincidence that the key ring had an “R” on it and that he had no idea how Blount’s shotgun got to the alley behind Humphrey’s house. He testified that the man in the picture on the memory card found in the stolen truck “look[ed] like me or my brother,” conceding that “it could be a possibility” that it was him. He also testified that the background of the picture looked like the living room of his home.

After the hearing, the trial court revoked both of Humphrey’s SIS. As for the December 23 incident, the trial court cited the picture of a man in Humphrey’s living room and who Humphrey agreed resembled him from the memory card found in the stolen truck. Also, the trial |ficourt found that Blount’s shotgun was found in the alley behind Humphrey’s house and that the stolen truck had Humphrey’s key chain in it, as identified by his mother. As for the December 25 incident, the trial court found that the Fowlers, who were credible witnesses, identified Humphrey as the intruder.

As this is a no-merit appeal, counsel is required to list each ruling adverse to the defendant and to explain why each adverse ruling does not present a meritorious ground for reversal. Anders, 386 U.S. at 744, 87 S.Ct. 1396; Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4—3(k)(l); Eads v. State, 74 Ark. App. 363, 365, 47 S.W.3d 918, 919 (2001). The test is not whether counsel thinks the trial court committed no reversible error, but whether the points to be raised on appeal would be wholly frivolous. Anders, 386 U.S. at 744, 87 S.Ct. 1396; Eads, 74 Ark. App. at 365, 47 S.W.3d at 919.

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Bluebook (online)
2015 Ark. App. 179, 458 S.W.3d 265, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/humphrey-v-state-arkctapp-2015.