Marcy v. State

823 P.2d 660, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 99, 1991 WL 273673
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedDecember 20, 1991
DocketA-2911
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 823 P.2d 660 (Marcy v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marcy v. State, 823 P.2d 660, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 99, 1991 WL 273673 (Ala. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDREWS, Judge.

Kristopher M. Marcy was convicted of first-degree murder, AS 11.41.100, first-degree sexual assault, AS 11.41.410(a)(1), and first-degree burglary, AS 11.46.300(a)(1). He was sentenced to a total of one hundred thirty-nine years for the current offenses and seven and one-half years of suspended time was reimposed on two cases in which *662 his probation was revoked. 1 His parole eligibility was restricted for ninety-seven years.

Marcy appeals his conviction on several grounds. First, he contends that the confession he gave on June 30 should have been suppressed because it was tainted by an involuntary confession which Marcy made on June 28. Second, Marcy claims that his sexual assault conviction must be reversed because the prosecution was unable to prove that the victim was alive when sexually penetrated. Third, Marcy argues that the sentencing judge was clearly mistaken in imposing one hundred forty-six and one-half years and restricting parole. Finally, Marcy asserts that the trial judge erred by summarily dismissing his application for post-conviction relief when it was apparent that the attorney representing Marcy on the application was ineffective. We affirm.

I. FACTS

Fifty-nine-year-old S.K. was stabbed to death in the yard behind her trailer-home on June 12, 1988. She had been stabbed twenty-six times in her head, neck, and torso. She had ten additional knife wounds on her arms and hands that appeared to be inflicted while she attempted to defend herself. There was other physical evidence of a struggle.

Dr. Michael T. Propst, the doctor who performed the autopsy, concluded that S.K. had been sexually penetrated. Dr. Propst testified that S.K. could have lived as long as five minutes after receiving the stab wounds.

Trooper James M. McCann investigated the murder and concluded that the murderer had entered the trailer through a front window. The person who entered stepped on a stereo cabinet, on which McCann observed a footprint. After McCann photographed and measured the impression, he determined that the imprint on the stereo was made by an eleven-inch (size nine) Reebok tennis shoe.

The troopers discovered that on June 11, 1988, the night before the murder, Marcy went driving with Frank Heffle and Hef-fle’s girlfriend, Daphne Evans. The three rode in Marcy's truck and were together until four or five the next morning, when Marcy left Heffle and Evans at Evans’s residence. Marcy wore white Reebok sneakers while he was with Evans and Heffle. Heffle stated that Marcy always kept a six- or seven-inch folding knife with an inoperable lock in the truck. Heffle saw the knife for the last time shortly before the murder.

A few hours after Marcy left Heffle and Evans at home, Marcy telephoned the Evans residence. Evans answered the phone around 9:00 a.m. Marcy sounded excited. Evans gave the phone to Heffle and Marcy told Heffle he had just killed somebody.

During his one to one and one-half hour conversation with Heffle, Marcy described the murder in detail. He repeated that he had killed a lady because she had “pissed him off.” He described the woman he had stabbed as in her sixties. He stated that he had stabbed her several times in the neck and chest and that one stab had caused profuse bleeding. He told Heffle he was covered in blood. He stated that he had left the victim on the back lawn outside the back door and that he had to hurry to leave S.K.’s residence because he knew that the victim’s daughter planned to pick her up for church that morning. Marcy told Heffle that when he parked his truck by S.K.’s trailer “he kind of had a[n] idea of what he was going to do” and consequently he put on gloves and parked his truck away from the residence.

According to Heffle, Marcy claimed that he had found S.K. while she was hitchhiking in her bathrobe. He claimed that she led him to believe that they would have sex; however, S.K. refused to have sex with Marcy when they arrived at her residence and Marcy told Heffle that he “went off” and killed her.

Marcy told Heffle that he had disposed of the knife. He stated that he was naked *663 because he was washing the clothes he had worn during the murder. He told Heffle that he had cut himself during the murder because the knife had closed and his fingernail was “sliced pretty good.” Marcy asked Heffle not to tell anyone about the murder.

Heffle immediately told Evans about the conversation. Specifically, Heffle told Evans that Marcy claimed to have stabbed a woman about twenty-five times in the neck and the chest and that blood had spouted out of her body.

Heffle thought that Marcy might have lied about the murder. However, Heffle began to believe Marcy after a story about the murder appeared in the paper the next day. As they were riding in Marcy’s truck, Heffle read the story. Marcy looked over at Heffle and said, “See, I told you.” Hef-fle recognized the last name of the victim as that of Marcy’s best friend. Marcy admitted to Heffle that the victim was his best friend’s mother.

On June 18, Marcy and Heffle were riding in Marcy’s truck when Marcy was arrested for driving under the influence. According to Heffle, Marcy was wearing his white Reebok shoes. The arresting officer photographed and measured the shoes. The sneakers were eleven-inches long.

After he left jail, Marcy told Heffle that he was worried because the police had examined his tennis shoes. Heffle told Marcy to throw them away. Marcy put his shoes in a sack, put the sack into the back of his truck, and later disposed of the shoes.

On June 21, McCann interviewed Marcy, who admitted that he knew S.K., but he claimed that he had not seen her for at least two and one-half years. McCann interviewed Marcy again on June 28. Marcy admitted that he had been in S.K.’s trailer to commit a burglary, but he denied sexually assaulting or murdering S.K.

Subsequently, on June 29, 1988, Marcy was arrested for the current offenses. When he was arrested, Marcy had a cut in the tip of his left index finger. He also had scratches on the front and rear of his right arm and on his left wrist. Marcy claimed that another person went into S.K.’s residence with him, implying that this other person might have murdered and assaulted S.K.

The day after his arrest Marcy sent a message from the jail indicating that he wanted to speak with McCann. McCann responded and Marcy gave a tape recorded interview. During the interview, Marcy admitted killing S.K. According to McCann, Marcy was scared, upset, and ashamed.

Marcy told McCann he remembered parking outside S.K.’s residence and going through the window into the living room of the trailer. He did not remember whether his knife was in his pocket or open. At the time he saw the victim in the first bedroom to the left, the blade of Marcy’s knife was open. S.K. woke and saw Marcy as he was closing the door. Marcy told McCann that S.K. jumped out of bed, said something, and opened the door again. He stabbed her in the stomach and walked backward to the back door. S.K. followed saying, “Kris” and asking, “Why?”

Marcy said that he opened the back door of the trailer while S.K.

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Bluebook (online)
823 P.2d 660, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 99, 1991 WL 273673, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marcy-v-state-alaskactapp-1991.