McPeak v. State

406 S.W.3d 430, 2012 Ark. App. 234, 2012 WL 1110066, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 347
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 4, 2012
DocketNo. CA CR 11-812
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 406 S.W.3d 430 (McPeak 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
McPeak v. State, 406 S.W.3d 430, 2012 Ark. App. 234, 2012 WL 1110066, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 347 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

| T Dominic Anthony McPeak was convicted in a bench trial of two counts of aggravated assault and one misdemeanor count of fleeing, for which he was sentenced to ninety days’ imprisonment in the Clark County Jail and five years’ probation. The acts leading to the charges against him occurred around 2:00 a.m. on July 19, 2009, after law-enforcement officials answered a disturbance call to a party in Gurdon where fights had erupted and shots had been fired in a large crowd of people. McPeak was taken into custody that afternoon at a hospital in a nearby county where he was treated for bullet wounds he sustained while running from officers. He raises two points on appeal, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his custodial statement and denying his challenge to the sufficiency of the State’s evidence on the aggravated-assault charges. We affirm.

McPeak asserts that despite his completing the confinement portion of his sentence, his case is not moot for appellate review because of the collateral consequences that attend a | Jelony conviction. The State concedes the point, and we agree. See Pennsylvania. v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 108 n. 3, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977) (citing prior United States Supreme Court cases holding “that the possibility of a criminal defendant’s suffering ‘collateral legal consequences’ from a sentence already served permits him to have his claims reviewed here on the merits”); Ginsberg v. State of N.Y., 390 U.S. 629, 633 n. 2, 88 S.Ct. 1274, 20 L.Ed.2d 195 (1968) (noting that “St. Pierre [v. United States, 319 U.S. 41, 43, 63 S.Ct. 910, 87 L.Ed. 1199 (1943) ] also recognized that the case would not have been moot had ‘petitioner shown that under either state or federal law further penalties or disabilities can be imposed on him as result of the judgment which has now been satisfied’ ”).

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The prohibition against double jeopardy requires that we review the sufficiency of the evidence prior to examining trial error. Stewart v. State, 2010 Ark.App. 9, 373 S.W.3d 387. McPeak’s arguments concerning the sufficiency of the evidence center on the statutory requirement of aggravated assault that a person “[displays a firearm in such a manner that creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.” Ark.Code Ann. § 5-13-204(a)(2) (Repl. 2006).

McPeak attacks the testimony of Clark County Sheriff David Turner and Officer Christopher Russell of the Gurdon Police Department, asserting that they “both lied” in saying that he aimed and discharged a firearm in their direction. He asserts that neither of them actually saw him point a firearm at anyone or threaten to use a firearm on anyone, arguing that Sheriff Turner saw him merely throw a gun away and flee, which was more than Officer Russell saw. McPeak points to conflicting evidence on this version of events. We [aare unable to address the merits of this point because it is not preserved for appellate review.

Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 38.1 requires a defendant to renew a motion for directed verdict or dismissal at the “close of the case” in order to preserve for review any question pertaining to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury verdict.1 To preserve for appeal the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence in a criminal case, the appellant must move for a directed verdict both at the close of the State’s case and at the close of the whole case. King v. State, 338 Ark. 591, 999 S.W.2d 183 (1999). Thus, the requirement of Rule 33.1 to renew the motion at the “close of the case” obligates the defendant to renew it again at the close of any rebuttal case that the State may present. Id.

McPeak moved “for a directed verdict” at the conclusion of the State’s case, arguing in part that there was no proof he aimed the gun at either of the two officers and that his running with a gun was “not purposeful towards injuring or harming someone.” He renewed his “motion for directed verdict or dismissal” after the defense rested, again arguing that the State had failed to meet its burden of proof related to displaying a firearm with manifest indifference to human life. The trial court denied each of McPeak’s motions challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support the two counts of aggravated assault. The case did not close, however, until a rebuttal witness for the State testified and the State again rested. McPeak did not renew his motion to dismiss at that time, therefore failing to preserve for | appellate review the issue of sufficiency of the evidence.

Custodial Statement

McPeak was admitted to the Dallas County hospital at 12:45 p.m.; afterward, he was taken into custody and jailed in Fordyce until being transported back to the Clark County Sheriffs Department. Once there, he signed a form waiving his Miranda rights and submitted to an interview at 6:25 p.m. He admitted in the statement throwing down a gun — which he said he took from a stranger when shots were fired — after law-enforcement officers arrived. He denied ever pointing or firing the gun at anyone, and he said that officers chased him while the crowd yelled, “Don’t shoot.” He admitted running from the officers. McPeak contends on appeal that his statement was involuntary.

McPeak asserts that his statement was given following surgery, and the resulting pain rendered him incapable of voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waiving his right not to speak. He points to his testimony at the suppression hearing that he sought treatment in Fordyce because he feared Clark County officers after their unprovoked use of deadly force against him. He complains that his interrogators did not offer him pain medication during the interview despite knowing of his surgery only six hours earlier, and he relies upon his testimony that the pain, lack of sleep, and fear of being shot again influenced his decision to talk. He argues that the State did not prove that he had recovered from the effects of the shooting, the local anesthetic administered prior to surgery, the surgery itself, and any potential side effects from the pain medication.

A statement made in custody is presumptively involuntary; the burden is on the State | sto prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a custodial statement was given voluntarily and was knowingly and intelligently made. Harper v. State, 359 Ark. 142, 194 S.W.3d 730 (2004). In order to determine whether a waiver of Miranda rights was voluntary, the reviewing court looks to see if the confession was the product of free and deliberate choice rather than intimidation, coercion, or deception. Id.

In reviewing a circuit court’s refusal to suppress a confession, we make an independent determination based upon the totality of the circumstances and will reverse only when the finding of voluntariness is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Grillot v. State, 353 Ark. 294,

Related

Akram v. State
560 S.W.3d 509 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2018)
Poland v. Poland
2017 Ark. App. 178 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
406 S.W.3d 430, 2012 Ark. App. 234, 2012 WL 1110066, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcpeak-v-state-arkctapp-2012.