Sampson v. Commonwealth

609 S.W.2d 355, 1980 Ky. LEXIS 272
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 609 S.W.2d 355 (Sampson v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sampson v. Commonwealth, 609 S.W.2d 355, 1980 Ky. LEXIS 272 (Ky. 1980).

Opinion

STERNBERG, Justice.

The Grand Jury of Henderson County, Kentucky, on August 15, 1979, returned an indictment against appellant for the offense of first-degree robbery and for being a first-degree persistent felony offender. Kenneth Lainhart and JoAnn Howe Martin were joined in the indictment. Appellant was, however, granted a separate trial. On October 11, 1979, appellant was found guilty on the robbery charge and the jury fixed his punishment at ten years’ imprisonment. In a bifurcated proceeding, the jury found appellant guilty of being a persistent felony offender and fixed his punishment at 20 years’ imprisonment.

On this appeal the appellant presents four issues. To have a proper understanding of the issues, we need to present the salient facts.

Lloyd Wayne Sampson was released on parole from Eddyville State Penitentiary on the morning of Friday, June 1, 1979, and was met by his 17-year-old fiancee, Robin Willhelm, and her mother, JoAnn Howe Martin. The three of them went to Padu-cah where the women resided in a trailer home. Sampson conducted some necessary business with the Paducah parole office; he and his fiancee got their blood tests for their upcoming marriage; and the three of them shopped at K-Mart where Sampson shoplifted a false moustache to be used as a disguise in robberies he was then planning to commit. After shopping, the three of them went to Mrs. Martin’s trailer, arriving at approximately 2:30 p. m. Shortly thereafter, they all left the trailer to run an errand. When they returned they found Kenneth Lainhart at the trailer. Lainhart and Sampson had met while both were incarcerated at LaGrange State Reformatory. Lainhart was also Mrs. Martin’s boyfriend.

Lainhart and Mrs. Martin went to a drive-in movie theatre that night and returned to the trailer around 11:30 p. m. Lainhart and Sampson then began to discuss robbing the Paducah Pizza Hut. Subsequently, they announced to the others that they were going out to purchase some beer. Instead, they proceeded directly to the Pizza Hut where Sampson robbed the manager at gunpoint of $495 of the company’s money and Lainhart waited in the getaway car. The employees were forced into a walk-in cooler, with instructions to stay put for 30 minutes. Lainhart and Sampson returned to the trailer where they spent the rest of the night.

The next morning, June 2, 1979, the two men discussed a trip to Henderson in order to get a shotgun from Sampson’s mother’s house and to rob the Henderson Pizza Hut. The two men and two women left for Henderson and arrived at Sampson’s mother’s house, in the Baskett area of that city, around 10:00 p. m. Sampson sneaked the shotgun out of the house through a side window and placed it in the trunk of his car. Sampson, Lainhart, Robin and JoAnn then left for the Pizza Hut, with Sampson driving. It was decided that Lainhart would rob the Henderson Pizza Hut since Sampson had done the Paducah job. Arriving at the Pizza Hut around 11:20 p. m., Sampson and Robin went in and ordered a pizza. When it was ready they took it back to the car, which was parked in the Pizza Hut parking lot, and the four of them ate the pizza. The time was now approximately 12:10 a. m. on the morning of June 3, 1979. Sampson then drove out of the parking lot, continued on for a couple of blocks, and then returned to Sambo’s Restaurant parking lot, which was adjacent to the Pizza Hut restaurant and parking lot, and parked in a dark spot at the rear and in a [357]*357position to make an easy exit. After about 15 minutes Lainhart got out. He transferred a .22-caliber pistol from his back pocket to his front waistband, put Sampson’s jacket and hat on, and walked towards the Pizza Hut to rob it.

Unbeknownst to the remaining three occupants of the Sampson auto, Lainhart met with certain difficulties once inside the restaurant. He encountered a customer, Mr. David Sheats. Lainhart poked his gun into Sheats’ ribs and ordered, “Let’s go, buddy.” Sheats valiantly resisted. The ensuing struggle ended with Mr. Sheats having gained control over the gun and using it to hold Lainhart at bay until the police arrived. During the struggle Lainhart had shot Sheats in the hand and bitten him severely about the wrist.

Responding to a robbery-in-progress call, Officer Terry Haynes sped to the scene intending to cover the rear of the Pizza Hut. To do so he drove through the adjacent Sambo’s parking lot where he observed Sampson’s auto with three occupants and the engine running. As he approached the Sampson auto, its occupants started to exit. Having received a report that a robbery was in progress next door, considering the time to be approximately 1:00 a. m. and observing the behavior of the occupants of an auto whose engine was running, Officer Haynes decided to confront them. He obtained and noted the identification of Sampson, Robin Willhelm and JoAnn Martin. Having no further reason to detain them at that time, Officer Haynes allowed them to leave.

Lainhart was arrested inside the restaurant and duly searched. His wallet contained the name of one of the two women that Officer Haynes had just minutes before confronted and released. Suspecting their involvement in the crime, the police issued an all-points bulletin for the apprehension of that automobile and its occupants. They were apprehended in Morgan-field. They were placed in police custody and escorted to Paducah for questioning. Sampson was placed in the Henderson County jail.

On June 8, 1979, Sampson transmitted a note through jail officials to Henderson Police Major Ernest Green. The note said, “Dear Sir, I am ready to make soom (sic) statements, and clear things up,” and was signed, “Thank you, Lloyd Sampson.” Sampson was transported to police headquarters where he made a question-and-answer confession to his involvement in the Henderson and Paducah robberies.

At trial Sampson charged that on June 4, 1979, in a conference between him and Officer Green, Green told him that his fiancee was pregnant and that if she was to be found guilty of participating in the robbery, she would probably lose custody of her child and the baby would be placed in a foster home. Officer Green denied making any such statement; however, all charges against Sampson’s fiancee were dismissed subsequent to his confession.

The appellant argues that his confession should have been suppressed since, (1) it was made involuntarily and (2) it was tainted by an unconstitutional arrest. These two issues will be discussed separately.

Was appellant’s confession involuntary?

Appellant charges that he made his confession by reason of the offer of Officer Green that he “would go on all of his power to get Robin out.” We recognize that the totality of the circumstances must be considered in determining whether appellant’s confession was involuntary. Walker v. Commonwealth, Ky., 561 S.W.2d 656 (1978). There are many important factors that must be taken into consideration before declaring the confession not to be voluntary; e. g., appellant’s age at the time of the robbery, his education, his desire to free his fiancee from custody and have the charges against her favorably disposed of, his health, any coercion whether mental or physical, or any request for appellant to confess to an untruth-all must be considered. Allee v. Commonwealth, Ky., 454 S.W.2d 336 (1970).

The appellant was 21 years of age when he was released from prison and Rob[358]

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Bluebook (online)
609 S.W.2d 355, 1980 Ky. LEXIS 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sampson-v-commonwealth-ky-1980.