State v. Clemons

836 P.2d 1147, 251 Kan. 473, 1992 Kan. LEXIS 138
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 10, 1992
Docket66,644
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 836 P.2d 1147 (State v. Clemons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clemons, 836 P.2d 1147, 251 Kan. 473, 1992 Kan. LEXIS 138 (kan 1992).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Lockett, J.:

Lajuan Clemons appeals his conviction and sentence for first-degree murder, K.S.A. 1989 Supp. 21-3401, a class A felony, claiming the trial court (1) failed to suppress his prior statements; (2) improperly allowed the State to strike a prospective juror who had expressed his concern that there were no minorities on the panel; (3) admitted illegally seized evidence; (4) improperly instructed the jury on aiding and abetting; and (5) illegally ordered payment of restitution after imposing incarceration. He also claims there was insufficient evidence for a rational factfinder to conclude he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

*475 Faye Howell was Charles Howell’s estranged wife. Faye Howell had plotted over the telephone with others to kill Charles. Charles had recorded the telephone conversations. When he confronted Faye, things “cooled down.” Their divorce was to become final the day Howell was murdered. Howell was shot twice in the head while outside his girlfriend’s house where he was living in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas, on February 8, 1990. One wound was caused by a shotgun slug and the second by a shotgun blast consisting of shotgun pellets.

Bobbi Bolton, Charles’ girlfriend, testified she heard two gunshots outside her house at approximately 8:00 that morning. She went outside and found Howell fatally shot. She called 911 and told the dispatcher that Howell had been shot. Bolton also told the dispatcher she had observed a light blue four-door small to mid-size car, possibly a rental car, located on the street behind her house in an area which was under development and that a black person had been next to the blue car before the car fled from the area.

Police officers investigating the murder scene discovered footprints leading from the muddy area where the light blue car had been parked to Howell’s body and a second set of footprints returning from the body to the car.

The police investigation revealed that Faye Howell and Lajuan Clemons, who are black, had rented a light blue four-door midsize car from System One Rent-A-Car on the day before the homicide. They returned the car at approximately 11:00 a.m. on February 8, 1990, approximately three hours after Howell had been shot. The police obtained a search warrant and seized the car at noon the same day. A search of the car led to the discovery of a set of keys in the car and a fingerprint on the trunk. The car had mud on the driver’s floorboard area. It was later determined the keys belonged to Clemons and it was his fingerprint on the trunk of the rental car.

Detectives from Olathe interviewed Clemons at his apartment in Missouri on. February 9, 1990, at approximately 12:30 a.m. At the time the defendant was being interviewed, there were numerous other possible suspects in the homicide and 11 detectives working throughout the metropolitan area were following lead's. Initially, Clemons identified himself as Nelson Brown and advised *476 the detectives that he knew Lajuan Clemons but had not seen him for at least one day. Eventually, he admitted he was Lajuan Clemons and indicated he and Faye Howell were lovers.

On February 11, 1990, police executed a search warrant at Clemons’ residence and recovered two shotgun shells similar to the shells used to kill Charles Howell. On February 15, 1990, Clemons was arrested and charged with murder. Clemons was subsequently convicted by a jury of the murder of Charles Howell, sentenced by the trial judge to life imprisonment, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,000. On appeal, Clemons raises six issues.

I. Trial court refusal to suppress statements by Clemons.

Clemons first argues the interview at his apartment was a custodial interrogation in which he was not advised of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. Clemons claims the trial court erred in finding he was not “in custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action” and in denying his motion to suppress the statements elicited from him during the interview. He concludes the error was not harmless but highly prejudicial and denied him a fair trial.

The preliminary hearing was held before Judge William G. Gray. There were two suppression hearings held by Judge John Anderson III. Trial commenced December'3, 1990, before Judge Anderson. After the State had presented its evidence, Clemons testified for the first time. Based on this testimony, Clemons claims the trial judge erred by not suppressing his prior statements.

A defendant in a criminal case has a constitutional right at some stage in the proceeding to object to the use of an allegedly involuntary confession and have a fair hearing and a reliable determination on the issue of voluntariness, a determination uninfluenced by the truth or falsity of the confession. State v. Miles, 233 Kan. 286, Syl. ¶ 3, 662 P.2d 1227 (1983).

Prior to the preliminary examination or trial, a defendant may move to suppress as evidence any confession or admission given by him on the ground that it is not admissible as evidence. If the motion alleges grounds which, if proved, would show the confession or admission not to be admissible, the court shall *477 conduct a hearing into the merits of the motion. The burden of proving that a confession or admission is admissible shall be On the prosecution. The issue of the admissibility of the confession or admission shall not be submitted to the; jury. The circumstances surrounding the making of the confession or admission may be submitted to -the jury as bearing upon the credibility or the weight to .be given, to the confession or admission. The motion shall be made before the preliminary examination or. trial, .unless opportunity therefor did not exist:or the defendant was.not aware of the ground for the motion,; but the court: in- its discretion. may entertain the motion at the preliminary examination or the trial.. K.S.A. 22-3215. .. ..

EVIDENCE AT. THE FIRST SUPPRESSION HEARING

On February 9, .1990, at approximately 12:30 a.m, detectives wiih the Olathe Police Department arrived, at .Lajuan Clemons’ apartment, in Kansas City, Missouri. -The Olathe detectives were in plain clothes. Accompanying .the-detectives were uniformed Kansas City, Missouri, police officers., Defendant’s roommate, Mark. Smith, answered the knock. on the apartment door , and allowed the officers into the apartment. Smith indicated that Lajuan Clemons was in his bedroom. Two. detectives entered the bedroom,and observed the. defendant fully clothed, including shoes, lying on top of the covers of his bed. It was the detectives’ impression that the defendant was awake but acting as if he was asleep.

The detectives explained to Clemons that they were from the Olathe Police Department investigating a homicide and asked him if he would speak with them. Clemons indicated that he would. The detectives spoke with the defendant for . approximately an hour and a half. During the interview Clemons was.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
836 P.2d 1147, 251 Kan. 473, 1992 Kan. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clemons-kan-1992.