State v. Fields

908 P.2d 1211, 127 Idaho 904, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 14
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 16, 1995
Docket19185, 19809
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 908 P.2d 1211 (State v. Fields) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fields, 908 P.2d 1211, 127 Idaho 904, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 14 (Idaho 1995).

Opinions

McDEVITT, Chief Justice.

I.

BACKGROUND AND FACTS

This is an appeal from a conviction for first-degree murder and sentence of death for the killing of Katherine Marie Vanderford (Vanderford). The defendant, Zane Jack Fields (Fields) was charged by indictment with first-degree felony murder for killing Vanderford during the commission of a robbery and/or burglary at the Wishing Well Gift Shop in Boise.

Prior to trial, on March 16, 1990, Fields moved to suppress all witness identifications derived through photographic lineups on the grounds that the lineups were impermissibly suggestive. The district court denied this motion.

The State notified defense counsel of its intention to call several inmate witnesses in November 1989. Because several of these prospective witnesses were represented by the public defender’s office, defense counsel moved to withdraw from the case on the grounds of a conflict of interest. The district [907]*907court granted this motion, and the trial date was vacated and reset to May 2, 1990. At trial, the only element of the State’s case challenged by Fields was the identification of Fields as the perpetrator. Most of the material facts of this case are undisputed.

At approximately 11:15 a.m., February 11, 1988, Vanderford was stabbed to death while working at the Wishing Well Gift Shop (the Wishing Well) in Boise. The stabbing occurred during a robbery in which approximately fifty dollars in cash was taken. Van-derford was working alone in the shop at the time. Soon after the perpetrator left, Ralph P. Simmons (Simmons) arrived at the store. When Simmons arrived, Vanderford was speaking to the emergency dispatcher. Simmons put pressure on a wound on Vander-ford’s neck and began speaking with the dispatcher.

Ada County Police Detective Randy Fol-well (Folwell), who was in the area at the time, heard the emergency dispatch and drove to the Wishing Well. Vanderford told Folwell that her attacker was a lone male who had left the store. Emergency medical personnel soon arrived and began treating Vanderford. Vanderford was immediately transported to Saint Alphonsus Hospital.

Dr. Frank J. Fazzio, Jr., the doctor who treated Vanderford when she arrived at the emergency room, testified that Vanderford was in full cardiac arrest upon arrival. Van-derford was never resuscitated. Dr. Fazzio opined that Vanderford’s death was a result of loss of blood. Frank A. Roberts, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Vanderford, similarly concluded that the cause of death was loss of blood as a result of stab wounds, primarily a neck wound.

The State also called a number of witnesses who identified Fields as a person they saw in or near the store immediately before and after the incident. Betty Hornecker (Hornecker) testified that she was in the Wishing Well at approximately 11:00 a.m. on February 11, 1988 when a man, who appeared to be acting strangely, came into the store and walked immediately to the back of the building. The man remained in the building after Hornecker left the store. Hornecker immediately contacted the police after reading about the murder the following day. Although the police used Hornecker’s description to prepare a composite drawing of the suspect, she was unable to make an identification from a photographic lineup provided by police. Another witness, Muñe Jan Munk, had been in the Wishing Well at approximately 11:05 or 11:10 a.m. the day of the murder. She saw a man in the store at the time, although she could not describe his face. All she was able to remember was that he was “fat and sloppy, a little over six feet tall.” The man was still in the store when she left.

Nancy Carol Miller (Miller), an employee at Quilter’s Crossing, a craft store at the intersection of Liberty and Fairview, testified that a man came into Quilter’s Crossing at approximately 12:30 p.m. Miller testified that her attention was drawn to the man because it is rare for a man to come into the store and because the man had “wild looking eyes.” Miller also noted that the man appeared to have a brown wooden-handled knife in his right coat pocket. Miller later telephoned the police when she read that they were seeking information about possible suspects in the Wishing Well incident. The police showed Miller a photographic lineup, from which she identified Fields as the man who had been in the store. She also identified Fields in court. Miller stated that after Fields left her store, she saw him go into T-Shirts Plus, a neighboring store.

Vicky Tippetts (Tippetts), an employee at T-Shirts Plus, testified that a “wild looking man,” who appeared to have a wooden-handled knife sticking out of his pocket, came into the store. When Tippetts asked the man if she could help him, he said no, but kept staring at her and at the cash register. After approximately five minutes, the man left the store. Tippetts identified Fields in the photographic lineup, as well as in court, as the man who had been in her store that day.

The next witness was Robert D. Starbrad (Starbrad), an employee at Videon, a video [908]*908rental and sales store located near the Wishing Well. Starbrad testified that, at 12:15 p.m., he received a call from another Videon store, informing him of the Wishing Well robbery. At approximately 12:30 p.m., a man Starbrad later identified as Fields came into the store. The man’s odd appearance and behavior made Starbrad nervous, and Starbrad contacted the store’s manager to ask that someone keep an eye on the man while he was in the store. Starbrad identified Fields as the man who had been in the store in both the photographic lineup and in court. The retail floor manager at Videon, Timothy S. McWilliams (McWilliams), testified that Starbrad contacted him about a man in the store, and identified Fields as the man who had been in the store when shown a photographic lineup by police.

The State also called Keith Edson (Edson), who first met Fields while serving a prison sentence for grand theft auto in 1982. Ed-son and Fields were in protective custody together while they were both in prison. Edson was walking on Fairview Avenue the morning of the murder when he saw a man he vaguely recognized go into the Wishing Well. The man came out of the store looking nervous and upset. It was not until Edson heard Fields’ name on television ten days later that he was able to remember the name of the person he saw.

Most of the State’s remaining witnesses were inmates who testified about statements Fields made about the killing while in jail. The first such witness was Jeffrey L. Acheson (Acheson), Fields’ roommate at the Ada County Jail while Fields was awaiting trial on charges stemming from an incident at the ShopKo store in Boise. Acheson testified that whenever a “Crime Stoppers” report about the incident at the Wishing Well came on television, Fields would get upset and nervous and change channels, turn the television off, or turn the down the volume. Acheson also testified that Fields said “they can’t pin that on me,” because Fields “took care of the evidence.”

Joe Heistand (Heistand), another inmate at the County Jail, testified that Fields said he had been near the Wishing Well a few times before the incident looking for a “possible score,” and had noticed that an “old lady ran the store and was alone.” Fields further told Heistand that Vanderford began screaming and hollering when she saw him taking money out of the cash register. Fields told Vanderford to cooperate but, when she continued to scream, he stabbed her.

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Bluebook (online)
908 P.2d 1211, 127 Idaho 904, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fields-idaho-1995.