State v. Fields

696 S.E.2d 269, 225 W. Va. 753, 2010 W. Va. LEXIS 39
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 2010
Docket34746
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 696 S.E.2d 269 (State v. Fields) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia 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, 696 S.E.2d 269, 225 W. Va. 753, 2010 W. Va. LEXIS 39 (W. Va. 2010).

Opinions

KETCHUM, Justice:

The appellant, DeAaron Fields, was found guilty by a jury in the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia, of murder of the first degree. According to the State, the appellant shot and killed the victim, Karen L. Stultz, in an alley adjacent to a gasoline station on Hal Greer Boulevard in Huntington, West Virginia. The shooting arose from a dispute concerning an illicit drug transaction. The appellant was then 14 years old. His trial was conducted following an evidentiary hearing and order transferring the case, initiated upon a juvenile delinquency petition, to the adult criminal jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.

After the return of the verdict, the State, at the request of the victim’s family, asked the Circuit Court to add “with mercy” to the appellant’s conviction of murder of the first degree. The Circuit Court did so, thereby rendering a second phase of the trial concerning the question of mercy unnecessary. On April 27, 2005, the appellant was remanded to the Industrial Home for Youth in Industrial, West Virginia, until his 18th birthday and, thereafter, to the penitentiary. The record indicates that, now over 18 years of age, the appellant is serving his sentence of life, with mercy, at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Mount Olive, West Virginia. He has been resenteneed to facilitate his appeal to this Court.

The appellant’s lone assignment of error concerns whether the Circuit Court erred in, sua sponte, removing his court-appointed counsel, David D. Perry, from the case prior to trial for discovery violations. It should be noted that, previously, in March 2005, this Court refused the appellant’s petition for a writ of prohibition which also challenged Perry’s removal.1

This Court has before it the petition for appeal, all matters of record and the briefs filed by counsel. As discussed below, the circumstances of this case reveal good cause for the removal of the appellant’s appointed counsel for discovery violations and, in any event, no error in view of the representation provided to the appellant by other counsel. The appellant’s conviction of murder of the first degree and his sentence to life imprisonment, with mercy, are, therefore, affirmed.

I.

Factual Background

The record indicates that the alley adjacent to the Chevron gasoline station on Hal Greer Boulevard in Huntington was commonly used for illicit drug transactions. At trial, the appellant testified that he and other young people used the alley to sell crack cocaine and that one of their customers was the victim, Karen L. Stultz.

[755]*755According to the State, on the morning of April 21, 2004, the appellant, unhappy over a disputed drug transaction with a female customer, retrieved his automatic pistol at the residence of Justin Elliott and stated that he was going to “mere,” i.e., kill, “that bitch.” That evening around 9:00 p.m., a white Mustang automobile driven by Stultz, age 39, was stopped in the alley. At this time an individual exited from the passenger side of the Stultz vehicle, yelled “fuck you, you bitch,” and, with the passenger door still open, fired several shots into the car with a handgun. The assailant fled the scene. Stultz then managed to drive from the alley and traveled a short distance on Hal Greer Boulevard where the automobile came to rest against a pole on the grounds of Cabell Huntington Hospital. It was determined that Stultz had been shot four times: twice in the thigh and twice in the upper body. The upper body wounds were fatal. A toxicology examination revealed that Stultz had been using cocaine. The police investigation determined that the weapon used in the shooting was a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

The evidence of the State further indicated that, soon after the shooting in the alley, the appellant told various individuals that he had shot at, or killed, the female customer. Moreover, an eyewitness to the shooting, Christopher T., who knew the appellant from school, identified the appellant to the police as the assailant.2 A few hours after the events near the Chevron station, the appellant was taken into custody at his parents’ home. A subsequent forensic laboratory test failed to discover any particles of gunshot residue on the appellant. The pistol was never recovered.

II.

Pre-Trial Proceedings

On April 22, 2004, a juvenile delinquency petition was filed in the Circuit Court of Cabell County alleging that the petitioner committed the crime of murder. Also that day, the juvenile referee appointed the local public defender as counsel for the appellant and conducted a detention hearing. The public defender was Kent Bryson. At the subsequent preliminary hearing, probable cause was found for the case to proceed on the juvenile delinquency petition.

Thereafter, on June 2, 2004, attorney David D. Perry, an attorney in Huntington filed a notice of appearance in the Circuit Court stating that he had been retained by the appellant’s father to represent the appellant. The contract of representation provided for an attorney fee of $1.00. Upon the State’s motion, the Circuit Court conducted an evidentiary hearing and transferred the appellant to the Court’s adult criminal jurisdiction.3

In October 2004, the grand jury returned a single count indictment charging the appellant with the murder of Karen L. Stultz. W.Va.Code, 61-2-1 (1991). On November 1, 2004, the Circuit Court scheduled the trial for December 7, 2004. Soon after, Perry filed 14 motions, including 10 motions for discovery. Subsequently, Perry filed additional motions, and on November 29, 2004, the Circuit Court amended the trial date from December 7 to December 8, 2004.

On December 1, 2004, the State filed responses to the appellant’s requests for discovery. The items filed included a crime scene report prepared by Huntington Police Sergeant David Castle. Later, on December 3, the State filed a request for discovery seeking, inter alia: (1) the names and addresses of defense witnesses, (2) a written notice of the appellant’s intention to offer a defense of alibi and (3) the names and address of alibi witnesses, if that defense was intended. On December 6, 2004, Perry filed a list of 20 defense witnesses. However, the record before this Court indicates that no addresses were provided.

[756]*756Pursuant to an order entered on December 8, 2004, the Circuit Court appointed Perry, at his request, to represent the appellant. The order stated: “It is further ordered that this appointment is Nunc Pro Tunc relative to the date that counsel began work as defense counsel in the ease at bar. Thus, this order is entered for the 2nd day of June, 2004, for Mr. Perry, Nunc Pro Tunc.” As the Circuit Court later explained: “On December the 8th upon Mr. Perry’s request I appointed him as counsel. He represented to me, I think, that he had only charged the defendant’s family One Dollar to originally get involved in this ease and he had many, many hours.” See, n. 1, supra, concerning the June 2, 20’04, written employment contract.

In addition to retroactively appointing Perry as counsel for the appellant, the Circuit Court, over Perry’s objection, continued the scheduled trial from December 8, 2004, to February 1, 2005. Thereafter, on January 21, 2005, Perry filed a notice of the appellant’s intention to offer the defense of alibi, with a list of alibi witnesses and addresses.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
696 S.E.2d 269, 225 W. Va. 753, 2010 W. Va. LEXIS 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fields-wva-2010.