State v. Vincent

908 P.2d 619, 258 Kan. 694, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 154
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 8, 1995
DocketNo. 72,635
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 908 P.2d 619 (State v. Vincent) 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. Vincent, 908 P.2d 619, 258 Kan. 694, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 154 (kan 1995).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Six, J.:

Carrie L. Vincent appeals her jury trial convictions of felonymurder, K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-3401(b), aggravated robbery, K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-3427, and conspiracy to commit robbery, K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-3302 and K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-3426, arising from the carjacking and shooting death of Marcus Smith. Vincent was sentenced to consecutive sentences (life for the felony murder with upward departures on the other two offenses).

The incident involved a group of five teenagers, Damon Cox, Stefan Wheeler, Jared Owens, Michael Hayes, and Vincent. Four of the defendants, Cox, Wheeler, Owen and Vincent, were tried jointly as aiders and abettors. Cox and Vincent, each 17 at the time of the offense, were certified to be tried as adults. Cox was convicted of the same offenses as Vincent. (State v. Cox, 258 Kan. 557, 908 P.2d 603 [1995].) Wheeler was convicted of aggravated robbery and acquitted of the other charges. Owens was acquitted of all charges. Hayes was tried separately as the triggerman and convicted on all charges. (State v. Hayes, 258 Kan. 629, 908 P.2d 597 [1995].)

Our jurisdiction is under K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3601(b)(1) (off-grid crime conviction). Vincent asserts sentencing error in (a) granting upward departures and (b) imposing an excessive total imprisonment term.

Vincent raises three assignments of error besides the sentencing issues. She contends that the trial court: (1) erroneously allowed the State to introduce gang evidence and gave an erroneous gang evidence instruction; (2) erred in admitting oral hearsay evidence that the vehicles used by the perpetrators were stolen; and (3) erred in failing to sever her trial. The resolution of the first two issues is controlled by Cox. (Severance was not an issue in Cox’s case.)

We find no reversible error on issues (1) and (2), no error on issue (3), and affirm the convictions. On the sentencing issues, following Cox, we hold that K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-4716(b)(2)(B) [696]*696requires that only the defendant’s individual conduct during the commission of the current offense be reviewed when considering the imposition of a departure sentence. Consequently, we vacate the sentence for aggravated robbery. We hold that a killing resulting in a conviction of felony murder may not be used, under the facts of this case, as the basis for an upward sentence departure for a conviction of conspiracy to commit robbery. We also vacate the sentence of conspiracy to commit robbery. We affirm the felony-murder sentence and remand for resentencing on the other convictions.

FACTS

The facts are briefly set out in Cox. Additional facts are referenced in this opinion.

DISCUSSION

We will first consider the severance issue. Vincent contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion for severance.

We stated in State v. Butler, 257 Kan. 1043, Syl. ¶ 9, 897 P.2d 1007 (1995):

“Severance of trials of codefendants in a criminal case lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. The burden is on the movant to present sufficient grounds to establish actual prejudice. Some of the factors to be considered in determining whether there is sufficient evidence to mandate severance are: (1) that the defendants have antagonistic defenses; (2) that important evidence in favor of one of the defendants which would be admissible on a separate trial would not be allowed on a joint trial; (3) that evidence incompetent as to one defendant and intraducibie against another would work prejudicially to the former with the jury; (4) that the confession by one defendant, if introduced and proved, would be calculated to prejudice the jury against the others; and (5) that one of the defendants who could give evidence for the whole or some of the other defendants would become a competent and compellable witness on the separate trials of such other defendants.”

Vincent does not assert any of the five grounds listed in Butler. “Any point specified on appeal which is neither argued nor briefed is deemed to have been abandoned.” State v. Mims, 222 Kan. 335, Syl. ¶ 6, 564 P.2d 531 (1977). Even if Vincent had argued any of these grounds, none appear applicable. Vincent contends first that [697]*697only the testimony of Wheeler, one of the codefendants, placed Vincent at the scene of the crime. We do not agree. Vincent’s own statement, read to the jury in redacted form, placed her at the scene of the crime. In addition, Wheeler could competently testify against Vincent, regardless of severance.

Vincent’s statement provides in relevant part:

“Our vehicles followed Marcus out of King’s, east on Division to 8th, south on 8th to Laramie and went on Laramie where Marcus stopped. The dark green Blazer stopped next to Marcus. Marcus was against the north . . . curb and we were next to him, both of us headed west. Kilo [Hayes] was driving a black Blazer. He drove in front of Marcus and parked against the north curb, also headed west. Kilo got out of the black Blazer he was in and walked in between Marcus, who was in his car, and I sat in my car. Kilo asked Marcus how much he wanted for the wheels and tires. Marcus said he didn’t really want to sell them. I was leaning out the window talking to Marcus when Kilo took a gun from the glove box of my car. The gun was a dark colored revolver handgun. Kilo went to Marcus’ window. At that point I got out of my car and went to the black Blazer parked behind Marcus. I didn’t want to be around if anything happened so I got into the driver’s seat of the black Blazer and drove off.”

Vincent gave a second statement to Detective Wilson, which was also read to the jury in redacted form. In that statement, she admitted that she

“saw Kilo get a gun out of the glove box of the dark green Cherokee Jeep. He pointed the gun at Marcus and made Marcus get out of his car. He then made Marcus lay on his stomach on the ground. I watched as he shot Marcus twice in the back. I drove away in the black Blazer and heard several more shots.”

Detective Wilson also testified that Vincent described to him the position of the vehicle she was in at the scene of the murder, in relation to Marcus Smith. Vincent also described to Detective Wilson the location of the black Blazer, the vehicle she left the scene in, which was parked behind the victim’s vehicle.

Vincent next argues that the testimony of Officer Smith concerning gangs was irrelevant and inadmissible as to her and was only allowed in because Cox was a codefendant. We held in Cox

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Related

State v. Maxfield
54 P.3d 500 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2001)
State v. Rodriguez
933 P.2d 164 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1997)
State v. Knighten
917 P.2d 1324 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1996)
State v. Hayes
908 P.2d 597 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1995)
State v. Cox
908 P.2d 603 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
908 P.2d 619, 258 Kan. 694, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vincent-kan-1995.