State v. Waller

328 P.3d 1111, 299 Kan. 707, 2014 WL 2557163, 2014 Kan. LEXIS 271
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 6, 2014
DocketNo. 106,102
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 328 P.3d 1111 (State v. Waller) 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. Waller, 328 P.3d 1111, 299 Kan. 707, 2014 WL 2557163, 2014 Kan. LEXIS 271 (kan 2014).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Rosen, J.:

A jury convicted Anthony Waller of felony murder and aggravated kidnapping and found him not guilty of aggravated robbeiy. The district court sentenced him to a hard 20 life imprisonment for the murder conviction and a consecutive 285-month sentence for the aggravated kidnapping conviction.

On appeal, Waller argues that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury on several lesser included offenses of felony murder, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated robbery and by failing to give a self-defense instruction. He also argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for a mistrial and that cumulative trial error denied him a fair trial. Finally, he argues that the trial court erred in using a juvenile adjudication to determine his criminal history for sentencing purposes and that his convictions and sentences for felony murder and aggravated kidnapping violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. For the reasons stated below, we reject Waller s arguments and affirm his convictions and sentences.

[709]*709Facts

On March 9, 2010, Waller’s apartment was burglarized. He contacted the Hutchinson Police Department and reported that a PlayStation 2, numerous video games, a camera, clothing, and two pairs of size 13 Air Jordan shoes—one pair orange and white, the other black with lime green—-had been stolen. Waller told the responding police officer that he suspected that his downstairs neighbor, Vasie “Joe” Coons, broke into his apartment. Waller informed the officer that Coons had come to his apartment the previous night to use his phone and that he called the phone number 708-7333. It was later determined that this number belonged to Joshua Haines, the victim in this case. Waller also told the officer that while he was working across tire street from the apartment building on March 9, he saw Coons get out of a white Mazda RX-8. The responding officer tried to make contact with Coons that day, but no one was at his apartment.

According to Coons—a self-admitted drug user and paranoid schizophrenic who was off his medication when the events at issue took place—Waller later approached him and threatened to “lack [his] ass” in retaliation for the burglary. Waller also informed Coons that he had reported the burglary to the police and that they were now wanting to speak to Coons about the crime. Coons, who was afraid of Waller, denied being involved in the burglary but implicated Haines-—Coons’ drug dealer and supposed friend—in the crime. Upon hearing this, Waller became mad and expressed a desire to exact revenge upon Haines, suggesting that he wanted to place Haines in the hospital by giving him a beating and that he wanted to tie Haines up and rob his home.

About a month later, on April 9, 2010, Coons went to Haines’ house, where he and Haines consumed methamphetamine between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. that day. After making a trip with Haines to WalMart and returning to Haines’ home, Coons left and returned to the apartment building. Coons then stopped by Waller’s apartment; while he was there, Waller asked him to call Haines and set up a drug deal for a gram of methamphetamine and to have Haines bring the methamphetamine to Coons’ apartment. Think[710]*710ing he could “score some more” methamphetamine if he was able to set up a drug deal for Haines, Coons agreed to make the call, using Waller’s phone to do so. Because Waller did not want Haines knowing his phone number, Coons dialed “*67” before dialing Haines’ phone number in order to conceal Waller’s phone number on Haines’ caller ID. Coons spoke with Haines and set up the deal.

After calling Haines, Coons went downstairs to his apartment. Subsequently, Waller, accompanied by Jose Delacruz and Chauncey Grissom, came to Coons’ apartment and asked if Haines was coming over. Because a half hour had passed since Coons had spoken with Haines, Coons called Haines, again using Waller’s cell phone and dialing “*67” before dialing Haines’ number. Coons spoke with Haines, who told Coons he would be at his apartment within a few minutes.

Haines eventually arrived at the apartment building and knocked on the outside door leading into the building. As Coons walked out of his apartment to let Haines in, Waller, Delacruz, and Grissom went to the back bedroom of the apartment. When Coons walked out of his apartment, he saw that Haines was already in the building, standing at the top of the stairs leading down to Coons’ apartment. Haines proceeded to walk down the stairs and into the apartment. As Haines walked down the hallway leading to the bedroom, he asked out loud whether anybody else was inside the apartment. At this moment, Waller came out of tire bedroom and attacked Haines, hitting him and tackling him to the floor. Delacruz then joined Waller, and the two of them began kicking and hitting Haines. Waller eventually hit Haines with a 2 x 4 board that was in the apartment, splitting Haines’ ear open. Delacruz grabbed a chair and hit Haines with it.

While Waller and Delacruz were attacking Haines, Coons said that Grissom was pacing back and forth, looking out the windows of tire apartment, and eventually participated in the beating by hitting Haines with a mop handle a couple of times. Coons said that he tried to intervene, but Grissom prevented him from doing so. Shortly thereafter, Grissom left the apartment.

During the altercation, Coons saw a baggie of methamphetamine on the floor, which belonged to Haines. Coons picked up the baggie and kept it.

[711]*711Eventually, Waller and Delacruz dragged Haines into the bedroom, put duct tape over his mouth and arms, and wrapped video game controller cords around him. Waller, Delacruz, and Coons dren left the apartment, leaving Haines behind. According to Coons, Haines was still alive at this point. Waller, using Haines’ car—a white Mazda RX-8—drove them to Haines’ home. On the way diere, Waller told Coons that he wanted to burglarize Haines’ home.

When the men arrived at the residence, Waller attempted to have Coons assist him with the burglary. Coons refused and ran away from the scene. According to Coons, he proceeded to walk around Hutchinson that night while consuming Haines’ methamphetamine.

At around noon on April 10, Coons returned to the apartment building and saw Waller. According to Coons, Waller asked him whether he had been home yet. Coons said no. Waller then told Coons that he had broken into his apartment, removed Haines’ body, carried die body to Haines’ car, and then drove the car and parked it down on Baker Street.

Coincidentally, after Coons returned to the apartment building, officers from the Hutchinson Police Department arrived at die scene to execute multiple arrest warrants for Coons. After meeting with the landlord, the officers walked towards Coons’ apartment. The officers noticed a large amount of blood on the sidewalk outside of Coons’ apartment, drops of blood on the stairs leading down to the apartment, swipes of blood on the stairwell walls, and blood on the threshold of the apartment door.

Officers entered the apartment and saw numerous bloodstains inside. The stains were primarily concentrated in the hallway and the bedroom. The officers also noticed a 2 x 4 board with blood on it and a green plastic baggie containing a white crystal substance, which one of the officers suspected was methamphetamine. In the bedroom, trash was scattered on the floor and a mattress was overturned.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 P.3d 1111, 299 Kan. 707, 2014 WL 2557163, 2014 Kan. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-waller-kan-2014.