Swanigan v. State

2019 Ark. App. 296, 577 S.W.3d 737
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 29, 2019
DocketNo. CR-18-429
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2019 Ark. App. 296 (Swanigan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swanigan v. State, 2019 Ark. App. 296, 577 S.W.3d 737 (Ark. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Chief Judge

Steven Swanigan was convicted by a Garland County Circuit Court jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree battery for entering an apartment in Hot Springs and firing multiple gunshots killing Mayela Mata and injuring her twenty-month-old daughter and a friend, Antouin Bond. On recommendation of the jury, the circuit court sentenced Swanigan to an aggregate term of 720 months' imprisonment. He raises six points for reversal. We reject them and affirm his convictions.

I. Facts

Mayela Mata and her fiancé, Terrence Scott, lived with their daughter, ES, in a townhouse apartment at 200 Springwood in Hot Springs. At around 5:00 p.m. on April 30, 2014, several people, including Terrence's friend Antouin Bond, were at the apartment when two masked men came to the door, and one rushed inside, opened fire, killed Mayela, and injured ES and Antouin.

Terrence Scott testified that Mayela and ES were in the living room and that he, Antouin, and Terrence's brother Joseph were preparing to smoke marijuana in the kitchen when Terrence saw a "tall, skinny, black male with some really distinguished eyes" come in holding two guns with extended clips. A bandana covered the man's face except for his "big ole bug eyes." The man said either "get down" or "lay down," and he immediately began shooting. According to Terrence, a second man was with the shooter, but Terrence did not know whether that man had a gun. Terrence *742saw Mayela fall and saw part of her brain on the floor. After the shooter left, Terrence learned that Antouin and ES had both been shot. Terrence also testified that he had known Swanigan for twenty years and often saw him at Oaklawn Racetrack. Terrence said that Swanigan would "always be in Polo, you know, fresh starched clothes, Polo boots, Jordans."

Antouin described the shooter as a tall, slim man with dark skin. He said the shooter was holding two guns, and one of them had a long clip. He was not sure about the other gun. He said he believed the shooter spoke a few words before he began shooting. Antouin testified that he had been in school with Swanigan for only one year but had known him for about twenty years. Terrence's brother Joseph testified that the shooter had two guns, was very slim, and was wearing a hat and a bandana. He said that he had big eyes, "real bug eyes."

Natasha Jones testified that she and her husband lived in the apartment building right next to Terrence's building, about ten to fifteen feet away from Terrence's apartment. She said that at the time of the incident, she was upstairs in her bedroom and heard what sounded like fireworks outside. She looked out her blinds to check on her son, who was outside playing, and saw a white car with a blue top directly below her window. She said she saw a skinny, dark arm holding a black gun out of the passenger side window. According to Natasha, the car appeared to have a busted oil pan and it started to stall on its way out of the apartment complex. She heard screaming and went to Terrence's apartment where Terrence handed ES to her. She said that ES had a gunshot wound that went through her back and out her front near her left lung and heart and there was blood coming out of her mouth. Natasha's husband called 911.

Criminal investigator Russ Rhodes with the Arkansas State Police testified that he arrived on the scene at 5:37 p.m. He said that he saw what appeared to be automotive fluid in the driveway of the parking lot. He also described the items collected at the scene, which included a .40-caliber spent shell casing to the right of the front door, three nine-by-eighteen Makarov shell casings inside the front door, and several .40-caliber TulAmmo shell casings inside the front door and on the couch.

Jennifer Floyd from the State Crime Laboratory examined the ammunition found at the scene. She testified that the three expended TulAmmo .40-caliber cartridge cases had all been fired from the same gun. She also said there were three spent 9-millimeter Makarov caliber Hornady cartridge cases, all fired from the same gun.

Officer Corwin Battle, a special agent with the Arkansas State Police, testified that he recovered the surveillance video of the apartment parking lot for the time of the incident. He testified that the video depicted a Cadillac driving up to the apartment complex, two males getting out, one going inside Terrence's apartment, and the other stopping at the door. The video shows both men running to the car, jumping in, and leaving. The video was introduced into evidence and played for the jury. The video shows that there is no fluid in the parking space before the Cadillac drives up. After the Cadillac leaves the parking space, there is what appears to be a trail of fluid and the car can be seen as it stalls, tending to confirm Natasha's testimony about the Cadillac.

Deputy Phil Fisher of the Garland County Sheriff's Department testified that he had been dispatched to 115 Oak Hill in Hot Springs on an unrelated matter around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. on April 30, 2014. At that time, he noticed a white *743Cadillac with a blue landau top parked in front of the home. He went back to the Oak Hill address around 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. and again saw the white Cadillac in the driveway. Two black males dressed in Polo-type shirts and jeans were working on the Cadillac. He testified that shortly after he heard the dispatch about the shooting and that the suspect vehicle was a white Cadillac with a blue landau top, he again went to the Oak Hill address where he saw the Cadillac with the passenger door open. He said that the hood of the vehicle was warm.

Lieutenant Russell Severns, an investigator with the Garland County Sheriff's Department, was sent to 115 Oak Hill after the shooting to investigate. As he was photographing the Cadillac, he noticed vehicle fluid leading to the car and followed the trail of fluid on foot to the intersection of Oak Hill and Airport Road. He got in his car and followed the trail, which he said was not difficult to see. He said that the fluid trail did not follow the most direct route, but took a back way leading to the apartment complex at 200 Springwood. The fluid trail went past a Sonic Drive-In at the corner of Airport Road and Danna Drive.

Lieutenant Severns retrieved the video footage from the security cameras at the Sonic, which showed a white Cadillac with a blue top driving the wrong direction through the Sonic parking lot at 4:55 p.m. on April 30, 2014. Lieutenant Severns also interviewed a Sonic employee, Jordan Garner, who saw the Cadillac driving the wrong way through the parking lot at a high rate of speed between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. that day. She thought it was odd and looked to see who was driving the car. Jordan testified at trial that she looked directly at the driver, whose eyes stood out to her. She said that there was another person in the car, but she did not look directly at him. The day after the shooting, she identified Swanigan as the driver from a photo lineup.

Lieutenant Joel Ware of the Garland County Sheriff's Department testified that he also observed liquid in the roadway at 115 Oak Hill and took a video of the fluid trail from there to the apartment complex on Springwood. The video was played for the jury.

Ciara Morgan testified that her child's father, who was a friend of Swanigan's, was in jail at the time of the incident. He had previously parked his white Cadillac with a blue soft top in her yard.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2019 Ark. App. 296, 577 S.W.3d 737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swanigan-v-state-arkctapp-2019.