Sykes v. State

2009 Ark. 522, 357 S.W.3d 882, 2009 Ark. LEXIS 673
Supreme Court of Arkansas·Decided October 29, 2009·No. No. CR 09-402·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

JIM GUNTER, Justice.

liA Washington County jury convicted appellant Jerry Sykes of capital murder, kidnapping, robbery, and theft of property. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the capital-murder charge, twenty years in prison on the kidnapping charge, a $10,000 fine on the robbery charge, and an $8000 fine on the theft-of-property charge. On appeal, he argues that (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement on the grounds that it was unlawfully obtained, and that (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict with regard to the capital-murder charge. Because appellant was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, our jurisdiction is pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 1-2(a)(2). We affirm on both points.

On March 2, 2007, eleven-year-old Sva-na Stokes woke up late for school and realized |2her mother, Sandra Stokes, had slept through the alarm. When Svana went looking for her mother, she found her gagged and bound in her bed in the upstairs sleeping loft. Her mother’s boyfriend, Jerry Sykes, who had been present in the house the night before, was gone. His vehicle was not parked in the driveway. Moreover, several items were missing from the home, including a laptop computer, Svana’s cellular phone, Sandra’s cellular phone, Sandra’s purse containing credit cards and cash, and the license plate from Sandra’s car. When law enforcement began searching for Sykes, they discovered a trail of ATM transactions and cellular phone communications from Oklahoma through Mexico. Following a six-month manhunt that extended into Central America, Sykes was captured and brought back to Washington County for trial.

Prior to trial, Sykes filed a motion to suppress a statement he made during a custodial interrogation on September 30, 2007. The court held a hearing on the motion on August 21, 2008. Chuck Rex-ford, Deputy Sheriff of the Washington County Sheriffs Office, testified that he responded to an emergency call at Stokes’s home on March 2, 2007. He processed the initial crime scene, interviewed witnesses, and attempted to track down Sykes. In late September, Sykes was discovered in Honduras and brought back to Arkansas for interrogation. Rexford testified that he began the questioning session by advising Sykes of his rights and the charges against him. Rexford presented Sykes with the rights form, had him acknowledge he understood his rights, and had him sign the form. The interview was audio and video recorded. The questioning began with Sykes explaining his travels from Arkansas to | aHonduras. Sykes admitted taking $1500 using Sandra’s ATM card. The conversation then turned to the death of Stokes.

Officer: Well, how about the laptop?
Sykes: Well, I tell you what Cap’n. I don’t mean to be anti-social on this deal or anything like that, you know what I’m saying, but this uh, this whole thing is uh, is, is, is, really something that I pretty much already just, I already pretty well decided I’m in the story about getting down there, and all like that, I don’t mind telling you, cause it’s a kinda interesting story, if I say so myself, I can’t believe it happened, but anyhow, and especially the part about Mexico and Mexico City about sitting in immigration for that long and them letting me go, I mean I just knew you guys had me, huh. Uh, anyhow, uh, because of the seriousness of this thing and, and, and, the price and the cost of this thing, you know, which is my life, probably twice, huh, at least, uh, I really, had rather, do anything ...
Officer: Let me, let me ask you this. Well I mean, I worked the scene out there, so I know ...
Sykes: Uh huh.
Officer: ... what, what Sandy looked like and, all about the scene ...
Sykes: Uh huh.
Officer: I did the crime scene. What was your intent? Just, just to get away and keep her from talking?
Sykes: Man, I’d like to tell you this, okay. I, I mean I’d like to answer this to you, I really would. You are very much onto the right track though. I’ll go that far, alright. But please try to understand, I don’t, I don’t feel like that I need to be discussing this at all. I think it’s really plumb ignorant to answer any questions right now, even if, I mean, can you not understand that? I mean I ...
OfficeR: Oh I understand that.
Sykes: ... I am up against a fucking wall here.
Officer: You’re, you’re, right now you’re, you know, you’re in deep, deep trouble.
Sykes: I cert. I certainly am.
Officer: But that’s why I was sitting here, to give you an opportunity ... Sykes: And it’s just, it’s just like, it’s just like the thing with the kidnapping thing. I mean it’s pretty fucking how evident that nobody was trying to kidnap her. Why, why that happened is beyond me. I will say this, okay, the intent was not there. I mean I didn’t kill her and then tied her up. I actually had resuscitated her, okay. What I didn’t do was I didn’t, I didn’t call 9-1-1, and, that’s right there man how I feel now I’ve said a lot more than what uh, what I should have already probably said. You know what I mean. And I feel okay about that. And you’ve been a real good guy, I mean, and I honestly think you’re a real serious profession police officer, and I don’t mind really 14sitting here and talking to you about this, but still you know, it says right there on that thing, anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law, so the best I can do is, for myself, is to shut the hell up and not talk about this without first talking to a lawyer. And I don’t have the money or the funds for a lawyer. And I don’t, I mean, you have a lot of expertise in the law, alright, and I’m pretty much green ass ignorant about all this stuff, okay, I mean I don’t know what, but I imagine, I imagine right now, worst case scenario on just one of those offenses, , if not two of them, I could probably sit in a chair. Officer: Yeah, it could go that way. That would depend on probably the prosecutor.
Sykes: I would be, I would be pretty much ignorant to assume that it’s going to go any other way. You have to understand that, that’s where I’m at with this, okay?
Officer: Sure.
Sykes: So it’s not that I’m trying to be a dickhead or be uncooperative or anything like that, it’s just that I’m just trying to be ...
Officer: I was just trying, I was, you know, just sit you down like I would anyone else, whether it be ...
Sykes: Well, I ...
Officer: ... to let them tell their side of the story if they wanna tell it, you know.
Sykes: ... well ...
Officer: And explain it away, or what, or try to.
Sykes: ...

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Sykes v. State, 2009 Ark. 522, 357 S.W.3d 882, 2009 Ark. LEXIS 673 (Ark. 2009).

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