Vidos v. State

239 S.W.3d 467, 367 Ark. 296, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 429
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 14, 2006
DocketCR 05-898
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 239 S.W.3d 467 (Vidos v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vidos v. State, 239 S.W.3d 467, 367 Ark. 296, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 429 (Ark. 2006).

Opinion

Jim Gunter, Justice.

This appeal arises from the conviction and sentence of appellant, Christy Suzanne Vidos, by a Boone County jury for the death of her estranged husband, Lloyd Vidos. Appellant was convicted of capital murder, a violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101 (Repl. 1997), a Class Y felony, and tampering with physical evidence, a violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-111 (Repl. 1997), a Class D felony. Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole with six years to be served concurrently on the tampering charge. On appeal, appellant makes six allegations of error. We affirm the jury’s verdict.

Appellant and Vidos were married, had two children, and lived in Berwick, Louisiana. After some time, the marriage became strained, and the two separated. Appellant moved back to Boone County with her boyfriend, Leslie Paray, and Vidos filed for divorce. Appellant later had a child with Paray, and they were married in Boone County prior to the divorce being finalized.

In July of 2002, appellant and her parents, Jonny Cris and Sharon Acuff, traveled back to Berwick to collect some of appellant’s personal property. Vidos traveled with appellant back to Boone County in a U-Haul truck. When they arrived in Boone County, appellant and Vidos were supposed to go to the Acuff residence on Daniels Road, but instead, they went to a vacant house on her parents’ property on Shake Rag Hollow Road, which is located in an isolated, rural area of Boone County. She left Vidos there, and she and Paray returned to the vacant house. Appellant’s father later picked up his daughter at the vacant house, but Vidos was not there.

Metz Vidos, the victim’s father, notified Louisiana law-enforcement officials that his son was missing. On August 8, 2002, the Berwick Police Department contacted the Boone County Sheriffs Office, requesting assistance in locating the victim. His father stated that, in a cell phone conversation on August 3, 2002, his son told him that he was in front of a vacant, white house on the Acuff property. Mr. Vidos had not been able to reestablish contact with his son after that phone call. Further, Mr. Vidos discovered that his nine millimeter handgun was missing.

On August 9, 2002, officers from the Boone County Sheriffs Office conducted a search of the area. That afternoon, Captain Mark Rupp contacted Donna Phillips, a Fayetteville attorney, who told the officer that Scott Acuff, appellant’s brother, told her where the body was located. Phillips described a location on the Acuff property on Shake Rag Hollow Road. Officers responded and located the decomposing body of the victim approximately .6 miles off the road in a hollow amidst rugged terrain. After discovering the body, officers contacted Phillips again and interviewed her. She advised them that appellant and others were present at the office. Phillips stated that appellant said that she “stumbled” upon the victim’s body. According to Phillips, appellant, after telling her parents, contacted Phillips, and Phillips advised appellant to contact the Boone County Sheriffs Office and report the information she knew. The officers surmised that it would be unlikely for someone to “stumble” across a body in this particular remote location that was accessible primarily by four-wheel vehicles.

Officers conducted an examination of the scene approximately .2 miles from the residence on Shake Rag Hollow Road and found an area that appeared to be scraped by a front-end loader. They also found a small round clock with Velcro on the back, as well as a cardboard tag for a pair of work gloves. Officers also noticed that trees had been pushed down by a tractor. Later, near the Acuff s residence on Daniels Road, officers found a tractor with a strip of Velcro that matched the clock and thistles in the radiator of the tractor that matched the thistles in the field where the body was found.

A search warrant was executed on the pickup truck belonging to appellant’s father, which was identified as having been driven by Paray. There, officers discovered work gloves that matched the cardboard tag, and a shovel and other tools, which contained blood, were discovered in the bed of the truck. Officers also discovered a block of wood containing hair or fibers in the truck.

On August 9, 2002, Jonny Cris Acuff, appellant’s father, was interviewed by the Boone County Sheriff s Office and originally denied any knowledge of the murder. However, Acuff later stated that he and Paray drove the tractor, and he saw the scraped area where the clock was found. He saw flies in the area and detected a strong odor. The next day, Acuff talked with his wife, who told him that “it” had been moved. When he asked what “it” was, she replied, “Lloyd’s body.” Acuff also told officers that his daughter came to him on August 4, 2002, and asked him to teach her to drive the tractor.

On August 10, 2002, Sharon Acuff, appellant’s mother, was interviewed at the Boone County Sheriffs Office. She stated that on August 6, 2002, appellant and Paray discussed moving the victim’s body. She also stated that the victim had given appellant a nine millimeter handgun prior to the shooting. She revealed that appellant told her several different stories, including that the victim wished to commit suicide. Acuff further stated that, on August 9, 2002, Paray had told her that he shot the victim two times with a nine millimeter handgun and had killed Vidos. Paray told appellant’s mother that he shot the victim at the abandoned house on Shake Rag Hollow Road.

On August 15, 2002, appellant was charged with capital murder and tampering with physical evidence. The State alleged that appellant acted with Leslie Paray in shooting Lloyd Vidos and in hiding his body. Appellant’s parents were charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution. The charge against Jonny Cris Acuff was nolle prossed, and Sharon Acuff was placed on probation. Leslie Paray pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On June 3, 2004, appellant filed a motion to suppress her custodial statements made to Kenneth Barnes, a jailer, and her statements to Phillips, which were disclosed to the State during its investigation. Appellant also filed a motion to prohibit the testimony of Donna Phillips and a motion to suppress the evidence obtained at the scene. Subsequent amended and supplemental motions were filed.

An order was entered on November 3, 2004, denying appellant’s motion to suppress the statement to the jailer, denying the statements made to Donna Phillips, and denying the motion to suppress physical evidence obtained from the Shake Rag Hollow property.

Appellant’s jury trial was held in November 2004, but a mistrial was declared. On January 24, 2005, a retrial was conducted, and the jury found appellant guilty of capital murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment with six years concurrent for the tampering charge. On January 13, 2005, the circuit court entered a judgment and commitment order. From this order, appellant brings her appeal.

I. Motion to suppress

For her first point on appeal, appellant argues that the circuit court erred in refusing to suppress appellant’s statement to a jailer.

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Bluebook (online)
239 S.W.3d 467, 367 Ark. 296, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vidos-v-state-ark-2006.