Weaver v. State

806 S.W.2d 615, 305 Ark. 180, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 190
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 1, 1991
DocketCR 90-203
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 806 S.W.2d 615 (Weaver 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
Weaver v. State, 806 S.W.2d 615, 305 Ark. 180, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 190 (Ark. 1991).

Opinion

Robert L. Brown, Justice.

This is .an appeal by appellant James Ross Weaver, Jr. from a conviction for capital murder and a sentence of life without parole in connection with the death of John Rogers. In December 1989 the appellant, who is age 19, and Rogers and a third party, Alan Hubbard, were roommates in a house in Little Rock. Ill will developed among the three, apparently relating to money and Rogers’ failure to pay rent for several months. On the evening of December 13,1989, the appellant and Hubbard went to the Catón residence to borrow an instrument which, according to the testimony of Al Catón, Sr., was for the purpose of “doing some collecting.” Catón, Sr. says the appellant made that statement. A baseball bat was first requested, but Catón, Sr. refused. It is not clear whether the appellant or Hubbard made the request, but the appellant was present. Either Hubbard or the appellant then took a tire knocker owned by the Catons.

The appellant and Hubbard returned home that same night at about nine or ten o’clock and found Rogers socializing with a few friends. What happened after that is not altogether clear but the salient points which are not disputed are that Hubbard, during the early morning hours of December 14, 1989, beat Rogers to death with the tire knocker, while Rogers was asleep on the couch. Hubbard then dragged the body to his car and placed the body in his trunk. What is in dispute is the extent of the appellant’s help. The appellant says he did not see the beating but only heard it and saw Hubbard holding the instrument; Hubbard says the appellant was on the couch when it happened. The appellant says he did not assist Hubbard in dragging or carrying the body to Hubbard’s car. Hubbard disputes this.

The appellant did drive with Hubbard to Cabot to dispose of the body and then helped Hubbard clean the house of bloodstains. He also took the tire knocker back to the Catons. The two men then moved out of the house and into an apartment, also in Little Rock.

On December 20, 1989, at approximately 11:30 p.m. two homicide detectives, Stafford and Oberle, and another police car arrived at the new apartment of the appellant and Hubbard and said they were investigating a missing person’s report on Rogers. The detectives had been alerted to Rogers’ absence by his girlfriend, who had contacted the Little Rock Police Department four or five days earlier. The detectives had also received a call from Rogers’ employer who had seen blood on the front porch and front yard of the house and then returned the next day to find that the blood was no longer there. The detectives had investigated the premises earlier on the evening of December 20 before accosting the two men at their new apartment and found articles in the front yard (wood chips and a doormat) with blood on them.

Prior to the visit, the detectives had done a warrant check on both men and found an outstanding traffic warrant, a misdemeanor, on the appellant. At the apartment the detectives told the men that they needed to come to the police station to discuss the missing Rogers, and the men agreed. The appellant was further told that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a traffic charge. The appellant rode with the detectives because of the warrant, and Hubbard rode in his own car. Detective Stafford testified that the men “volunteered” to go to the station, but the detectives made sure the men went to the station separately so they could not develop “a story.” Both detectives admitted that the appellant was not free to leave, had he decided not to go to the station voluntarily. Hence, neither detective told the appellant that he was free to go.

On the way to the police station, the appellant told the detectives “the whole story.” There is a conflict in testimony, however, as to when the appellant received his Miranda warnings. The appellant does not recall receiving them at all in the squad car or ever being told he was a suspect for murder. Detective Oberle first testified that Detective Stafford advised the appellant of his rights “while we were in the car” and then testified, “Stafford told him his rights before we started talking to him about it orally.” Oberle further said the appellant was advised of his rights even though they “really didn’t know what crime had been committed.” He admitted that it was not standard procedure to give Miranda warnings for a traffic violation. Detective Stafford’s testimony is less precise:

Counsel: When you got him in the car, you said you read him his Miranda Rights.
Detective: I didn’t immediately. I’d say about 65th and somewhere on 65 th Street, between Butler Road and Geyer Springs.
Counsel: What crime did you say that he was — had been charged with?
Detective: Well, I noticed his demeanor about him. He was very nervous. I did ask him when was the last time he saw John. His statement, I forget, didn’t coincide with what I already knew, and then about that time, I felt like there was foul play. Yes, and at that time I did advise him of his rights.
Counsel: Did he first deny knowing anything about this?
Detective: He said — He made a statement first that him and somebody got into a fight on Young Road that evening. He didn’t know who was involved in the fight, but they took John with them.
Counsel: Did you tell him, then, that you really knew what had happened?
Detective: I said I felt like I know better than that. Because I said there was other evidence at the house that disproves what you’re saying. And I can’t remember all the exact words, but between the time we got on the interstate and the time we got down to the police station, I mean, we knew the whole story.
Counsel: He then made a statement?
Detective: Yes, sir.
Counsel: In the car?
Detective: Yes, sir.

When he advised the appellant of his Miranda rights in the car, Detective Stafford said he considered him under arrest from that point forward.

At the station shortly after midnight, the detectives gave the appellant his Miranda rights and the appellant said he understood his rights and signed a waiver form. He then made a twenty minute taped statement. The statement at the station occurred within an hour of the initial visit to the appellant’s apartment. Hubbard gave a statement to the detectives about thirty minutes later. Then the appellant, Hubbard, and several additional detectives traveled to Cabot and retrieved Rogers’ body.

The appellant was charged with capital murder on January 5, 1990, and was tried two months later on March 6,1990. Prior to trial the appellant filed a motion to suppress his taped statement on grounds that it was tainted by a pretextual arrest and an earlier confession where Miranda was violated. The motion was denied.

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Bluebook (online)
806 S.W.2d 615, 305 Ark. 180, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weaver-v-state-ark-1991.