State v. Clark

• Decision Date: 08 December 1980
• Docket Number: No. 76-440-C,76-440-C
• Citation: 423 A.2d 1151
• Parties: STATE v. Sidney CLARK. A.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 1151

423 A.2d 1151

STATE v. Sidney CLARK.

No. 76-440-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Dec. 8, 1980.

Reargument Denied Jan, 5, 1981.

Dennis J. Roberts, II, Atty. Gen., Barry N. Capalbo, Thomas H. Caruolo, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., for plaintiff.

William F. Reilly, Public Defender, Barbara Hurst, Chief Appellate Atty., John A. MacFadyen, III, Asst. Public Defender, for defendant.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

This indictment charges the defendant, Sidney Clark (Clark), and two others with the murder of Claude Saunders (Saunders). The charges arose from the November 2, 1974 stabbing death of Saunders at a time when the deceased and the defendant were incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI). On September 11, 1975, the state filed a motion requesting that each defendant be tried separately. The motion was granted, and in late October 1975 a Superior Court jury found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder. Subsequently, the trial justice, acting pursuant to what he believed was the mandate of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-23-2, as amended by P.L. 1973, ch. 280, § 1, imposed the death sentence. Later, on February 19, 1979, this court ruled that the mandatory death provisions of § 11-23-2 violated the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. State v. Cline, R.I., 397 A.2d 1309 (1979). Subsequently, Clark was returned to the Superior Court for resentencing, and on October 9, 1979, he received a life sentence.

Saunders was stabbed at approximately 5 p. m. while he was sitting in his cell. Within minutes of the stabbing, the State Police were at the prison, and the investigation began. One officer who viewed Saunders's cell noted that there was "blood all over the place." The police received statements from various prisoners indicating, in essence, that Clark had entered Saunders's cell and stabbed him. Some of the correctional officers who were on duty in the cell area conceded that they did not observe Clark near the scene of the murder but acknowledged that their attention was directed toward aiding the deceased. During the investigation the State Police noticed that a ceiling tile was out of place. Upon lifting the tile, they found a white towel; wrapped within the towel was a knife that was subsequently identified as the possible murder weapon. As a result of the investigation, the police charged Clark and two other inmates, Jesse Cannon (Cannon) and Tyrone Powell (Powell), with murder.

Clark is before us on an appeal in which he raises a plethora of issues. We shall limit our discussion solely to those issues that merit consideration.

Clark argues that the trial justice abused his discretion when he granted the state's motion to sever his trial from that of his codefendants. We disagree. Although a severance at the state's insistence may be a unique event usually it is the defendant who seeks such relief the relief sought was available pursuant to the language of Super.R.Crim.P. 14, which in its pertinent portion provides that if "it appears that a defendant or the state is prejudiced by a joinder of * * * defendants in an indictment * * * or by such joinder for trial together, the court may * * * grant a severance of defendants or provide whatever other relief justice requires." Under Rule 14 the touchstone for the grant of a severance is a showing of "prejudice" to the moving party.

Clark contends that the burden of persuasion should be heavier when the severance is initiated by the state rather than by the defendant. We disagree. Rule 14's relief by its express terms is available to the prosecution as well as to the defense, and as Judge Learned Hand observed, "No accused person has any recognizable legal interest in being tried with another, accused with him, though he often has an interest in not being so tried * * *." United States v. Bronson, 145 F.2d 939, 943 (2d Cir. 1944).

The basis for the state's motion was its concern that evidence of Clark's direct participation in the stabbing might "rub off" on Cannon. Concern was also expressed that impeaching evidence available against Powell would be prejudicial to Clark. The prosecutor also pointed out that if one of the accused testified, he would be "forcing the hand" of the other two of his codefendants. The trial justice, in granting the motion, found that a joint trial would prejudice the state in two respects. He believed that there was a "strong possibility" that evidence adduced against one defendant might adversely affect the jury's ability to perceive the guilt or innocence of one or both of the other defendants. He also noted that since the jury was well aware that a guilty verdict against one defendant was the equivalent of a trip to the gas chamber, a guilty verdict as to all three defendants was well nigh an impossibility.

We cannot fault the trial justice's rationale in finding that the state's interests would be prejudiced by a trial involving all three defendants. Although there may be those who, because of their adherence to the "sporting" theory of litigation, would require the state to live with its original decision to indict all three defendants, there is something more at stake here than a sporting event. Our adversary trial system's goal is to ascertain the truth rather than to select one of the litigants as the winner. Here, the trial justice, in ordering the severance, recognized a legitimate prosecutorial goal. United States v. Grullon, 482 F.Supp. 429, 431 (E.D.Pa.1979).

When we consider the disadvantages that may have accrued to Clark by the grant of the severance, we are told of an impairment of trial counsel's ability to prepare his defense adequately and the loss of advantage because the severance left Clark "out on a limb alone" where he could not benefit from any of the weaknesses that might develop in the state's presentation of evidence against Cannon and Powell. Prior to the filing of the severance motion, defendants had agreed to a joint effort in which the various facets of the defense had been allocated to each counsel for the respective defendants. However, the trial justice was aware of this situation, and in the severance order he specifically directed Cannon's counsel to be available and to act as cocounsel along with Clark's trial counsel. ¹ Again, the public defender's staff, which was serving Powell's legal needs, continued to provide Clark with investigative support services.

Although Clark may have had to shift gears, the severance award in no way impinged upon his right to a fair trial. Clark's worry about being out on the branch by himself is certainly no defense to the grant of the motion for a severance. Even though a defendant has a right to demonstrate weaknesses in the evidence presented against him, he has no right to avail himself of weaknesses in the testimony relevant to his codefendants but immaterial to him. Rather, his guilt or innocence should be determined solely on the strength of the evidence adduced against him. As implied earlier in this discussion, a motion for severance is directed to the sound judicial discretion of the trial justice, and we see nothing in this record to disturb the choice made by the trial justice. ²

Clark submits that the trial justice's exclusion of three prospective jurors from the jury impaneled to hear this case violates the principles of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). Although this issue may be moot, ³ we find, in any event, that the principles of Witherspoon were not violated.

Under Witherspoon, potential jurors may not constitutionally be excluded for cause "simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious scruples against its infliction." Id. at 522, 88 S.Ct. at 1776-77, 20 L.Ed.2d at 784-85. Exclusion of a single individual for such a reason renders the death penalty constitutionally infirm. Davis v. Georgia, 429 U.S. 122, 123, 97 S.Ct. 399, 399-400, 50 L.Ed.2d 339, 341 (1976).

"A man who opposes the death penalty, no less than one who favors it, can make the discretionary judgment entrusted to him by the State and can thus obey the oath he takes as a juror. But a jury from which all such men have been excluded cannot perform the task demanded of it * * * in a nation less than half of whose people believe in the death penalty, a jury composed exclusively of such people cannot speak for the community." Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. at 519-20, 88 S.Ct. at 1775-76, 20 L.Ed.2d at 783.

The prosecution does have a right, however, to challenge for cause those prospective jurors who state that their reservations about capital punishment would prevent them from making an impartial decision. Id. at 513-14, 88 S.Ct. at 1772-73, 20 L.Ed.2d at 780. The state may insist that jurors determine the facts impartially and apply the law as charged by the court.

Recently, in Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 65 L.Ed.2d 581 (1980), the Supreme Court found a violation of the Witherspoon principle. In Adams, the state of Texas excluded members of the venire because they were unable to take an oath that the mandatory penalty of death or imprisonment for life would not "affect" their deliberations on any issue of fact. The court emphasized the word "affected." It noted that simply because a juror is "affected" by capital punishment does not mean he is unwilling or unable to follow the court's instructions and obey the oath. Id. at ----, 100 S.Ct. at 2528-29, 65 L.Ed.2d at 592-93.

Consequently, the key question to be asked when a trial judge is confronted with a Witherspoon situation is this: Can the juror obey his oath in spite of his feelings about capital punishment?

Turning to the record, we note the following colloquy with respect to the challenged exclusions:

Ms. North:

"The Court: Knowing that your vote is going to result in the death penalty being imposed on this defendant, would you have any...