Reeves v. Com.
| Decision Date | 22 January 1971 |
| Citation | 462 S.W.2d 926 |
| Parties | Troy REEVES, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Lowell W. Lundy, Barbourville, Terry E. Forcht, Paul Braden, Corbin, for appellant.
John B. Breckinridge, Atty. Gen., Douglas E. Johnson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
DAVIS, Commissioner.
Troy Reeves was indicted for the willful murder of James Lee Johnson. Upon trial by jury, he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and his punishment fixed at imprisonment for twenty-one years. He seeks reversal of that conviction and assigns various charges of error, all of which relate to his claim that the trial court improperly admitted in evidence an incriminating confession. A related assignment of error deals with the failure of the trial court to admonish the jury concerning the confession.
The factual background of this bizarre and shocking affair is succinctly expressed in the challenged confession, which is quoted in full as follows:
'My name is TROY REEVES, I am twenty years of age, single and I was living with my parents at Frakes, Kentucky.
On Friday morning December 13, 1968, CLAUDE DIXON, DEWEY PARTIN, LARRY THACKER and JAMES JOHNSON came to my house and got me and we drove over in Tennessee in DEWEY PARTIN's car.
When we got out of the car CLAUDE DIXON drew a knife on me and said, 'You carry the meat', which I did. When we got to the cabin LARRY THACKER threw a gun on me and told me to cook the meat.
DEWEY PARTIN left to take his car back home. LARRY THACKER and CLAUDE DIXON went to bed. I shot one of them with a shotgun and the other with a .22 and killed them both. When DEWEY PARTIN came back he had a gun and he started to point it at me and said, 'Where are the boys?', and I thought he was going to shoot me and I shot him; then JAMES JOHNSON and I left together and went over near JAMES's home and he swung to hit me with a shotgun and I fired on him. I took both guns and went home.
Saturday officers came looking for me and I ran off. After they left I came back to the house and about 5:00 they were coming toward the house again, I ran off again. One of them started tracking me and around 7:30 or 8:00 I came back to the house, got the .22 automatic and got in the toilet. After I saw this man come out of the woods I stepped out of the toilet and hollored (sic), 'Halt', and this man started to draw something, I thought a gun, and I started shooting and he shot a shot or two. I killed him, whom I have been told was WILLIAM TRIBELL, The County Attorney.
I am making this statement to the Commonwealth Attorney FARMER HELTON on my own free will and I have not been forced to do anything by anyone, I have not been threatened nor have I been made any promises, I made this statement which I am signing in the presence of FARMER HELTON, Commonwealth Attorney, ED ASHER, Jailer, DON K. FLOWERS, Kentucky State Police, and CLEON K. CALVERT, Jr., Deputy Jailer.'
It will be noted that the confession recounts the slaying of Dixon, Partin, and Thacker in Tennessee. The confession does not elaborate concerning Johnson's activities or whereabouts at the time Reeves was dispatching the first three victims but leaves the inference that Johnson was at hand, since it recites that Johnson and Reeves departed the crime scene together and remained together until they returned to Kentucky at a point near the home of James Johnson where Reeves shot and killed Johnson because, as he expressed it, Johnson 'swung to hit me with a shotgun.'
Those four killings completed the day's activities for Reeves, but on the next day, his confession notes, officers came looking for him and he ran off. Apparently, he eluded the officers at that time and returned to his residence, only to learn that the officers were again seeking him; he 'ran off again.' The officers continued their pursuit of Reeves, but he was able to hide in an outhouse from which he subsequently shot and killed William Tribell, then the county attorney of Bell County.
Apparently, the law enforcement officers of Bell County, Kentucky, had learned of the triple slaying in the nearby remote section of Tennessee and also had learned of the likely involvement of Reeves in that affair. At the time of the killing of the Bell County attorney on Saturday, December 14, the authorities had not learned of the slaying of James Lee Johnson.
On Sunday, December 15, Reeves voluntarily surrendered to a deputy sheriff in his neighborhood and was brought to the Bell County jail. The record does not disclose the exact hour of his arrival at the jail, although the jailer related that Reeves' feet were badly frostbitten and that a doctor was called to the jail to administer for that condition.
The trial judge, on motion of Reeves' counsel, conducted a preliminary hearing out of the presence of the jury relating to the admissibility vel non of the confession. At that hearing, it was developed that Honorable Farmer Helton, Commonwealth's Attorney for the 44th Judicial District, Bell County, interviewed Reeves in the Bell County jail on Monday, December 16, beginning about 7:30 p.m. Mr. Helton believed, but was not certain, that he was then accompanied by the jailer, deputy jailer, and perhaps a Kentucky state trooper. His concern then related to the killing of the Bell County attorney as well as the three homicides committed in Tennessee. Mr. Helton testified that he informed Reeves that he was under investigation for at least four murders and that he had the right to remain silent and had the right to counsel. The officer also advised Reeves that anything he said there could and probably would be used against him and, further, that Reeves was privileged to discontinue any questioning at any time he chose. The Commonwealth's attorney deposed that he specifically told Reeves that an attorney would be made available to him, even though Reeves was indigent, but that Reeves indicated that he did not desire an attorney. Mr. Helton's testimony concerning his informing Reeves of his rights was confirmed by State Trooper Flowers. Flowers testified that the interview occurred on the morning of Tuesday, December 17, and lasted about half an hour. The trooper and Mr. Helton said that no coercion of any sort was exerted by anyone in obtaining any statement from Reeves. Mr. Helton's testimony indicates that he may have interviewed Reeves Monday night and again on Tuesday morning, but he related that he informed Reeves of his constitutional rights on each occasion.
At the interview on Tuesday, ...
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Johnson v. State
...Under this analysis, even a gross violation of the presentment requirement can be disregarded altogether. See, e. g., Reeves v. Commonwealth, 462 S.W.2d 926 (Ky.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 836, 92 S.Ct. 124, 30 L.Ed.2d 69 (1971) (4-day delay in presentment did not affect admissibility; State ......
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James v. Kentucky, 82-6840
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