Boldin v. State
| Decision Date | 24 April 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. CR 07-1024.,CR 07-1024. |
| Citation | 373 Ark. 295,283 S.W.3d 565 |
| Parties | John H. BOLDIN, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Dana Reece, Little Rock, AR, for appellant.
Dustin McDaniel, Att'y Gen., by: Valerie Glover Fortner, Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellee.
Appellant John H. Boldin was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery by a Logan County jury. He received consecutive sentences of life imprisonment and forty years' imprisonment. On appeal, Boldin raises three points of error: (1) the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress; (2) the circuit court erred in limiting his presentation of his defense; and (3) the circuit court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict.
On appeal, we treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. See Coggin v. State, 356 Ark. 424, 156 S.W.3d 712 (2004). Although Boldin challenged the denial of his directed-verdict motion in his final point on appeal, double jeopardy concerns require that we review arguments regarding the sufficiency of the evidence first. See McDuffy v. State, 359 Ark. 180, 196 S.W.3d 12 (2004).
In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the State and considers only the evidence that supports the verdict. Id. Substantial evidence is that evidence which is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the other, without resorting to speculation or conjecture. Id.
Circumstantial evidence may provide the basis to support a conviction, but it must be consistent with the defendant's guilt and inconsistent with any other reasonable conclusion. Id. In other words, if there are two equally reasonable conclusions as to what occurred, this merely gives rise to a suspicion of guilt, which is not enough to support a conviction. Id. Upon review, the appellate court's role is to determine whether the jury resorted to speculation and conjecture in reaching its verdict. Id. Overwhelming evidence of guilt is not required in cases based on circumstantial evidence; rather, the test is one of substantiality. Id. A person commits murder in the first degree when "[w]ith the purpose of causing the death of another person, the person causes the death of another person." Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-102(a) (Repl.2006). Robbery is committed when, "with the purpose of committing a felony or misdemeanor theft ... the person employs or threatens to immediately employ force upon another." Ark.Code Ann. § 5-12-102(a) (Repl.2006). Aggravated robbery is committed when a person "commits robbery" and is either "armed with a deadly weapon; [r]epresents by word or conduct that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon; or [i]nflicts or attempts to inflict death or serious physical injury upon another person." Ark.Code Ann. § 5-12-103(a) (Repl.2006).
The following facts were presented to the jury in the instant case. On August 21, 2005, Pamela Agilar saw her son Kevin Agilar packing his car, a white Dodge Avenger with a gray hood. Kevin was preparing to travel from his home in North Little Rock to Louisiana for a job. The next day, Kevin Agilar's body was found under the State Highway 109 bridge, in Logan County.
Also on August 21, Cody Young saw Agilar and Boldin together at Young's home in Gravel Ridge. At that time, Boldin allegedly told Young that he intended to kill Agilar and steal his car. Boldin also indicated that he was on his way to the home of Young's brother, James Dustin Carter. So, once the two left, Young called Dustin Carter to tell him about Boldin's intentions.
In the early morning hours of August 22, Boldin arrived at Dustin and Savannah Carter's home in Hartman, Johnson County. According to Savannah, Dustin and Boldin momentarily left the room, while she remained in bed. Dustin returned a few minutes later and retrieved his gun, which he gave to Boldin. Dustin had Savannah drive him and Josh Baccam to the State Highway 109 bridge, with Boldin following behind in the victim's car. When they reached the bridge, Boldin drove the victim's car under the bridge. Savannah turned her car around and waited in a nearby parking lot. Boldin then returned from beneath the bridge, still driving the victim's car. Later that day, Savannah witnessed Boldin and Dustin attempting to clean the inside of the victim's car and burning things taken from inside the car. Boldin also brought her a basket of clothing from the car and asked her to wash the clothing.
Dustin Carter testified that the morning Boldin arrived at his home, Boldin was driving a white car, and he showed Dustin an unconscious person in the passenger's seat. He admitted that he allowed Boldin to borrow his gun, a Bryco Arms nine-millimeter pistol. Dustin testified to leading Boldin to the State Highway 109 bridge and stated that when Boldin drove under the bridge, the passenger was in the car; but, when Boldin returned, the passenger was gone. Dustin also admitted helping Boldin clean the victim's car, and he received a stereo from the car. According to Dustin, Boldin told him that he had shot Agilar and showed Dustin a spent bullet Boldin had retrieved from the car. Johnny Hern, a neighbor of the Carters, testified that Boldin joked about the idea of shooting Agilar. He also showed Johnny Hern a spent bullet. Floyd Hern, Dustin's uncle, also testified that Boldin was in possession of Agilar's car. Boldin was arrested after law enforcement located the victim's car near the Carter home.
The state medical examiner, Dr. Daniel Konzelman, testified that Agilar died of a single gunshot wound to the head and the body had some minor injuries that could have been inflicted by the body being rolled or by the body striking the ground from a standing position. He also stated that the large amounts of blood found near the body indicated that the victim was probably shot either under the bridge or shortly before the body was dumped there.
A Bryco Arms nine-millimeter pistol and some of Boldin's clothing were recovered by police after a search of the Carter home. Forensic testing of Boldin's clothing revealed the presence of Agilar's blood. Samples taken from the car were identified as being the victim's blood, and Boldin's finger and palm prints were found inside the victim's car.
In addition, a cigarette lighter was among the items in Boldin's possession when he was arrested. Upon examining the lighter, officers found a spent bullet hidden inside. Testing at the state crime laboratory revealed that tool markings on both the spent bullet and an empty casing found near the body were consistent with those produced by the same type of Bryco Arms nine-millimeter pistol found in the Carter home.
Proof of a criminal defendant's intent must usually be inferred from the circumstances of the crime. Leaks v. State, 345 Ark. 182, 45 S.W.3d 363 (2001). Intent may be inferred from the type of weapon used, the manner of its use, and the nature, extent, and location of the wounds. Id. In addition, a person is presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of one's actions. Id.
Ample evidence was presented to support Boldin's convictions. Several witnesses saw Boldin with the victim's car, and two witnesses saw Boldin drive the car under the bridge where the victim's body was found and return without the victim in the car. Boldin also told Cody Young that he intended to kill Agilar and steal his car, and after the murder he boasted about shooting Agilar and showed two witnesses the bullet he found in the victim's car. The bullet he was carrying was consistent with the suspected murder weapon, and the victim's blood was found on his clothing.
Boldin asserts that Cody Young, Savannah Carter, and Dustin Carter were accomplices to the crime, and without their testimony, the State would not have been able to prove its case. He asks this court to evaluate the evidence without the testimony of his alleged accomplices pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-89-111(e) (Repl.2005). However, none of the witnesses were charged as accomplices, and Boldin neither requested that the trial court declare them accomplices nor did he proffer an accomplice jury instruction for the record. Accordingly, we conclude that Boldin's argument as to accomplice testimony was not preserved for appeal. See Windsor v. State, 338 Ark. 649, 656, 1 S.W.3d 20, 24 (1999).
In line with his arguments concerning the sufficiency of the evidence and accomplice testimony, Boldin also argues that the circuit court hampered his ability to present his defense by limiting defense counsel's questions to witnesses regarding their involvement in the crimes. He argues that both the prosecution and the trial court mistook his attempts to question witnesses as an attempt to present an accomplice-liability defense, and, thus, the court erroneously limited defense counsel's cross-examination of key witnesses. He asserts that it was the State's duty to prove accomplice liability on the part of Cody Young, Dustin Carter, and Savannah Carter. He again argues that the State would not have been able to meet its burden of proof without the accomplice testimony of those witnesses. In effect, he reargues his sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument in relation to the circuit court's limiting of his defense.
Prior to trial, the prosecution filed a discovery motion requesting defense counsel's disclosure of Boldin's proposed defense, pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 18.3. Defense counsel never disclosed a specific defense to the prosecutor, and instead asserted a defense of general denial. During cross-examination of Savannah Carter, defense counsel began asking her to elaborate on her involvement in the crimes, and the prosecutor objected. The prosecutor argued that...
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