Collins v. State

Decision Date29 January 1979
Docket NumberNo. 4907,4907
Citation589 P.2d 1283
PartiesJessie W. COLLINS, Appellant (Defendant below), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
CourtWyoming Supreme Court

Thomas L. Sansonetti, Gillette, and Cecil K. Hughes, Sundance, signed the brief, for appellant.

John J. Rooney, Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Allen C. Johnson, Asst. Atty. Gen., signed the brief. Willis C. Geer, County and Prosecuting Atty., for Campbell County, appeared in oral argument on behalf of appellee.

Before RAPER, C. J., McCLINTOCK, THOMAS and ROSE, JJ., and GUTHRIE, J., Retired. *

RAPER, Chief Justice.

The defendant was charged with the first degree murders of Harry Reno and Jack Putnam. Following a trial by jury, the defendant-appellant was convicted of two counts of murder in the first degree in violation of § 6-54, W.S.1957. 1 Following the verdicts of guilty, the defendant was sentenced as to each, to imprisonment for life. He appeals asserting as errors:

1. Failure of the trial court to grant a change of venue.

2. The trial judge's order to lock the courtroom doors during oral argument.

3. Refusal of the trial judge to sequester the jury during trial.

4. Allowing two exhibits, photographs of the dead body of Jack Putnam, to be received in evidence.

5. Insufficient evidence to sustain the verdicts of guilty.

We will affirm.

At about 8:00 in the evening of a Saturday on the date of the homicides, the defendant, a 42-year-old male iron worker and his girlfriend, Gloria, 31 years of age, entered the Long Branch Bar at Reno Junction, located approximately thirty-eight miles south of Gillette. They had been on their weekly shopping trip; they shared a mobile home at Wright, two miles east of the Long Branch and had stopped for a drink before heading on home.

Some fifteen persons were in the bar at the time of the homicides which took place in their close presence. With minor variations, the testimony of those present and appearing as witnesses at the trial was remarkably consistent. Very few of the witnesses were acquainted with defendant or those killed. The events that led up to the fatalities were apparently initiated by a drunken woman who was rowdy and generally making a nuisance of herself. She attempted to sit on the defendant's lap and was running her fingers through his hair. Gloria became angered and told her to get off or she would remove her. The woman refused, and so Gloria pushed her off onto the floor. An unfriendly wrestling match between the two women ensued and went on for some time.

The two decedents were patrons of the bar and had apparently been drinking considerably, although according to testimony of the lady tending bar that evening and another, they were jovial, in a rather good mood, and not causing any problems. Both were acquaintances of the bar owner and, as a matter of fact, helped out in the establishment on occasion in gestures of friendliness. Putnam was the uncle of Reno.

Putnam went up to the defendant and, because of a fear they might hurt themselves, suggested the two women should be stopped. Defendant is reported to have said, "It's a fine argument, they will settle it among themselves, just go back and watch your drink." There is testimony that Putnam then extended an invitation to defendant to, "go for a round or two." Several of the witnesses testified the defendant said to Putnam, "You're fooling with death. I play for keeps are you ready to die?" 2 Putnam took a swing at defendant. There Defendant then said to those in the bar, generally, "Does anyone else want to mess with me? Because I play for keeps if you want to play the game." One of the patrons, said by another witness to have been under a table, testified defendant said, "This is self defense." The witness responded, "They got places behind bars for people for self defense like that." The defendant wheeled around and pointed his gun at the witness and asked him what he said. The witness' response to the inquiry was silence.

is some variation as to whether or not defendant was actually struck. However, the stronger indication is that there was at least a glancing blow. At that moment, the defendant shot Putnam. More than one witness testified that the defendant had a cap over his hands just before he stood up and shot Putnam, indicating that the weapon was ready for use at that time.

About that time, Reno picked up a pool cue by the small end and, with considerable force, hit the defendant across the shoulders, shattering the cue into three parts. The defendant turned toward Reno, gun in hand. Reno was backing up with his hands up over his head and, after a pause of several seconds, the defendant shot him.

The defendant then said, "That's two," and then added, "It was self defense, you all saw that." The defendant then pointed the gun at everybody and said, "Who wants to be next? I've got bullets enough in here to kill everybody in here. Anybody else wants to stop here, just step up." The defendant then said to his friend, Gloria, "Let's get out of here," and they left.

While all of the foregoing events were taking place, the individual working at the bar that evening dialed emergency 911 and reported the shooting of Putnam. The police department dispatcher in Gillette, while taking the call, heard a noise in the background and the person on the line said, "He just shot another person." Law enforcement officers and an ambulance were dispatched to the scene. Putnam was dead when the ambulance arrived, but Reno was alive and was taken to a hospital in Gillette where he received emergency treatment to the extent possible with local facilities available. He had been shot in the abdomen, resulting in extensive damage. He was transferred to a Denver hospital where he died. An autopsy was done and the pathologist testified through deposition that the death was the result of complications following multiple internal injuries caused by a gunshot wound.

An autopsy was done on Putnam. A pathologist testified that death was the result of a gunshot wound through the lower neck which caused massive accumulation of blood in and collapse of the left lung and severe shock. The pathologist also testified that the alcohol content of Putnam's blood was .24, which he further testified meant that Putnam was drunk at the time he was shot.

The defendant was apprehended at Casper, Wyoming at about 5:00 a. m., two days later. Following arrest, he made various statements after being regularly, on at least two occasions, given the Miranda warning as to his rights to remain silent. During a conversation in the Sheriff's office in Casper, defendant stated that after being beaten fourteen years ago, he started carrying a gun and swore that no one would ever beat him up again. He further advised that he shot Putnam and Reno to protect himself. He confirmed that Gloria and another girl at the bar had gotten into a fight, a man had come up, told him to leave well enough alone, and took a swing at him. He stated that he wasn't going to get beat up anymore by anybody, that he had his gun in his pocket, pulled it out after the man took a swing at him, and then shot him. He said he turned around after being hit with the pool cue and, without looking, shot the other man. The defendant gave written consent for a search of his motor vehicle, during which the murder revolver was recovered. A forensic scientist from the Wyoming crime laboratory testified that the bullets recovered from the bodies of the two deceased victims were fired from the weapon recovered in the search.

Other facts will be related during the course of this opinion as necessary.

CHANGE OF VENUE

Defendant made a pretrial motion for a change of venue. About four months before trial, a hearing on the motion was held. At the hearing, defendant's counsel produced two witnesses. One, a twenty-three year-old bank teller in Gillette, testified that she talked to customers in the bank and she had formed an opinion that the defendant was guilty. She had known the Reno family as long as she had been around. She refused to testify with whom she had discussed the crimes nor could she recall exactly what had been said. She concluded that 100 percent of those with whom she had talked felt that he was guilty. Since the witness could not name anyone with whom she had talked, we could not determine if that person was on the jury even if we had the names of the jurors.

The other witness was the news director of a local radio station. He testified that the murders were news-worthy and that reports of the incidents and the progress of the prosecution were reported over the radio from time to time. He produced copies of newscast scripts. They were objective, indicating that a first-degree murder warrant had been issued, that the defendant was being sought after the shooting, that Putnam had been shot in the neck, that Reno had been shot in the stomach after he reportedly swung a pool cue at the gunman, and that the defendant had been apprehended at Casper. When Reno died, it was reported that an additional murder charge would be filed against the defendant. Other than the various phases of the prosecution noted above, it was also reported that a preliminary hearing had been held, that the defendant was bound over, and that a change of venue hearing was to be held. He further testified that the number of stories run in this particular case was not out of the ordinary for the crimes charged.

In addition to the testimony, the affidavits of two other persons were presented to the court. One of the affidavits indicated that the affiant had been told by somebody else that the defendant had previously committed four murders in other states but had been acquitted in each instance by claiming self defense. He further stated that he had repeated the information to a group which included one of defendant's attorneys and asked if the attorney was aware of defendant's background....

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