Daniels v. State
| Decision Date | 02 April 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 28098,28098 |
| Parties | Jonathan DANIELS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
Appellant Jonathan Daniels fatally shot two convenience store clerks during a robbery in Las Vegas, Nevada. Daniels and his companion, Kenya Ennis, visited the home of Francine Banks on January 20, 1995. Ennis asked Banks to drive her and Daniels to the AM/PM Mini-Market located one block from the apartment building in which Banks and Ennis both resided so that Daniels and Ennis could use the public telephone. Banks' boyfriend, Maurice Marshall, drove Banks, Daniels, Ennis, and Ennis' two children to the AM/PM Mini-Market. Ennis and Marshall later testified that Daniels and Ennis did not use the telephone at the AM/PM Mini-Market because Daniels was afraid that some unspecified people "were out to get him." At Daniels' and Ennis' request, Marshall drove them to a nearby Circle K Market so that they could use the telephone there instead.
After Daniels and Ennis used the public telephone at the Circle K Market, Marshall drove them back to the AM/PM Mini-Market that they had visited earlier. Marshall testified that he drove Daniels and Ennis back to the AM/PM Mini-Market at their request so that they could make another telephone call, but Ennis testified that Marshall suggested returning to the AM/PM Mini-Market so that he could get more gas. Upon arrival at the AM/PM Mini-Market, Daniels and Marshall entered the store.
Marshall testified that he entered the store for the sole purpose of paying for gas, but that Daniels grabbed the female clerk, June Frye, by the neck and drew a gun immediately after entering the store. Frye opened the cash register in response to Daniels' demands, and Daniels then began to take the money from the register. As Daniels was preparing to exit the store, the male clerk, Nicasio Diaz, took a step toward Daniels and said, "[M]an, just give me the gun." Daniels told Diaz not to take another step, but Diaz continued to approach Daniels, repeating his request for Daniels to give up the gun. Daniels then shot Diaz in the chest, and as Diaz fell to the ground, Frye and Marshall turned and ran toward the back of the store. Daniels then fired another shot, and Marshall saw Frye fall to the ground. Ennis entered the store and began to yell at Daniels, but he ordered her to go back to the car, and he followed her to the car immediately thereafter.
Daniels drove Marshall's car, with Ennis and her two children as passengers, until the car ran out of gas. At that point, Ennis called a taxi cab, which took Daniels, Ennis, and her two children to the home of Daniels' aunt. Daniels told his aunt, mother and cousin about the shooting, and, concerned about Daniels' mental state, they summoned an ambulance for Daniels shortly thereafter. Daniels' sister, Ladonna Daniels, testified that the ambulance would not transport Daniels to the hospital, so she, Daniels' aunt, and a friend of Daniels drove Daniels to the University Medical Center ("UMC") because "[h]is eyes were bulgy like and he was just mumbling ... [and staring] like he was off in space somewhere." Daniels' sister testified that the wait at UMC was too long, so they drove to Valley Hospital, but then left Valley Hospital before Daniels was examined, dropped Daniels' aunt off at her home, and were on their way to an outpatient clinic when they were stopped by the police.
Daniels confessed to the shooting of the AM/PM Mini-Market clerks in a tape-recorded statement to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Detective Donald Tremel at 3:49 a.m. on January 21, 1995. Prior to Daniels' statement, Detective Tremel had received a copy of the UMC record showing that Daniels had complained of "drugs in system" when he signed in prior to his arrest. The detective had also been informed that Marshall and other witnesses described Daniels as appearing to be under the influence of drugs. Detective Tremel testified that, before the tape was started, Daniels admitted to smoking marijuana on the day before the shootings, but denied any other recent drug use, and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs at the time of the interview. In Daniels' interview, he was not asked about whether he had been under the influence of any intoxicating substance and did not volunteer any such information.
Daniels' initial medical screening report, prepared by a nurse at the Clark County Detention Center, indicates that Daniels denied any drug use and did not behave abnormally. Detective Tremel testified that either one or two days after the tape-recorded interview, Daniels spoke with the nurse who had conducted his initial medical screening and asked to be tested for drugs. The nurse reported Daniels' request to Detective Tremel, but the detective did not order drug testing for Daniels.
On January 22, 1995, Daniels spoke with several police officers, who were not previously involved with his case and told them that he had ingested phencyclidine ("PCP") about one hour before the shooting incident.
At Daniels' trial, Dan Berkabile, a forensic chemistry expert, testified that PCP can cause euphoria lasting up to four hours, hallucinations, "loss of awareness of the surroundings," and "confusion about one's self and what one is doing." Berkabile also testified that PCP can be detected in someone's system using samples of either urine, hair, or blood, but that blood samples would only be useful for testing if drawn within "a few hours" of ingestion. John Hiatt, a toxicology expert, testified that Daniels' hair tested positive for both cocaine and PCP on March 1, 1995. Hiatt also testified that the hair test proved only that Daniels had used cocaine and PCP within the ninety-day period preceding the test, whereas a blood test could have determined whether Daniels had ingested the drugs within several hours preceding the test.
Based on the State's failure to gather blood evidence that might have proven that Daniels was under the effects of PCP at the time of the shootings, Daniels filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, or, in the alternative, to suppress his confession, and for a finding that Daniels must be conclusively presumed to have lacked the specific intent for first-degree murder as a matter of law. The district court denied the motion, and also denied Daniels' subsequent pre-trial petition for a writ of habeas corpus based on the State's alleged failure to provide adequate notice, pursuant to Sheriff v. Marcum, 105 Nev. 824, 783 P.2d 1389 (1989), of its intent to initiate grand jury proceedings.
After trial, the jury found Daniels guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon. For each murder conviction, the jury imposed a sentence of life without the possibility of parole plus an additional term of life without the possibility of parole for the weapon enhancement. For each robbery conviction, the jury imposed a sentence of fifteen years plus an additional fifteen years for the weapon enhancement. All sentences are to run concurrently.
Failure to gather blood evidence
Although Daniels characterizes the State's inaction as a failure to preserve evidence, his claim of error actually relates to the State's failure to gather blood evidence from Daniels immediately following his arrest. Daniels admitted to shooting the AM/PM Mini-Mart clerks, but relied on a voluntary intoxication defense to negate the element of specific intent. Daniels argues that he could have proven that he was intoxicated when he shot the clerks if the State had taken a blood sample for testing. Daniels' expert testified that a blood test would have helped to determine whether Daniels had ingested PCP within several hours preceding his arrest. 1
In relying on case law involving the failure to preserve evidence, Daniels fails to distinguish between collection and preservation of evidence. Had the State gathered blood evidence from Daniels and then allowed it to be lost or failed to deliver it to Daniels' counsel, his argument would be more tenable. The State's failure to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence may result in dismissal of the charges if the defendant can show "bad faith or connivance on the part of the government" or "that he was prejudiced by the loss of the evidence." Howard v. State, 95 Nev. 580, 582, 600 P.2d 214, 215-216 (1979) (citations omitted).
Although this court has not previously articulated a rule specifically governing the present situation, some states have been reluctant to impose a duty to gather exculpatory evidence. See, e.g., March v. State, 859 P.2d 714, 716 (Alaska Ct.App.1993) ; State v. Rivera, 152 Ariz. 507, 733 P.2d 1090, 1095 (1987) (...
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