Davis v. State

• Decision Date: 24 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Parties: Lynn O. DAVIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 95-645.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 768

925 S.W.2d 768

325 Ark. 96

Lynn O. DAVIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 95-645.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

June 24, 1996.

Larry Dean Kissee, Ash Flat, for appellant.

David R. Raupp, Asst. Atty. General, Little Rock, for appellee.

JESSON, Chief Justice.

Shortly after midnight on March 4, 1994, the appellant, Lynn Davis, and his girlfriend, Michelle Wilson, arrived at the emergency room of the Cleburne County Memorial Hospital. With them was Michelle's twenty-three-month-old son, Michael. Michael was in a state of cardiac arrest and was not breathing. His heartbeat was initially revived by use of CPR but he never regained consciousness. Two days later, he died. The medical examiner ruled Michael's death a homicide. In particular, he noted that Michael showed signs of having been shaken and otherwise abused.

The authorities began to search for Wilson and Davis but the couple had left the state and their whereabouts were unknown. With the assistance of the FBI, they were apprehended in California on March 16, 1994. They returned to Arkansas to face capital murder charges in Michael's death. Wilson was tried in Independence County. She was convicted of second degree murder and received a sentence of eighteen years. The appellant was tried in Fulton County. ¹ He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.

In this appeal, the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, challenges two of the trial court's evidentiary rulings, and argues that the court should have granted his petition for a writ of error coram nobis. After a careful review of the issues, we find no error and affirm. Additionally, in accordance with Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-3(h), we have examined the full record for rulings on objections or motions which were adverse to the appellant. None involves prejudicial error.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

Our review of the sufficiency of the evidence requires a detailed recitation of the facts. Lynn Davis and Michelle Wilson began dating seriously in December of 1993. Wilson had two children: Kaite, age four, and Michael, almost two. She and Davis maintained separate residences, but spent virtually every night at Davis's apartment. Michael was almost always with them. Kaite often spent the night with her grandparents. Davis had worked for seven and a half years at the same company. Wilson was temporarily unemployed.

Davis and Wilson, together with Michael, spent the night at Davis's apartment on Wednesday, March 2, 1994. The next morning, Davis dropped them off at Wilson's residence and went to work. Wilson and her next door neighbor, Ruby Holt, spent the day running errands with Michael in tow. Michael, normally an active, temperamental child, was uncharacteristically sleepy during the day.

Later that afternoon, the errands completed, Holt, Wilson and Michael returned home. At some point, Kaite returned home as well. Wilson was cooking dinner in Holt's apartment when Davis arrived between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. According to Holt, Michael was lying on the floor whining and crying. Davis was sitting at the table with Holt and said to her, "I hate that kid". Holt was sure he was referring to Michael. Davis, Wilson and the two children left shortly thereafter to go to Davis's apartment.

What happened next is known only to Davis and Wilson. According to them, they watched television with the children. Kaite fell asleep on the couch. At approximately 11:00 p.m. (according to Wilson) or 11:30 p.m. (according to Davis), they decided to take a shower. They noticed that Michael had a dirty diaper. Wilson went ahead and got in the shower. Davis followed, holding Michael, intending to clean him up in the shower. Michael began struggling and "throwing a fit" because he didn't want to be in the shower. Davis took him out of the shower, laid him on the bedroom floor, and told him to go ahead and throw his fit. He was preparing to diaper the boy when he noticed his eyes were staring fixedly. Davis "popped him on the butt" a couple of times, thinking Michael was holding his breath on purpose, but Michael did not move. Davis checked Michael's heartbeat and it was faint. He called to Wilson to get out of the shower. They grabbed the children, threw their clothes on and headed for the hospital.

Michael presented at 12:10 a.m. in a state of cardiac arrest. He was not breathing and his color was blue. The physician on duty, Dr. Parker Jain, developed the impression that Michael had suffered a subdural hematoma and possibly had been the victim of abuse. Based upon his suspicion, he notified the authorities.

Detective Mark Baugh of the Heber Springs Police Department arrived at the hospital at 1:34 a.m. He learned from Dr. Jain that Michael had suffered not only a head injury but had bruises and sores on his body. He obtained a statement from Wilson in which she attempted to account for Michael's injuries. She attributed Michael's bruises to fighting with his sister. The sores, she claimed, were from shoes that fit too tight. The head injury, she explained, was the result of Michael slamming his own head against the refrigerator during one of his "fits".

Arrangements had been made for a helicopter to transport Michael to the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. It arrived shortly after 2:00 a.m. Wilson and Davis made arrangements to have Ruby Holt take care of Kaite. They then drove to Children's Hospital, arriving about 4:00 to 4:30 a.m. Michael had a heartbeat, but was still not breathing on his own. Davis and Wilson stayed at the hospital until approximately 12:00 noon that day then drove back to Heber Springs to shower and pick up a change of clothes. They returned to Little Rock later that afternoon. Upon their return, Davis was refused entry to the hospital. Security personnel told Davis that Michael's father was on the premises and they wanted to avoid trouble. Wilson stayed at the hospital while Davis returned to Heber Springs. He was en route when he received a call from Wilson on his mobile phone. She informed him that she was being accused of inflicting Michael's injuries, that the Department of Human Services had taken custody of her children, and that she had been "kicked out" of the hospital. Davis immediately returned to Little Rock and picked her up.

The two then decided, for reasons unexplained, to go to Conway, where they spent the night in a motel. They spoke by phone with Ruby Holt who informed them that the police were looking for Wilson. The next day, Saturday, March 5, 1994, they left the state of Arkansas.

In the meantime, Detective Baugh continued his investigation. During the day on March 4, he spoke with the physicians at Children's Hospital and discovered the full extent of Michael's injuries. Dr. Michael Avant, a pediatric intensive care physician at Children's, would later testify that he made note of twenty-seven injuries, including a subdural hematoma, massive brain swelling caused by trauma and oxygen depletion, retinal hemorrhaging, a pulmonary contusion, a broken rib, burns consistent with being inflicted by a cigarette and a car cigarette lighter, a swollen and bruised testicle and scrotal sac, including a bruise in this area which was just a few hours old. Upon receipt of this information, Baugh attempted to locate Davis and Wilson. He was unsuccessful.

Michael died on March 6. Baugh received an autopsy report from Dr. Frank Peretti which concluded that Michael's death was the result of homicide. Causes of death were listed as craniocerebral trauma and chest injuries with the contributing factors of thermal burns and testicular contusions. Based upon this information, charges were filed against Wilson and Davis for capital murder.

Baugh continued to search for Davis and Wilson. He became convinced that they were no longer in the state, and enlisted the assistance of the FBI in locating them. Davis and Wilson were, in fact, on the run. After leaving Conway, they had driven to Louisiana, through Texas, and into New Mexico. When they learned that Michael had died, they abandoned Davis's car at the El Paso airport and flew to San Diego. There, they took a train to Los Angeles where they visited the beach, the zoo and planned to visit Disneyland. Their trip had been financed with Davis's credit cards.

On March 16, 1994, the FBI caught up with Davis and Wilson in Los Angeles. They were turned over to the Santa Monica Police Department. There, they were interviewed at length by Detective Steve Rosenfeld. The interviews were videotaped and were admitted into evidence at trial. In her interview, Wilson once again attempted to explain Michael's injuries in ways that did not implicate either herself or Davis. She said that on the Tuesday before Michael was admitted to the hospital, he had become angry because she wouldn't let him have a piece of cake. He began to slam his head against the refrigerator and the wall. The next day, which was Davis's day off, the three of them went to the mall and to eat pizza. Michael became angry again and hyperventilated to the extent that he made himself sick. Wilson said that the sores on Michael's toes were from tight shoes. When confronted with the possibility that the sores were in fact cigarette burns, she admitted that she may have accidentally burned Michael. She explained the injuries to his testicles by saying that, two months previously, he had fallen from a small bicycle and six days before his death, he had fallen in the bathtub. But ultimately, after a lengthy interrogation, she admitted that, on the Wednesday before Michael's death, she had shaken him hard and "probably" caused his death.

Wilson claimed that Davis was not involved in Michael's death. Detective Rosenfeld questioned her intently on whether Davis had merely laid the boy on the floor after getting out of the shower, or had thrown him to the floor. He asked her to...