Degler v. State
| Decision Date | 16 December 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Citation | 517 S.W.2d 515,257 Ark. 388 |
| Parties | John R. DEGLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 74--109. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Gene Worsham, Little Rock, for appellant.
Jim Guy Tucker, Atty. Gen. by O. H. Hargraves, Deputy Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
The appellant was charged with felony murder, in that he killed Curtis Turner during the perpetration of larceny. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and imposed a life sentence. Four points for reversal are argued.
First, it is contended that when this case was tried in the court below, a homicide committed in the perpetration of larceny no longer constituted a felony murder. Upon that premise it is argued that Degler could not lawfully be convicted of any offense greater than second-degree murder.
We cannot sustain that contention. This homicide occurred on June 12, 1973. Larceny was then included in the definition of felony murder. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41--2205 (Repl.1964). But larceny was not included in a similar definition contained in Act 438 of 1973. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41--4702(A) (Supp.1973). Even though Act 438, absent an emergency clause, did not take effect until more than a month after the homicide now in question, the appellant insists that Act 438 was merely procedural and thus inapplicable to cases tried after its effective date.
There are two answers to the appellant's argument. First, the purpose of Act 438 was to reinstate capital punishment for certain crimes only. Although the Act dropped larceny from the definition of capital offenses, the older definition appears to have been retained as a 'life felony' by § 4 of Act 438. § 41--4704. Secondly, a change in the definition of murder is substantive rather than procedural. In fact, we can think of no provision in the criminal law that is more plainly substantive than the definition of the crime. Hence the older definition would be controlling in the trial of the case even if it had been repealed after the commission of the homicide. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 1--103 (Repl.1956); Clark v. State, 246 Ark. 876, 440 S.W.2d 205 (1969).
Secondly, it is contended that the trial court should have excluded Degler's confession and the State's allied proof that Degler later showed the officers where he had thrown the murder weapon and the stolen property. It is argued that the officers arrested Degler without probable cause and that therefore the confession and accompanying proof were inadmissible. Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969); Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964). In the Beck case the court said that the validity of an arrest without a warrant, as here, depends upon whether the officers had probable cause to make it--'whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense.'
Upon this point for reversal the appellant's recitation of the pertinent facts is so greatly abbreviated that we must discuss the proof in some detail. The homicide took place at what is referred to as the Old State Dairy Farm house, in a rural part of Pulaski county. The house was casually frequented by a number of young people; 'all the kids' that wanted to come there were welcome. (Degler was 22 at the time of the crime.) Two of the group had rented the house, but they were staying in Little Rock at the particular time in question.
On June 11, 1973, five young persons were at the house during the day. Charles Martin and Shirley Mooser were living there and had a key to the house. Degler, David Williamson, and Curtis Vanderpool were there during a substantial part of the day. Vanderpool left before the others did. Degler and Williamson, who had been drinking beer together for several hours, left at about 8:30 p.m., leaving Degler's distinctive yellow car still at the house. When Martin and Shirley also departed at about 9:00 p.m., they left the house unoccupied and locked. The decedent, Curtis Turner, had been at the house for about an hour on the preceding day, but he does not appear to have been there on the day in question.
Martin and Shirley returned at about 30 minutes after midnight. Curtis Turner's car was there, but Degler's yellow car was gone. Turner's dead body was lying on the front porch. Martin found that 'a lot of stero equipment and television and stuff' that had been there earlier was missing. Martin telephoned the sheriff's office to report the homicide. Two deputies--Harold Munn and another--came out to investigate. Munn also questioned several young people at the sheriff's office at three or four o'clock in the morning.
At about 9:30 that morning Officer Munn arrested Degler at his trailer home in North Little Rock. Munn, of course, had learned details of the homicide at the scene. He knew that Degler and Williamson were very good friends and traveled in each other's company. He had learned that one of them had a .22-caliber pistol. The police department had determined that a small-caliber weapon had been used in the killing. Munn knew that Degler's yellow car had been left on the premises before the homicide, and since the officer participated in the investigation at the house, it is reasonable to infer that he knew that the car was not there later on.
We are of the opinion that the trial court, drawing reasonable inferences from the testimony as a whole, was justified in finding that there was probable cause for the arrest. This case is quite unlike Davis v. Mississippi, supra, cited by the appellant. In Davis the police, acting upon information that a rape had been committed by a Negro youth, picked up from 40 to 50 such youths for questioning. In the case at bar the information obtained by the officers implicated only Degler and Williamson. Those two young men had been at the Dairy Farm house during much of the day, had apparently been armed with a .22 pistol, had left Degler's car at the house when they departed together at about 8:30 p.m., and had evidently returned for it at some time before the homicide was discovered at 12:30 a.m. There is no indication in the record that the officers' investigation turned up facts tending to incriminate anyone other than Degler and Williamson. Moreover,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Giles v. State
...but will not reverse the trial court's holding unless it is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Degler v. State, 257 Ark. 388, 517 S.W.2d 515; Watson v. State, 255 Ark. 631, 501 S.W.2d 609. The statement introduced was given while appellant was in custody; therefore the state......
-
Tucker v. State
...finding of voluntariness by the trial court unless the finding is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Degler v. State, 257 Ark. 388, 517 S.W.2d 515 (1974). In Mosley v. State, 246 Ark. 358, 438 S.W.2d 311, we concluded that youth of a defendant does not prevent the giving of ......
-
Hammers v. State, CR
...is voluntary, i. e., it should not be reversed unless it is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. See Degler v. State, 257 Ark. 388, 517 S.W.2d 515. We cannot say that the court's finding was clearly against the preponderance of the Appellant also contends that the corroboratio......
-
Gardner v. State
...court was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence, as we must before we can reverse the trial court's holding. Degler v. State, 257 Ark. 388, 517 S.W.2d 515. Where the holding depends upon credibility of the witnesses, we must defer to the superior position of the trial court. Whi......