Goff v. State

• Decision Date: 18 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: 329 Ark. 513,953 S.W.2d 38
• Parties: Belynda Faye GOFF, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 97-135.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 38

953 S.W.2d 38

329 Ark. 513

Belynda Faye GOFF, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 97-135.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Sept. 18, 1997.

Steven E. Vowell, Berryville, Jack T. Lassiter, Little Rock, for Appellant.

Winston Bryant, Attorney General, Vada Berger, Assistant Attorney General, Little Rock, for Appellee.

GLAZE, Justice.

Appellant Belynda Faye Goff was convicted of first-degree murder of her husband and sentenced to life in prison. She raises four points for reversal.

Ms. Goff first argues the trial court erred in denying her motion for directed verdict because the State failed to prove she purposely caused the death of her husband Stephen. The State's case was premised on circumstantial evidence, but as this court has previously and consistently held, evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, is sufficient to support a conviction if the evidence is forceful enough to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion one way or the other. Williams v. State, 329 Ark. 8, 946 S.W.2d 678 (1997). In determining the sufficiency of the evidence, we need only ascertain that evidence most favorable to the appellee; it is permissible to consider only that testimony which supports the verdict of guilty. Hall v. State, 315 Ark. 385, 868 S.W.2d 453 (1993).

In reviewing the record, it is clear the Goffs had had marital problems for some time prior to as well as at the time of Mr. Goff's death. Ms. Goff related that her husband had been unfaithful to her, and had affairs with at least two women. Anita Bellefeuille, a friend of Ms. Goff, testified that, about one year before Mr. Goff's murder, Ms. Goff said next time her husband was unfaithful she would "bash his head in." In December of 1993, Ms. Goff used an empty apartment in the complex where the Goffs lived so she could spy on Mr. Goff. In fact, at the time Mr. Goff was killed, Ms. Goff suspected he was having another affair because, when the telephone would ring, the caller would hang up when Ms. Goff answered, but when Mr. Goff answered, he would talk with the caller. On the evening of June 11, 1994, only hours before Mr. Goff's murder, he had received a call and left the apartment. He told Ms. Goff that he was going for a pack of cigarettes, even though the store was closed and he had already purchased cigarettes that day.

Ms. Goff testified she went to bed between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. on June 11 after Mr. Goff left, and claimed she heard no noises except a door shutting some time during the night. However, the Goffs' upstairs neighbor testified that, around 2:00 a.m. on June 12, she had heard three knocks on the Goffs' door and the door open. The neighbor further said that one to two minutes later she heard five or six loud "bangings," as if someone was banging a broomstick on the ceiling. She added that the banging was so loud she was afraid that it would awaken her six-month-old daughter. Dr. Charles Kokes, who performed the autopsy on Mr. Goff, testified that everything regarding the condition of Mr. Goff's body at the time he was found was consistent with a time of death around 2:00 a.m.

Ms. Goff testified that she slept through the night, got up about nine minutes after the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., and found her husband's body shortly thereafter. However, Jay Thomas, a paramedic for North Arkansas Medical Center, testified that, when he first arrived at the scene, Ms. Goff was fairly calm, and all the lights were off, both of which he found very strange. He also testified Ms. Goff was dressed in nightclothes which consisted of a camisole and tight blue pants, that she did not appear groggy or sleepy, and that her hair was not "messed up," as would be consistent with someone who had just awakened. Mr. Thomas further testified that when he got there he could only open the door about six inches because Mr. Goff's body was lying against the door. Ms. Goff and her son were only able to get out of the apartment after the door was forcibly opened about eight inches. Mark Forsee, who answered the emergency call Ms. Goff made when she allegedly discovered Mr. Goff's body, testified that during the nine-minute conversation he had with Ms. Goff before the ambulance arrived, she told him there was blood everywhere and that it was her husband's; yet, she did not exhibit any concern or fear that the police might need to be there or that anybody else might be in the apartment.

Lt. Archie Rousey, who investigated the murder scene, testified that, when he arrived at the scene, Mr. Goff's body was lying directly behind the door, fully clothed, with his head slightly elevated in the corner against the door where it hinges and a wall that extends at a right angle. He testified that there were massive amounts of blood under Mr. Goff's head. Lt. Rousey stated that there was also a large amount of blood just above his head and the splattering arched upward in a V-shape-type manner up to and on the ceiling. He testified that there was brain matter on the floor in front of Mr. Goff's feet approximately six feet away, a piece of his skull fragment on top of the television set immediately to his right, and another piece of skull fragment approximately twelve feet away from his foot, out into the living room next to the couch. Just above his head approximately eighteen inches there was a scraping on the sheetrock wall which appeared to be in a downward direction toward Mr. Goff's head. There was another scrape on the wooden door trim just above and to the left of his head.

Except for the area surrounding Mr. Goff's body, everything in the apartment seemed to be intact, and there were no signs of a struggle or a forced entry. Further investigation led police officers to find traces of blood in the Goffs' bathtub drain. That blood was tested and was determined consistent with Mr. Goff's DNA profile. In addition, the bathtub, shower curtain, and toilet plunger were wet. A pile of fourteen towels and one washcloth were found in the master bedroom under another pile of dry dirty clothes and next to a clothes basket that was almost empty. Four of the towels and the washcloth were extremely wet and the rest of the towels were damp. One of the towels had blood on it.

Dr. Kokes testified that Mr. Goff died as a result of blunt-force injuries to the head. He stated that Mr. Goff had various injuries to the back and top of his head and that in his opinion, the injuries to the back of the head occurred first, followed by the injuries to the top of the head. Kokes opined that, after being hit in the back of the head, Mr. Goff would have collapsed. He further testified that the injuries to the top of Mr. Goff's head indicated that Mr. Goff had been hit repeatedly at least six times, after he had been rendered incapacitated. Mr. Goff also had injuries on his right hand, which Dr.Kokes testified appeared to be sustained in a defensive manner, such as an attempt to ward off blows. He also testified that the injuries to Mr. Goff's head were caused by an object, such as a hammer, having a curved to oval shape measuring approximately five-eights to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Two hammers were found in a box in the Goffs' kitchen. Tom Bevel, a forensic consultant who assisted in the investigation, testified that the attacker was right-handed. The proof showed that Ms. Goff is right-handed.

Ms. Goff reported Mr. Goff's death to his life insurance company and told the company that her husband had "appeared to have been severely beaten somewhere in Carroll County and returned to home and left in doorway." However, the evidence clearly reveals that Mr. Goff had been murdered in his own apartment. First, there was blood on the inside of the door, not on the outside. Second, Mr. Bevel testified that, given the pattern of blood on the wall, Mr. Goff received the majority of the blows to his head in the corner in which his body was found, with the attacker either straddling him or standing to his side. It was also Dr. Koke's opinion that Mr. Goff was lying in the corner where his body was found when he was hit on the top of the head. The scrapes on the wall also indicated that Mr. Goff was attacked while lying in that corner.

In summary, we first point out that this court has often stated that a defendant's false and improbable statements explaining suspicious circumstances are admissible as proof of guilt. Thomas v. State, 312 Ark. 158, 847 S.W.2d 695 (1993); Bennett v. State 297 Ark. 115, 759 S.W.2d 799 (1988). Such improbable statements were made by Ms. Goff in this case. Contrary to Ms. Goff's version of occurring events, the evidence clearly indicates that her husband had been beaten to death while present in the couple's apartment, and given the position of Mr. Goff's body, the undisturbed blood stains on the inside doorknob, and the undisturbed windows, Mr. Goff's attacker did not leave the apartment. Further, the hammers found in the kitchen are consistent with the type of weapon that would inflict the wounds that caused Mr. Goff's death. Mr. Goff's blood was found on the bathtub drain, and a large pile of wet towels--one with blood on it--was found in the master bedroom. Such evidence indicates that someone in the apartment had attempted to "clean up" the crime scene. Ms. Goff and her three-year-old son were the only people in the apartment when Mr. Goff's body was found. In addition, although Ms. Goff claims to have gotten up about nine minutes after the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., her emergency call was actually made at 4:18 or 4:19 a.m., before she claims she actually woke up. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, Ms. Goff initially appeared calm and was not disheveled or groggy as if she had just woken up. Finally, the timing of Mr. Goff's death and their marital difficulties provides an opportunity and a motive for Ms. Goff to kill her husband. We conclude the evidence was more than sufficient to establish that Ms. Goff murdered her...