Green v. State
| Decision Date | 16 January 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. CR–12–721.,CR–12–721. |
| Citation | 430 S.W.3d 729,2013 Ark. 497 |
| Parties | Billy Dale GREEN, Appellant v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Montgomery, Adams & Wyatt, PLC, Little Rock, by: James W. Wyatt and Dale E. Adams, for appellant.
Dustin McDaniel, Att'y Gen., by: Laura Shue, Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellee.
On May 9, 2012, appellant, Billy Dale Green, was convicted by a Randolph County Circuit Court jury of four counts of capital murder and one count of kidnapping. Billy was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the capital-murder convictions and forty years for the kidnapping conviction.1 Billy's convictions and sentences are the result of his second trial. Billy's original convictions and sentences were reversedand remanded by this court in Green v. State, 365 Ark. 478, 231 S.W.3d 638 (2006)( Green I ), based on the circuit court's error in allowing the State to present reputation and other bad-acts evidence. In 2011, we denied Billy's subsequent appeal, affirming the circuit's denial of his motion to dismiss for alleged Brady violations. Green v. State, 2011 Ark. 92, 380 S.W.3d 368( Green II ). Thereafter, in May 2012, Billy was tried again and convicted and, he now brings this appeal.
Billy's son, Chad Green, was originally a co-defendant and was also charged with the murders. Chad entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge and testified against Billy in Billy's first trial. However, after Billy's case was reversed in 2006, Chad refused to cooperate, his plea agreement was revoked, and he was charged as a co-defendant. Chad was tried separately, convicted and sentenced, and is not part of this appeal.
Billy now appeals from his 2012 convictions and sentences and raises ten points on appeal: (1) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's motion for directed verdicts for capital murder and kidnapping, (2) the circuit court erred when it admitted Chad Green's out-of-court statements, (3) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's motion for mistrial based on Bonnie Hensley Cantrell's statement, (4) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's motion for mistrial after Mary Green Wilson's statement, (5) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's motion for mistrial after Billy's own testimony, (6) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's motion for mistrial based on cumulative error, (7) the circuit court erred when it gave AMI Crim.2d 401 and 404 jury instructions on accomplice liability, (8) the circuit court erred when it denied Billy's challenge to Juror Pyles, (9) the circuit court erred when it failed to rule on Billy's motion to settle the record and (10) the circuit court erred when it amended its judgment-and-sentencing order.
This court has jurisdiction pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 12(a)(2) (2013). We find no error and affirm.
A summary of the facts is as follows. On July 30, 1998, Lisa Elliott and her six-year-old son, Gregory, were found dead at their home in Dalton, Arkansas. Both had been killed by multiple sharp-force and blunt-force injuries. At that time, Lisa's husband, Carl Elliott, and their eight-year-old daughter, Felicia, were missing. On August 1, 1998, Carl's body was found floating in the Eleven Point River. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide as a result of two small-caliber gunshot wounds to the head, with cutting wounds to his face and neck. Felicia's remains were found two years later, on September 7, 2000, in Mud Creek in the Warm Springs area about .5 miles from Billy's home at the time. Green I, 365 Ark. 478, 231 S.W.3d 638. All four deaths were ruled as homicides.
Members of the Green family testified that on the night of the murders, Billy received a call from Chad and left the house to “go help clean up a mess, Chad's mess.” They further testified that Billy called a family meeting and told the family that if anyone asked, he and Chad were both home the entire night on the night of the murders. They also testified that Billy always carried a side knife, and Chad always carried a .22. Billy's ex-wife, Mary Green Wilson, testified that after Billy received the phone call from Chad, she witnessed Billy put on gloves and a trench coat and leave the house. She testified that she never saw the trench coat again. Mary also testified that Carl came to their home frequently up until approximately a month before the murders. Mary also testified that around this same time, approximatelya month before the murders, she overheard Billy and Chad discussing that Billy had a disagreement with Carl, and had to take care of it.
Phillip Shockey, an inmate at a federal correctional facility in Fort Worth, Texas, testified that while housed together with Billy at the Arkansas Department of Correction's Varner Unit, Billy told Shockey that he had killed Felicia.
Billy testified in his own defense that he was not involved with the murders, which Chad committed, and only helped Chad cover them up.
The jury convicted Billy as set forth above, and this appeal followed.
For his first point on appeal, Billy asserts that the circuit court erred when it denied his motions for a directed verdict on the capital-murder and kidnapping charges. Billy argues that the evidence presented at trial does not support his capital-murder or kidnapping convictions. Further, Billy contends that the record fails to demonstrate that he committed the murders or was an accomplice to the crimes, but only demonstrates that he acted after Chad, alone, had committed the crimes. Billy asserts that Shockey's testimony is the only testimony that connects him to Felicia's murder and kidnapping, and this court should treat Shockey's “snitch testimony” like accomplice testimony, requiring corroboration. Stated differently, we should remove Shockey's testimony, and, if it is not corroborated hold that the testimony is unreliable.2
We treat a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Whitt v. State, 365 Ark. 580, 232 S.W.3d 459 (2006). When reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court assesses the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and considers only the evidence that supports the verdict. Gillard v. State, 366 Ark. 217, 234 S.W.3d 310 (2006). We will affirm a judgment of conviction if substantial evidence exists to support it. Id. Substantial evidence is evidence which is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the other, without resorting to speculation or conjecture. Ricks v. State, 316 Ark. 601, 873 S.W.2d 808 (1994). We need consider only that testimony which supports the verdict of guilty. Thomas v. State, 312 Ark. 158, 847 S.W.2d 695 (1993). Further, circumstantial evidence may provide a basis to support a conviction, but it must be consistent with the defendant's guilt and inconsistent with any other reasonable conclusion. Edmond v. State, 351 Ark. 495, 95 S.W.3d 789 (2003). Whether the evidence excludes every other hypothesis is left to the jury to decide. Carmichael v. State, 340 Ark. 598, 12 S.W.3d 225 (2000). Finally, the credibility of witnesses is an issue for the jury and not the court. Burley v. State, 348 Ark. 422, 73 S.W.3d 600 (2002). The trier of fact is free to believe all or part of any witness's testimony and may resolve questions of conflicting testimony and inconsistent evidence. Id.
Billy was convicted of capital murder and kidnapping. Ark.Code Ann. § 5–10–101(a)(4) (Repl.1997) states in pertinent part:
(a) A person commits capital murder if:
...
4) With the premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of another person, he causes the death of any person.
Stephenson v. State, 373 Ark. 134, 136–37, 282 S.W.3d 772, 776–77 (2008).
Our kidnapping statute, Ark.Code Ann. § 5–11–102(a)(4) (Repl.1997), provides in pertinent part:
(a) A person commits the offense of kidnapping if, without consent, he restrains another person so as to interfere substantially with his liberty with the purpose of:
...
(4) Inflicting physical injury upon him, or of engaging in sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact with him.
The State's theory of the case was that Billy was Chad's accomplice. In cases where the theory of accomplice liability is implicated, we affirm a sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge if substantial evidence exists that the defendant acted as an accomplice in the commission of the alleged offense. Cook v. State, 350 Ark. 398, 86 S.W.3d 916 (2002). Our accomplice-liability statute, Arkansas Code Annotated § 5–2–403 (Repl.1997), provides that,
(a) A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of an offense if, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of an offense, he:
(1) Solicits, advises, encourages, or coerces the other person to commit it; or
2) Aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to aid the other person in planning or committing it; or
(3) Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, fails to make proper effort to do so.
(b) When causing a particular result is an element of an offense, a person is an accomplice in the commission of that offense if, acting with respect to that result with the kind of culpability sufficient for the commission of the offense, he:
(1) Solicits, advises, encourages, or coerces the other person to engage in the conduct causing the result; or
(2) Aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sims v. State
...that justice cannot be served by continuing the trial. Ellis v. State, 2014 Ark. 24, 2014 WL 260991 (per curiam) (citing Green v. State, 2013 Ark. 497, 430 S.W.3d 729 ). In fact, Sims offers no argument that the testimony was even inadmissible. Once again, we must observe that we do not res......
-
Conley v. State
...the verdicts. This court treats a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Green v. State, 2013 Ark. 497, 430 S.W.3d 729. In addressing this issue, we consider all of the evidence, including that which may have been inadmissible, in the light most fav......
-
Watson v. State, CR–13–668.
...Howard, supra. This court treats a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Green v. State, 2013 Ark. 497, 430 S.W.3d 729. In addressing this issue, we consider all of the evidence, including that which may have been inadmissible, in the light most fa......
-
Robinson v. State
...Here, the victims identified appellant as the assailant, and their credibility was a matter for the jury to assess. Green v. State, 2013 Ark. 497, 430 S.W.3d 729. It is evident from the verdict that the jury accepted the victims' account of the incident as being more credible than the evide......