Haire v. State

Citation245 Ark. 293,432 S.W.2d 828
Decision Date07 October 1968
Docket NumberNo. 5337,5337
PartiesL. V. HAIRE, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas

Terral, Rawlings, Matthews & Purtle, by Henry J. Osterloh, Little Rock, for appellant.

Joe Purcell, Atty. Gen., Larry W. Chandler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

GEORGE ROSE SMITH, Justice.

The appellant, charged with the first-degree murder of Freddie Lee Jackson, age 16, was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to imprisonment for 21 years. The sufficiency of the proof is not questioned, but several other points for reversal are argued.

Rosalie Jackson, Freddie Lee's mother, testified that a girl came by the Jackson home at College Station late in the afternoon on May 5, 1967, knocked on the door, and asked to see Freddie Lee. After a short conversation the boy and girl left the house and walked down the road. That was the last time Mrs. Jackson saw her son alive. When Freddie Lee did not come home that night she called the sheriff's office to report that he was missing.

A search was instituted. Arthur Lewis, a deputy sheriff, testified that he and another officer drove to College Station on the afternoon of May 7. Acting on information they sought out the appellant, L. V. Haire, and his wife, Norma Jean, whom Mrs. Jackson identified as the girl who had come by for Freddie Lee. At the officers' request L. V. and Norma Jean accompanied them to the sheriff's headquarters for questioning, but neither of the Haires had then been placed under arrest.

At headquarters additional information led the officers to put L. V. under arrest, on suspicion, and to begin a search for Freddie Lee's body in certain wheat fields near the Sweet Home community. In the course of that search the Haires were brought to the scene. In answer to an inquiry Norma Jean said that the body was to the right of the road, but L. V. spoke up and said, 'No, Honey, on the left.' In similar fashion Norma Jean said the gun was under the bed, but L. V. said, 'No, it's up in the fireplace.' The body was found on the left, as L. V. had said. The officers obtained a search warrant and found the pistol in the chimney at the Haires' house. Six bullets taken from Freddie Lee's body were shown by a ballistics expert to have been fired from that pistol. There was other testimony connecting L. V. Haire with the crime, including proof that he had warned Freddie Lee to stay away from Norma Jean and that he had threatened to kill Freddie Lee.

Counsel insist that the court erred in admitting Haire's statements about the location of the body and of the pistol, for the reason that he had not then been given a Miranda warning. As we read the record, both statements were made voluntarily and spontaneously--not in response to any interrogation of Haire by the officers. The statements were therefore admissible. Edington v. State, 243 Ark. 10, 418 S.W.2d 637 (1967).

It is contended that the pistol and several articles of clothing were inadmissible, for the reason that they were obtained by the officers...

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7 cases
  • State v. Mayhew
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • September 16, 1969
    ...our conclusion see State v. Brown, Iowa, 155 N.W.2d 416, 419; State v. McClelland, supra, Iowa, 164 N.W.2d 189, 193; Haire v. State, 245 Ark. 289, 432 S.W.2d 828, 829--830. Section 755.7 Code 1966 provides that a person making an arrest must inform the one to be arrested of the cause of the......
  • State v. Roadenbaugh, 55466
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Kansas
    • December 2, 1983
    ...in every instance the moment a suspect is taken into custody. Edington v. State, 243 Ark. 10, 418 S.W.2d 637 (1967); Haire v. State, 245 Ark. 293, 432 S.W.2d 828 (1968). In those cases we held that a spontaneous statement was admissible. In the case at bar, we think the statement that the s......
  • Haire v. Sarver
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
    • February 5, 1971
    ...was convicted of second degree murder and on direct appeal his conviction was affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Haire v. State, 245 Ark. 293, 432 S.W.2d 828 (1968). Defendant petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus which was denied by the federal district court, opinion reported in Hai......
  • Ballew v. State
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Arkansas
    • June 2, 1969
    ...in every instance the moment a suspect is taken into custody. Edington v. State, 243 Ark. 10, 418 S.W.2d 637 (1967); Haire v. State, 245 Ark. 293, 432 S.W.2d 828 (1968). In those cases we held that a spontaneous statement was admissible. In the case at bar, we think the statement that the s......
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