Hawthorne v. United States

• Decision Date: 19 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-549.,No. 82-1675.,82-549.,82-1675.
• Parties: William HAWTHORNE (No. 82-549) and Percy Jeter (No. 82-1675), Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 164

476 A.2d 164

William HAWTHORNE (No. 82-549) and Percy Jeter (No. 82-1675), Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 82-549.

No. 82-1675.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued December 7, 1983.

Decided April 19, 1984.

Claire O. Ducker, Sr., Washington, D.C., appointed by this court for appellant Hawthorne. Mark S. Carlin, Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C., with whom A. Franklin Burgess, Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C., at the time the brief was filed, was on the brief, for appellant Jeter.

Colleen M. Kennedy, Asst. U.S. Atty., Washington, D.C., with whom Stanley S. Harris, U.S. Atty., Washington, D.C., at the time the brief was filed, and Judith Hetherton and Barry M. Tapp, Asst. U.S. Attys., Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before NEBEKER, MACK, and ROGERS, Associate Judges.

ROGERS, Associate Judge:

Appellants raise two issues in this appeal from their convictions by a jury of felony murder while armed during the commission of a burglary in the first degree (D.C.Code §§ 22-2401, -3201 (1981)) and first degree burglary (D.C.Code § 22-1801(a) (1981)). They contend their convictions of burglary, and the associated felony murder counts, cannot stand because the government failed to produce sufficient evidence that they entered the premises with the intent to steal. They also argue that the prosecutor's closing argument substantially prejudiced them and infected the verdict. After reviewing the record, we conclude there was sufficient evidence for the jury to convict appellants of first degree burglary and the associated felony murder counts, but reverse because the prosecutor's closing argument in the persona of the decedent was improper, as the government concedes, and substantially prejudiced appellants.¹

I.

Antonio Alameda, age 51, was murdered in his apartment in Northwest Washington, D.C. between the evening of June 12 and the morning of June 13, 1980. He had been stabbed fifteen times, his throat had been cut, and a plastic camera cover had been tied over his head.² There were bruises on the ring finger of his left hand and his pants pockets were turned inside out; his empty wallet was found in a waste basket. His apartment had been ransacked and property was missing, including a new television set, new stereo, camera equipment, and jewelry (cuff links, tie clips, St. Christopher medals, and a ring with a stone and engraving). His car keys and his car, which was usually parked next to the apartment building, were missing.

The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the government,³ established that Mr. Alameda had befriended young boys over the years, some of whom had lived with him, including appellant William Hawthorne. Around the time William had lived there, Mr. Alameda had purchased a television set, a sofa and stereophonic equipment. Mr. Alameda also had a small darkroom and camera equipment in his apartment. Appellant's brother, Michael Hawthorne, had lived with Mr. Alameda for several years before William had moved in, and had seen William at Mr. Alameda's apartment in April, 1980 listening with Mr. Alameda to his new stereo.⁴

The appellants were cousins and boyhood friends who had grown up together and were together regularly, according to Jeter's aunt, Layonne Towles. She also testified that around the time of Mr. Alameda's murder,⁵ both appellants had come late one night to her home on Ontario Road, Northwest, where Jeter lived, and she had seen fresh blood on Hawthorne's hands and shoes. Charlotte Hill Lacy, in whose home on Park Road, Northwest, Hawthorne and his mother lived, testified she saw blood on his clothes around the same time, early one morning. Several days after the murder, Jeter's cousin, Sandra Grigsby, saw the appellants in her home in Northeast, while they were looking at camera equipment and jewelry, including a ring and St. Christopher medal which Michael Hawthorne identified as belonging to Mr. Alameda. Edith Grigsby, Jeter's aunt and Sandra's mother, substantially corroborated Sandra's testimony and also testified that Hawthorne had told her he had recently disposed of a television set and stereophonic equipment that he had taken from someone else's home. Later he told her that someone had killed Mr. Alameda, tying a plastic bag over his head, and had laughed when she said he must have been involved since he seemed to know so much about it. Barbara Graves also testified that during the summer of 1980 Hawthorne told her that he and another persons⁶ had gone to Mr. Alameda's apartment, and that he had hit Mr. Alameda and the other person had stabbed Mr. Alameda, and afterwards they had taken Mr. Alameda's property from the apartment. Barbara's mother, Ann Graves, testified that Hawthorne had told her the same thing in November 1981.

Other testimony established that there was no sign of forced entry to Mr. Alameda's apartment, thereby indicating that Mr. Alameda, who was very cautious about letting people into his apartment, knew his killers. Jeter's fingerprint was found in dust on the windowsill inside Mr. Alameda's apartment.⁷ Mr. Alameda's car was found a block from Jeter's home on Ontario Road, Northwest, and James Richardson had bought Mr. Alameda's ring from Jeter a few days after the murder.

Appellant Hawthorne did not present any evidence in his defense. Appellant Jeter's defense was that he was not in the neighborhood when Mr. Alameda was killed and had left his fingerprint in the apartment in March, when he had helped a friend move Mr. Alameda's old sofa out of the apartment.⁸

II.

The appropriate standard in reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is "whether there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could fairly conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Head v. United States, 451 A.2d 615, 622 (D.C.1982).⁹ In applying this standard, we do not distinguish between direct and circumstantial evidence. Jackson v. United States, 395 A.2d 99, 102 (D.C.1978); Byrd v. United States, 388 A.2d 1225, 1229 (D.C.1978). The motion for judgment of acquittal is viewed in the light most favorable to the government, giving full play to the right of the jury to determine credibility, weigh the evidence and draw justifiable inferences of fact. Hall v. United States, 454 A.2d 314, 317 (D.C. 1982); Curley v. United States, 81 U.S. App.D.C. 389, 392, 160 F.2d 229, 232, cert denied, 331 U.S. 837, 67 S.Ct. 1511, 91 L.Ed. 1850 (1947).¹⁰

The crime of burglary requires an entry, with or without a breaking, and a contemporaneous intent to commit a criminal offense. Massey, supra note 3, 320 A.2d at 296; United States v. Cooper, 153 U.S.App.D.C. 384, 386, 473 F.2d 95, 97 (1972); United States v. Fox, 140 U.S.App. D.C. 129, 130-31, 433 F.2d 1235, 1236-37 (1970). Appellants concede the government introduced sufficient evidence of an entry, but contend that the government failed to introduce sufficient evidence the appellants intended to steal (the offense charged in the indictments) when they entered the apartment. They argue that possession of stolen property cannot give rise to the inference that a burglary was committed. While that is partly correct, it does not' help appellants here.

Unexplained or unsatisfactorily explained possession of stolen property cannot, by itself, give rise to the inference that a burglary was committed; by itself such evidence only gives rise to the inference that the possessor stole the property or received stolen property. White v. United States, 300 A.2d 716, 718 (D.C. 1973). There must also be some evidence of an entry or other evidence calculated to place the accused in the premises in which the theft occurred before the possession of stolen property can give rise to the inference that the possessor of the stolen property entered with an intent to steal the property. Id. at 720. Here there was circumstantial evidence of an entry into Mr. Alameda's apartment. The evidence indisputably established that Mr. Alameda was murdered in his apartment, which was ransacked, and many items of property were taken. Such evidence combined with the evidence of possession of stolen property is sufficient to establish the requisite intent. Massey, supra note 3, 320 A.2d at 299 (in absence of admission, intent must be proved by circumstantial evidence).

The case against appellants is strikingly similar to Byrd, supra, 388 A.2d 1225. In Byrd the defendant was acquainted with his victim and knew she had a large collection of coins and jewelry. In addition, he had accompanied her to the bank on the morning of her murder when she had withdrawn a large sum of money. After the murder the defendant was found to possess many items which had been stolen from the victim, including the coins and jewelry; he had given a ring belonging to the victim to his girlfriend the day after the murder. This court held that although the evidence was circumstantial, it was sufficient to permit the jury reasonably to infer that the defendant had entered the victim's apartment with the intent to steal the property which was later recovered from him. Byrd, supra, 388 A.2d at 1230.

The evidence against appellant Hawthorne established that he was well acquainted with Mr. Alameda, knew he owned valuable property, and was in possession of Mr. Alameda's property after he had been murdered. His admission that he was in Mr. Alameda's apartment and took his property on the night he was murdered could properly be considered by the jury as corroborating evidence. Thus, a reasonable inference arises that Hawthorne entered the apartment intending to steal valuable property that he was later found to possess. Byrd, supra, 388 A.2d at 1230.

While appellant Jeter was less well-acquainted with Mr. Alameda, he was well-acquainted with appellant Hawthorne and was with him on the night when Hawthorne's clothes were stained with fresh blood. Jeter's own evidence, in addition to the government's fingerprint...