Hogan v. State
| Citation | 877 P.2d 1157 |
| Decision Date | 08 June 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. F-88-918,F-88-918 |
| Parties | Kenneth Eugene HOGAN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
The appellant, Kenneth Eugene Hogan, was charged with the crime of Murder in the First Degree in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Case No. CRF-88-646, before the Honorable James L. Gullett, District Judge. Such charge was in violation of 21 O.S.1981, § 701.7. A jury trial was held wherein the jury returned a verdict of guilty and set punishment at death by lethal injection. The trial court sentenced the defendant in accordance with the verdict by the jury. From this Judgment and Sentence, the defendant has perfected his appeal to this Court. AFFIRMED.
Irven R. Box, Diane Clowdus, Oklahoma City, for appellant at trial and on appeal.
Robert H. Macy, Dist. Atty., Sandra Stensaas, Asst. Dist. Atty., Oklahoma City, for the State at trial.
Robert H. Henry, Atty. Gen., Carol Price Dillingham, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, for appellee on appeal.
The appellant, Kenneth Eugene Hogan, was charged with the crime of Murder in the First Degree in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Case No. CRF-88-646, before the Honorable James L. Gullett, District Judge. Such charge was in violation of 21 O.S.1981, § 701.7. A jury trial was held wherein the jury returned a verdict of guilty and set punishment at death by lethal injection. The trial court sentenced the defendant in accordance with the verdict by the jury. From this Judgment and Sentence, the defendant has perfected his appeal to this Court.
The appellant (hereinafter referred to as the defendant or appellant) had been friends with the victim, Lisa Renee Stanley, for several years. The exact nature of the friendship or the extent of friendship, whether sexual or not, was disputed at trial. The defendant's wife indicated she had received between thirty and thirty-five phone calls from the victim during the preceding year; further, the victim's husband knew of the friendship between the defendant and the victim, and was apparently quite jealous over that relationship.
The events in question occurred on January 28, 1988. George Stanley, the husband of the deceased, returned home at approximately 8:15 p.m. and discovered his wife's body. She had been stabbed some twenty-five times in the head, neck, chest and back. Her throat had been cut through the larynx.
The police investigation revealed that the murder scene had clear evidence of a struggle. The furniture had been turned over or knocked around, wedding pictures were thrown on the floor, and a purse was turned over on a dinette table. A bathroom door had been kicked in. Inside the bathroom, the detectives found a large butcher knife and red stains in the sink which appeared to be blood. Evidence was collected from the scene, including the knife, various hair and fiber samples, together with blood samples from around the house. Also taken was the victim's clothing and carpet from the apartment.
From evidence gathered at the scene and the statement given by the defendant, the defendant and deceased were smoking marijuana during the afternoon of January 28, 1988. The defendant had told his wife that he was going to work but went to the deceased's home when her husband was gone. The defendant admitted that he was at the time of the incident charged with second degree burglary in Cleveland County and he said the deceased had asked him to steal or get her a stereo. The defendant stated he refused to do so and the two started arguing. The defendant stated he was leaving but the deceased refused his exit and threw a coat rack down, then began shouting "no, Ken; no, don't Ken". The defendant indicated he tried to quiet the deceased but she ran into a bathroom and locked the door, which he finally kicked down.
The deceased ran to the front door and yelled for help but the defendant kicked the door shut and threatened to tell the deceased's husband and her mother about an abortion that she had shortly before her marriage. The defendant stated the deceased then "got a wild look in her eye" and went to the kitchen. He stated he tried to leave but the deceased came back into the room with a knife and "pushed" the knife at the defendant. Defendant's hand was cut when he grabbed the knife intending to fend off the stab wound. The deceased then ran to the kitchen indicating that she was going to get another knife. Appellant stated he was afraid the deceased was going to tell the police that he had tried to rape her.
The defendant then chased the victim, stabbing her numerous times, which resulted in her ultimate death. He then disarranged the room, hoping to create the effect of a fight between the deceased and an unknown intruder. He cleaned his wounds, left the apartment, and drove to a hospital emergency room for treatment of the cuts.
Appellant was admitted to the Moore Hospital at approximately 1:45 p.m. on January 28, 1988. The emergency room clerk who processed the defendant indicated that the defendant gave two different stories as to how the accident occurred and appeared nervous. The doctor who treated the defendant indicated that the defendant gave a combination of the first two stories and that he appeared to be well-oriented, and did not appear to be suffering from either an emotional disturbance nor under the influence of drugs.
The defendant asked his wife to tell the police that he had been injured in the garage at home and that he was home all day on January 28th. When his wife spoke to the police, she informed them the defendant was not home on the day of the murder and that he had asked her to tell them another story. A search waiver was obtained and various clothing items matching the description of clothes the defendant wore on the day of the murder were obtained. Tests on the clothing indicated a blood splatter pattern on the flannel shirt front and a defused blood transfer pattern on the knee of some sweat pants.
The defendant spoke with Detective Horn on February 3, 1988, and made various statements with various inconsistencies before his confession. The confession was quite detailed as to what occurred on the date of the homicide.
A police blood splatter expert indicated there were large amounts of blood at the end of the kitchen counter, in front of the sofa and on the carpet under the victim, and smaller amounts in the dining area. The blood in the bathroom appeared to have been diluted and the pattern increased in volume as the trail led to the living room. From the way blood was found on the victim and the evidence at the scene, the expert concluded the victim remained in an upright position during a portion of the stabbing. The evidence also indicated that the initial stabbing occurred in the kitchen with the final blows coming in the living room area.
First, the appellant states the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury with the defendant's requested instruction regarding the crime of manslaughter in the first degree. We find this proposition of error to be without merit. The facts make it clear that a heat of passion theory is not justified. The defendant's statements, together with the evidence, show a clear design to effect the victim's death in a cold and calculated manner.
The requested instruction was not given after a long and heated argument by counsel in this case. This Court has held heat of passion alone does not reduce a homicide to manslaughter without adequate provocation. We have held the fatal blow or blows must be the unpremeditated result of the passion aroused. Ex parte Bollin, 3 Okl.Cr. 725, 109 P. 288 (1910). The statement of the defendant plus the facts show that the blows did not come because of any overt acts on the part of the deceased, but came because the defendant believed the reporting of attempted rape, together with his pending burglary charge, would result in his imprisonment. The trial court only has the duty to instruct on lesser degrees when required by the evidence. Dunford v. State, 702 P.2d 1051 (Okl.Cr.1985); Jones v. State, 650 P.2d 892 (Okl.Cr.1982).
There is sufficient evidence to support the premeditation in this case, which includes the manner of the killing and the pattern of the wounds. This Court has previously held the trial court's decision not to give a first degree manslaughter instruction was supported in part by evidence of twenty-five stab wounds that the appellant inflicted upon the victim. Duvall v. State, 825 P.2d 621 (Okl.Cr.1991), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 878, 113 S.Ct. 224, 121 L.Ed.2d 161 (1992).
The evidence clearly shows that the death was the result of a brutal and repeated stabbing. Evidence shows that the attack began in the kitchen, went from there to the bathroom, and finally to the living room where the victim died. The defendant stated he was putting on his coat and attempting to leave the scene of this brutal killing. However, instead of leaving the scene, he followed the deceased into the kitchen from which point a bloody trail to the ultimate death ensued. This evidence reveals the defendant was clearly not acting out of a heat of passion, but premeditated murder.
The second proposition of error is the trial court's failure to instruct on the defense of voluntary intoxication. The defense of voluntary intoxication has been used to show a lack of criminal intent to commit a murder and thus reduce such offense to a manslaughter. James v. State, 648 P.2d 1251 (Okl.Cr.1982). Before the instruction can be given, evidence must be introduced that raises a reasonable doubt as to a person's ability to form the prerequisite intent. Norman v. State, 648 P.2d 1243 (Okl.Cr.1982). The evidence in this case does not warrant such an...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Mitchell v. State, F-92-678
...(Okl.Cr.1986), cert. denied 479 U.S. 995, 107 S.Ct. 599, 93 L.Ed.2d 600 (1987).83 Malone, 876 P.2d at 717.84 See, e.g., Hogan v. State, 877 P.2d 1157, 1162 (Okl.Cr.1994); Snow v. State, 876 P.2d 291, 298 (Okl.Cr.1994); Revilla, 877 P.2d at 1153; Brown, 871 P.2d at 73; Ellis, 867 P.2d at 130......
-
Romano v. State
...step and the jury's fact finding function by effectively telling the jury Appellant murdered decedent. Compare with Hogan v. State, 877 P.2d 1157, 1161 (Okl.Cr.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1154, 130 L.Ed.2d 1111 (1995); and Fox, 779 P.2d at 570 (holding blood spatter expert......
-
Van White v. State
...the comments in question and, based on the entire proceedings, we find neither reversal nor modification is warranted. See Hogan v. State, 1994 OK CR 41, ¶ 29, 877 P.2d 1157, 1163. This claim is ¶ 37 In his last supplemental proposition, Appellant contends the jury verdict finding him compe......
-
Smallwood v. State
...of a fair and reliable sentence. We have repeatedly rejected this argument, and will not revisit the issue here. See Hogan v. State, 877 P.2d 1157, 1168 (Okl.Cr.1994); Romano, 847 P.2d at 368; Fisher v. State, 845 P.2d 1272 (Okl.Cr.1992), cert. denied, 509 U.S. 911, 113 S.Ct. 3014, 125 L.Ed......