Hooks v. State

• Decision Date: 07 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. F-89-555,F-89-555
• Parties: Victor Wayne HOOKS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 1273

862 P.2d 1273

Victor Wayne HOOKS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. F-89-555.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

Sept. 7, 1993.

Order Denying Rehearing Oct. 5, 1993.

Ronald F. Evans, Oklahoma City, Trial Counsel for appellant.

Robert G. Boren and Patrick H. Lavelle, Oklahoma City, Appellate Counsel for appellant.

Richard Vallejo, Oklahoma City, appellate counsel for appellant.

Robert H. Macy, Oklahoma County Dist. Atty., Fern Smith, Asst. Dist. Atty., Oklahoma City, trial counsel for appellee.

Robert H. Henry, Atty. Gen. of Okla., A. Diane Hammons, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, appellate counsel for appellee.

OPINION

CHAPEL, Judge:

Victor Wayne Hooks was tried by jury and convicted of First Degree Malice Aforethought Murder for the death of Shalimein Blaine (21 O.S.Supp.1982, § 701.7) (Count I), and First Degree Manslaughter (21 O.S.1981, § 713) (Count II) for the death of a viable fetus, in Oklahoma County District Court, Case No. CRF-88-5642, before the Honorable Jack R. Parr, District Judge. The jury found three aggravating circumstances and set Hooks' punishment at death for Count I and five hundred (500) years imprisonment for Count II. We affirm.

At approximately 7:00 p.m. on October 6, 1988, Hooks went to the home of Virginia Plumley. He told Ms. Plumley her daughter, twenty-one year old Shalimein Blaine, had been beaten and raped and needed to go to the hospital. When Ms. Plumley asked him what had happened, he claimed he did not know. Hooks then left Ms. Plumley's residence and returned to Shalimein's apartment less than a block away.

When Ms. Plumley, accompanied by her daughter Amanda, reached Shalimein's apartment, Hooks was loading Shalimein, who was unconscious and clad only in a blanket, into a car. During the drive to the hospital, Hooks told them Shalimein had gone for a walk, returned, knocked on the apartment door, and then collapsed into his arms when he opened the door. Ms. Plumley noticed Shalimein's head had been partially shaved, her face was extremely swollen and her arms and legs were covered with bruises.

Dr. Greg Johnson, an emergency room physician at St. Anthony's Hospital, testified Shalimein Blaine was clinically dead when she reached the hospital. Through "heroic efforts" physicians were able to reestablish a heartbeat and pulse. Dr. Johnson testified Shalimein Blaine was pregnant. An ultrasound, performed shortly after Ms. Blaine arrived at the hospital, revealed the unborn child was dead. Testimony at trial indicated the fetus was of twenty-four weeks gestation. A blunt force had ruptured the liver of the fetus. Additionally, the fetus sustained bruises to its abdomen and head. According to testimony, the fetus was alive at the time its mother received the injuries to her abdomen, and apart from the injuries, the fetus was viable. Ms. Blaine was pronounced dead at 9:16 a.m. the following morning.

Oklahoma City Police Officer Robert Ardle was dispatched to St. Anthony's Hospital to conduct a preliminary investigation on a reported sexual assault. Hooks related essentially the same story to Officer Ardle that he earlier told Ms. Plumley: Shalimein left the apartment on foot at approximately 4:15 p.m. and returned at around 7:15 p.m., collapsing in his arms after he answered her knock at the door. He told the officer he carried Shalimein into the bathroom, placed her in the bathtub and then went to Ms. Plumley's house for help.

While at the hospital, Hooks signed a search waiver authorizing officers to search Shalimein's apartment. Officers entered Shalimein's apartment and found some hair in a trash can. In addition, blood was discovered on the bed, on the carpet near the bed and on several wash cloths and towels in a clothes hamper. When the officers next searched a trash dumpster near the apartment, they found several bloody wash cloths and a large clump of hair.

Detectives Eric Mullenix and Randy Scott questioned Hooks at the Oklahoma City Police Station at approximately 1:00 a.m. on October 7, 1988. Detective Mullenix read him the Miranda rights and Hooks agreed to speak with the detectives. Hooks said he and Shalimein had lived together for four years and that they had a one-year old child and Shalimein was pregnant with his second child. He again claimed Shalimein had left the apartment on foot at around four p.m. and fallen into his arms after he answered the door. According to Hooks, he then left the apartment to get Ms. Plumley. When he returned, Shalimein was in the bathtub. He picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the hospital.

Detective Mullenix was aware bloody clothing, wash cloths, and a large amount of hair had been found in the dumpster near the apartment. When asked to explain the presence of these items, Hooks began to cry and told officers he wished to tell the truth. He admitted he and Shalimein had fought. He claimed Shalimein had slapped him and he had struck her with his fist and kicked her. After striking Shalimein, Hooks removed her clothes and placed her in the bathtub. He then cleaned up the apartment, placing the bloody articles into the dumpster before going to Ms. Plumley's home. He claimed he had shaved Shalimein's head looking for injuries.

ISSUES RELATING TO JURY SELECTION

In his seventh proposition, Hooks contends the trial court erred in excusing for cause Venirepersons Coney, Hood, Russell and Wallace because of their concern about the death penalty. Prospective Jurors Hood, Russell and Wallace clearly and unequivocally stated they did not believe in capital punishment and could not assess a penalty of death. The trial court asked prospective Juror Coney whether, if selected as a juror in a case where the law and evidence would warrant the death penalty, he could recommend such a sentence "without doing violence to [his] conscience,...." Ms. Coney responded, "[b]ecause of my religion I could not." Upon further questioning by the trial court, Venireperson Coney stated "maybe under some circumstances, maybe" she could consider the death penalty. Finally, Ms. Coney stated she did not know whether she could consider a capital sentence.

The proper inquiry when deciding whether to excuse a potential juror for his or her views on capital punishment is whether those views would prevent or substantially impair the juror's ability to perform their duties in accordance with the instructions and oath. Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 420, 105 S.Ct. 844, 850, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985). A potential juror's bias need not be shown with "unmistakable clarity," and in reviewing such claims great deference will be given to the trial judge who sees and hears the juror. Id. at 424, 105 S.Ct. at 853. These principles clearly support the trial court's decision to excuse Venirepersons Hood, Russell, and Wallace. Although prospective Juror Coney's answers were somewhat conflicting, the record supports the conclusion that her views on capital punishment would have prevented or substantially impaired the performance of her duties as a juror. Therefore, we conclude the trial court properly excluded all four potential jurors. See Thomas v. State, 811 P.2d 1337, 1352 (Okl.Cr.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1041, 112 S.Ct. 895, 116 L.Ed.2d 798 (1992); Sellers v. State, 809 P.2d 676, 683 (Okl.Cr.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 912, 112 S.Ct. 310, 116 L.Ed.2d 252 (1991); Rojem v. State, 753 P.2d 359, 363 (Okl.Cr.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 900, 109 S.Ct. 249, 102 L.Ed.2d 238 (1988).

ISSUES RELATING TO GUILT-INNOCENCE

In his third assignment of error, Hooks contends the trial court erred in refusing to allow Doctors Murphy and King to testify during the first stage of trial. The doctors are clinical psychologists and each had conducted psychological evaluations of Hooks prior to trial. According to Hooks' brief, the doctors' testimony was offered to show that he could not have acted with malice aforethought when killing Shalimein Blaine. In an offer of proof, Dr. Murphy said it was his opinion that Hooks did not act with malice aforethought when he killed the victim. Dr. Murphy further testified Hooks had been in a delusional state and had acted in the heat of passion. Dr. King had no opinion concerning Hooks' mental state at the time of the crimes, but stated he did not demonstrate any present sign of mental illness. Dr. King said Hooks had poor impulse control and a very violent potential.

The trial court, in ruling the testimony of these experts inadmissible, stated: "This testimony by [Dr. Murphy] and Dr. King goes to impulse control and whether [Hooks] acted compulsively and whether he would overreact under certain stress, none of which are any defense to the crime of having kicked and stomped a woman to death." The trial court excluded the proffered testimony as being "a clear-cut invasion of the province of the jury."

Before the adoption of the Evidence Code in 1978, "Oklahoma had long recognized the common law rule that expert opinion evidence regarding the ultimate fact for the jury's consideration was generally not admissible." Gabus v. Harvey, 678 P.2d 253, 255 (Okl.1984). See also Marr v. State, 741 P.2d 884, 886 (Okl.Cr.1987). Since the enactment of the Code, "[t]estimony in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact." 12 O.S.1981, § 2704 (Emphasis added). This Court has held that the " 'otherwise admissible' language means that Section 2704 must be read together with Sections 2701-2703 and 2403 of the Oklahoma Evidence Code." McCarty v. State, 765 P.2d 1215, 1218 (Okl.Cr.1988). See also Marr, supra at 886. Under section 2702, expert opinion testimony should be admitted only if it will "assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue...." Section 2403 provides for the exclusion of relevant evidence if its probative value "is substantially outweighed by...