Howard v. State
| Decision Date | 09 May 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. CR 00-803.,CR 00-803. |
| Citation | 348 Ark. 471,79 S.W.3d 273 |
| Parties | Timothy Lamont HOWARD v. STATE of Arkansas. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Arkansas Public Defender Commission, by: Dorcy Corbin, Little Rock, for appellant.
Mark Pryor, Att'y Gen., by: David R. Raupp, Sr. Ass't Att'y Gen., and Lauren Elizabeth Heil, Ass't Att'y Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
W.H. "DUB" ARNOLD, Chief Justice.
This appeal, by Timothy Lamont Howard, is from a judgment of conviction for two counts of capital murder and one count of attempted capital murder from Little River County Circuit Court. Howard was sentenced to two death sentences on the two capital murder convictions and a thirty-year sentence plus a $15,000 fine on the attempted capital murder conviction. He appeals on multiple grounds, which include: (1) insufficient evidence to convict Howard of capital murder and attempted capital murder; (2) error by the trial court in allowing the prosecutor to comment on Howard's right not to testify; (3) error by the trial court in allowing untimely exculpatory information provided by the prosecutor; (4) error by the trial court in refusing Howard the opportunity to present to the jury the manner in which the exculpatory evidence was withheld; (5) error by the trial court in allowing hearsay testimony; (6) error by the trial court in refusing to grant Howard's motion to suppress; (7) error by the trial court in allowing improper argument by the prosecutor during closing argument; and (8) error by the trial court in admitting handcuffs purchased by the state into evidence. We conclude that all points raised are without merit, and affirm.
On Saturday, December 13, 1997 at 10:30 a.m., the police discovered Brian Day's body in the back of a U-Haul truck in Ogden, Arkansas. Brian Day had been beaten and had been shot once in the head with a .38 caliber bullet. Once Brian Day's body was identified, the police went to notify Shannon Day of her husband's death. At the Day home, the police forced their way into the home and found Shannon's dead body in a closet in a bedroom. Trevor Day, the Days' seven-month-old child, was found by the police crying with a cord tied around his neck underneath a pile of cloths in a zipped bag in one of the bedrooms of the Day home.
Appellant Timothy Lamont Howard was arrested on Wednesday, December 17, 1997, for the capital murders of Brian Day and Shannon Day and the attempted capital murder of Trevor Day. Howard had been friends with Brian and Shannon Day for years, and the nature and depth of their friendship was not disputed. Brian Day and Howard sold drugs together, and on the eve of the day the bodies were discovered, Howard expected to receive $4,500.00 from a deal with Brian Day. Additionally, Penny Granger testified at trial that, shortly before the murders, Shannon Day suspected that she was pregnant with Howard's child. However, the most incriminating evidence against Howard was his inappropriate and unexplainable behavior both before and after the discovery of Brian, Shannon, and Trevor Day. During a period of time before and after the bodies were located, Howard relied on three different girlfriends, their homes, and several vehicles interchangeably to plan and to attempt to conceal his crimes. Consequently, Howard's behavior is best understood in a chronological order beginning with the Thursday before the crimes.
On Thursday, December 11, 1997, Howard went with Brian to rent a U-Haul truck. Brian Day revealed conflicting stories regarding the rental of the U-Haul truck. He told one person that he was going to be moving furniture, but he also disclosed that he was going to be receiving stolen merchandise. Howard stated that he was going to help the Days move furniture.
At 3:00 a.m. on Friday, December 12, 1997, Vicki Howard, appellant Howard's ex-wife, left work at Cooper Tire in Texarkana and drove to Ashdown, where she intended to go to Brian and Shannon's house. Before continuing to the Day home, Vicki stopped at a restaurant, at 4:00 a.m., where she sat and spoke with Howard. Howard acknowledged to Vicki that he was upset with the Days because they would not admit to dealing drugs and they allowed others to believe that Howard was the only person dealing drugs and bringing them to Ashdown. Howard also discouraged Vicki from going on to stay overnight with Brian and Shannon Day because they were in a fight. Howard, then, told Vicki that he would rent a hotel room in Texarkana if she would return there. Vicki Howard did rent a room and stayed the night in Texarkana.
Later that same Friday morning, Howard, driving the U-Haul truck, arrived at the motel in which Vicki Howard rented a room. Howard advised Vicki not to tell anyone about the U-Haul because the information would get her killed. Howard left the U-Haul truck parked at the motel, and Vicki drove Howard in her car to a farm which the Howard family owned in Ogden, Arkansas. Once at the farm, Howard drove to a small shack, illuminated it with the headlights of the car and went inside the shack. While in the shack, Howard bent down, picked something up, and put it in one of his pockets. Afterwards, Vicki dropped Howard off at Kim Jones's apartment. Kim Jones was, at that time, Howard's girlfriend, but since the two have been married.
Later that Friday at 5:00 p.m., Howard called Vicki at her motel room in Texarkana. Howard requested Vicki to come pick him up at Kim Jones's apartment. Vicki picked up Howard and they returned to the motel room. Vicki testified that Howard had a camera bag that he said contained "some stuff to have kinky sex" and that he mentioned handcuffs and a rope. Howard then drove Vicki's car to Wal-Mart and returned to the motel with a .38 caliber handgun stuck in the front of his pants. Vicki testified that Howard left the motel room at 9:40 p.m. wearing a black sweatshirt, jeans, and she thought a pair of work boots.
At approximately 11:00 p.m. on Friday, December 12, 1997, Howard called Kim Jones's sister, Jennifer Qualls, with whom he was also involved, and asked Qualls to pick him up at a rest stop on Highway 71 by the Red River Bridge, which is several miles from the Howard family farm. Qualls testified that when she arrived, Howard got out of Kim Jones's car and was acting "weird."
Jennifer Qualls drove appellant Howard to her house and the two went to bed. Howard got up at 1:00 a.m. on that Saturday morning stating he had to go get his money. He returned at approximately 3:00 a.m. and woke Qualls, to tell her that Shannon and Trevor Day would be staying with Qualls while he and Brian went to take care of some business. During the night, Jennifer saw Shannon and heard Trevor crying.
When Jennifer next awoke between 6:30 am. and 7:00 am. on Saturday, December 13, 1997, no one was in the house. Howard arrived at about 7:30 a.m. at Qualls's home and told her that the Days were hiding out and that he was the only person that knew their whereabouts. Further, Howard was the last person seen with Shannon and Trevor Day. Howard also gave Jennifer $200.00 in cash and told her that he needed a ride back out to the rest stop on Highway 71 to pick up Kim Jones's car. On the way to the rest stop, Jennifer noticed a woman's purse and other bags in the back seat of her car. Howard told her that they belonged to Shannon Day. Once at the rest stop, Howard took the purse and the other items from the back seat. Howard also asked Qualls if she thought Robin Jones, one of Qualls's former coworkers, would let him borrow his truck to help Brian and Shannon move furniture.
Jennifer Qualls then returned to her home by herself where she started to get ready to report to work at 9:00 a.m. Howard arrived at her home approximately twenty minutes after she returned home from dropping him off at Kim Jones's car and demanded Robin Jones's truck. Around five minutes after Qualls had reported to work, Howard arrived, asking if she had spoken with Robin Jones about the truck. Qualls called Robin to inquire about the vehicle, and Howard left to obtain the truck from Robin Jones.
Eddie Scroggins, a salesman at Pro-Truck outfitters in Texarkana, testified that Howard came into the store that Saturday morning and paid $140.00 cash for the largest toolbox in stock. Howard told Scroggins that he would have to come back for the toolbox because he was driving a car, and he would have to go get a truck to load the toolbox. Howard did pick up the toolbox a short time later, however, it is not known what vehicle he was driving.
Little River County Sheriff Danny Russell testified that, shortly before 10:00 am. on Saturday, December 13, 1997, he received a call that a U-Haul truck was parked in a wooded area in East Ogden. This was only two-and-a-half hours after Howard told Qualls that he was the only person who knew the Days' whereabouts. The dispatcher reported that there was blood dripping from the back of the U-Haul and the back door was padlocked shut. Sheriff Russell drove to the scene with lights and sirens on, where he discovered Brian Day's body in the back of the U-Haul truck on a farm owned by the Howard family. Russell called for other police personnel and an ambulance to the scene. The time of death of Brian Day is unknown, but the medical examiner did determine that he had been involved in a struggle and had been shot once in the head with a .38 caliber bullet. There were bloodstains found on a piece of carpet near the U-Haul truck and the position of the leaves on the ground indicated that Brian's body had been dragged to the U-Haul from the small shack on the farm. Investigators found Howard's fingerprints on the U-Haul truck. Also, a passerby found a pair of work boots two miles from the Howard family farm at the corner of Highway 71 and East Ogden Road in a cleared area. The boots found were the...
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