Jordan v. State

• Decision Date: 26 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. CR 03-915.,CR 03-915.
• Citation: 356 Ark. 248,147 S.W.3d 691
• Parties: Damarcus JORDAN v. STATE of Arkansas.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

147 S.W.3d 691

356 Ark. 248

Damarcus JORDAN v. STATE of Arkansas.

No. CR 03-915.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

February 26, 2004.

Nolan Henry, PLLC, by: Mark Murphey Henry, Fayetteville, for appellant.

Mike Beebe, Att'y Gen., by: Brad Newman, Ass't Att'y Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice.

Appellant Damarcus Jordan appeals the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court convicting him of capital murder and aggravated robbery and sentencing him to life imprisonment. On appeal, he argues that the trial court erred in refusing to grant (1) his directed-verdict motion on the charge of capital murder; (2) his motion to transfer his case to juvenile court; and (3) his motion to suppress his custodial statement. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1-2(a)(1). We find no error and affirm.

On the evening of February 11, 2001, Appellant was at the home of his friend Raymond Williams. Also present were Charles Robinson, another friend, and Williams's three sisters. The group decided to order pizza from a nearby Pizza Hut. While waiting for the pizza to be delivered Appellant, Williams, and Robinson began discussing a plan to rob the pizza deliveryman when he arrived. Specifically, they discussed that one of the three would check the delivery vehicle for cash, while another would check his pockets, and the third would hold a gun on him. At one point, Appellant and Robinson began to argue over who was going to get to hold the gun but, ultimately, it was Appellant who held it. Appellant and the other two men then left the house for a while. When they returned, they came back inside the house for a few minutes, but then went back outside to wait for the deliveryman.

Approximately one hour and forty-five minutes after they ordered the pizza, Herman Lockhart, a part-time deliveryman for Pizza Hut, arrived at the Williams's house. He went inside and dropped off the pizza. When he came back out, he was confronted by Appellant and Robinson. Appellant was pointing a gun at him when the gun discharged, striking Lockhart in the chest. Appellant, Robinson, and Williams then fled the scene.

The next morning, Williams's mother arrived at Appellant's home and informed his mother, Betty Jordan, that Appellant, Williams, and Robinson were wanted for questioning by the Little Rock Police Department. Betty and Curtis Clemons, a friend of hers, took Appellant and Robinson to the police department. Detective Steve Moore was notified that Appellant and Robinson were there, and he escorted the men to separate interview rooms. According to Moore, Appellant was informed that he was at the police department because there was a warrant for his arrest for capital murder.

While in the interview room, Moore and another detective, Ronnie Smith, advised Appellant of his Miranda rights. Appellant then gave a false statement regarding the events leading up to the death of Lockhart. In that statement, Appellant admitted that he and the others devised a plan to rob Lockhart when he delivered the pizza and that they waited outside for him to arrive. Appellant then told the officers that at the last minute he backed out and hid on the side of the house, while Williams and Robinson approached Lockhart. Appellant also told officers that it was Robinson who had the gun.

Shortly after this statement, when confronted with the fact that two of Williams's sisters stated that Appellant wanted to hold the gun during the robbery, Appellant recanted his first statement. He then confessed to Moore and Smith that he was the one holding the gun during the robbery. He also admitted to shooting Lockhart, but claimed that Lockhart tried to grab the gun from him, causing it to accidentally discharge.

Appellant was charged by felony information with one count of capital murder and one count of aggravated robbery. A jury trial was held on April 29, 2003. During the trial, Annie Williams, a sister of Raymond Williams, testified that she overheard Appellant, Williams, and Robinson come up with a plan to rob the deliveryman. She stated that she never notified anyone of this plan, because she thought the three men were just joking. According to Annie, when the deliveryman left the house, she looked out the window and saw Appellant and Robinson standing in front of Lockhart. She could not tell if either man was holding anything, but stated that Appellant's hand was pointed straight out in front of him. Annie turned away from the window and then heard a scream and a gunshot.

Stephen Ray, an analyst with the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified that based on his analysis of the gunshot residue found on clothing worn by Lockhart at the time of the shooting, he was able to determine that Lockhart was not the victim of a close range or contact gunshot wound. According to Ray, Lockhart was not holding on to the gun at the time it was fired.

Dr. Frank Peretti was the medical examiner in this case. He testified that Lockhart died as the result of a single gunshot wound to the chest. Peretti stated that the wound was a distance gunshot wound, because there was no evidence of close range firing on the skin.

Following the presentation of all the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on both the capital-murder charge and the aggravated-robbery charge. This appeal followed.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

For his first point on appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict made at the close of the State's case and renewed at the close of all the evidence. Appellant argues that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he caused Lockhart's death under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, as required by Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(1) (Supp.2003). Appellant avers that the State failed to prove that the shooting was nothing more than the result of an accidental discharge of the gun. In other words, Appellant argues that the mens rea necessary to sustain a capital-felony-murder conviction was not present and was not proved by the State. We disagree.

It is well settled that we treat a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Mills v. State, 351 Ark. 523, 95 S.W.3d 796 (2003); Williams v. State, 346 Ark. 304, 57 S.W.3d 706 (2001). The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Evidence is substantial if it is of sufficient force and character to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion and pass beyond suspicion and conjecture. Haynes v. State, 346 Ark. 388, 58 S.W.3d 336 (2001). On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, considering only that evidence that supports the verdict. Williams, 346 Ark. 304, 57 S.W.3d 706. Remaining mindful of this standard, we review the evidence in this case.

Section 5-10-101(a)(1) provides that:

(a) A person commits capital murder if:

(1) Acting alone or with one (1) or more other persons, he ... commits or attempts to commit ... robbery ... and in the course of and in furtherance of the felony or in immediate flight therefrom, he or ... an accomplice causes the death of any person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

We have held that the required intent when a person is killed in the course of committing a felony, here robbery, is the intent to commit the felony and not the intent to commit murder. Isom v. State, 356 Ark. 156, ___ S.W.3d ___ (2004); Jones v. State, 336 Ark. 191, 984 S.W.2d 432 (1999). We have further held that the requirement of extreme indifference involves actions that evidence a mental state on the part of the accused to engage in some life-threatening activity against the victim. Williams v. State, 351 Ark. 215, 91 S.W.3d 54 (2002), cert. denied, 539 U.S. 907, 123 S.Ct. 2257, 156 L.Ed.2d 119 (2003); McCoy v. State, 347 Ark. 913, 69 S.W.3d 430 (2002).

Here, Annie Williams testified that she heard Appellant and the others making plans to rob Lockhart after he delivered the pizza. She testified that she heard Appellant and Robinson arguing over who was going to hold the gun, because Appellant wanted to do it. Annie also testified that immediately prior to the shooting, she looked out the kitchen window and saw Appellant and Robinson standing in front of Lockhart and that Appellant's arm was pointing straight out in front of him. In addition to Annie's testimony, Detective Smith testified that Appellant gave a statement admitting to shooting Lockhart. In that statement, Appellant claimed the gun went off after Lockhart tried to grab it. Appellant's claim that the gun accidentally discharged was countered by evidence presented by the State that Lockhart's wound was not the result of a close-contact wound and was not consistent with him having grabbed for the gun. Specifically, Stephen Ray, a crime lab analyst testified that an analysis of gunshot residue revealed that Lockhart was not holding on to the gun when it discharged. The medical examiner also testified that Lockhart's wound was a distance wound, not a close-contact wound.

In sum, Appellant's claim that the evidence did not eliminate the possibility of an accidental shooting is without merit. The fact that he pointed a loaded gun at Lockhart is sufficient to satisfy the requirement that he acted under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life. This court has held that the mere act of pointing a loaded gun at another person in the course of a robbery is a manifestation of extreme indifference to the value of human life. Price v. State, 347 Ark. 708, 66 S.W.3d 653 (2002) (citing Isbell v. State, 326 Ark. 17, 931 S.W.2d 74 (1996)). In Isbell, this court noted that the act of pointing the weapon was sufficient to constitute the requisite circumstances regardless of whether there was an...