Kuebler v. State
Decision Date | 10 November 2016 |
Docket Number | NO. 2012–CT–01825–SCT,2012–CT–01825–SCT |
Citation | 204 So.3d 1220 |
Parties | Charles L. Kuebler a/k/a Charles L. Kueblur a/k/a Charles Kuebler a/k/a Charles Louie Kuebler a/k/a Charles Keubler a/k/a Charles Louis Kuebler v. State of Mississippi |
Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
DAVID PAUL VOISIN, EDWARD BLACKMON, JR., ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, BY: MELANIE DOTSON THOMAS, JEFFREY A. KLINGFUSS, ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
EN BANC.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
KING, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
PART ONE
¶ 1. Finding harmless error, the Court of Appeals affirmed Charles "Louie" Kuebler's conviction of deliberate-design murder and sentence of life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). This Court now finds that the trial court committed reversible error by denying Kuebler the opportunity to present his theory of defense, in granting a flight instruction, and by prohibiting Kuebler from offering evidence to rebut the State's argument that his flight indicated consciousness of guilt. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
¶ 2. Tamra "Tammy" Stuckey was shot and killed on the couch in Kuebler's apartment in the early morning hours of June 30, 2010. Tamra had been staying at Kuebler's apartment on Morningside Drive in Jackson for three or four days prior and had shown an unreciprocated romantic interest in Kuebler during this time.
¶ 3. The Court of Appeals stated:
to the head, with her feet "tucked" under the couch pillows.
The officers took statements from Kristen, Aaron, Nate, and Jennifer. However, when officers attempted to put Kuebler in the back seat of a patrol car in order to question him (as is the procedure and which was done to the other witnesses), Kuebler became belligerent. He shouted obscenities and racial slurs, as well as physically resisted the officers. He was also telling the officers to "get [Tamra] some help," but the ambulance was already on the scene and medics had pronounced Tamra dead. When Kuebler refused to get into the patrol car, or put his hands behind his back after wrestling with the officers, they forced him to the ground and put handcuffs on him while he kicked and screamed. Once inside the patrol car, Kuebler proceeded to kick out one of the windows, resulting in the police placing him in leg shackles.
Investigator Smith recovered a Smith and Wesson .380 caliber handgun from the crime scene, along with two live rounds in the magazine, and one live round and shell casing from the floor. The gun and bullets were processed for fingerprints, but none were found. At the JPD station, Kuebler's hands were swabbed and the materials sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab (MCL) for a gunshot-residue test. Gunpowder was found on the back of Kuebler's right hand and left palm. Also, particles indicative of gunpowder were found on his right and left palms, and the back of his right and left hands. While JPD did not perform a gunshot-residue test on Tamra, Dr. Feng Li, the forensic pathologist, did. The test was sent to the MCL for processing; however, an analysis was not conducted on Tamra's kit because of the lab's policy not to perform analyses on victims "due to the fact that a victim of a gunshot wound" would always test positive. However, the State submitted Tamra's gunshot-residue kit to the MCL for analysis the first day of trial. On the third day of trial, the lab released the results of the test. Gunpowder was positively found on the back of Tamra's right hand and palm, and on the back of her left hand. Further, particles indicative of gunpowder were found on both of her hands.
In September 2010, Kuebler was indicted for deliberate-design murder under Mississippi Code Annotated section 97–3–19(1)(a) (Rev. 2014), with the charge enhanced for using a firearm during the commission of a murder, in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97–37–37 (Rev. 2014).
Kuebler v. State , 2012–KA–01825–COA, 205 So.3d 623, 2015 WL 5202944 (Miss. Ct. App. Sept. 8, 2015), reh'g denied (Feb. 23, 2016).
¶ 4. Kuebler's theories of defense at trial were that Tamra had either committed suicide or had been attempting to commit suicide and the gun had accidently discharged while he was attempting to stop her. On the night Tamra was murdered, Nate told police officers that he thought the shooting had been an accident. However, at the time of trial, he testified "not so much."
¶ 5. Starks Hathcock, a forensic scientist for the MCL, testified that the weapon found at the crime scene was the handgun that had killed Tamra. Hathcock performed a "drop test" with the gun and determined that the gun could not have been discharged without someone cocking the gun and pulling the trigger.
¶ 6. Dr. Li testified that Tamra's cause of death was homicide and that she was shot at an intermediate range of two and one-half to three feet away. Dr. Li testified that, because of the trajectory of the bullet, the gun could not have fallen to the floor and accidentally discharged. However, Dr. Li additionally testified that if Tamra had been lying on the couch threatening to shoot herself with the gun pointed at herself and Kuebler had approached her and attempted to stop her when the gun discharged, the autopsy results would be consistent with that theory. Dr. Li also testified that he could not rule out that Tamra had her hands on the gun at the time the trigger was pulled and that he could not rule out accident as a manner of death.
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