Little v. State

• Decision Date: 23 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 69476,69476
• Citation: 758 S.W.2d 551
• Parties: William Hamilton LITTLE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 551

758 S.W.2d 551

William Hamilton LITTLE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 69476.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,

En Banc.

March 23, 1988.

Rehearing Denied April 27, 1988.

Certiorari Denied Oct. 31, 1988.

See 109 S.Ct. 328.

Harlan D. Friend, Liberty, Freece R. Elliott, Crosby, for appellant.

Michael R. Little, Dist. Atty., Liberty, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before the Court en banc.

OPINION

ONION, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction of capital murder, V.T.C.A., Penal Code, § 19.03(a)(2), in which the death penalty was imposed by the court following affirmative answers by the jury to the two special issues submitted pursuant to Article 37.071(b)(1) and (2), V.A.C.C.P. We will affirm the conviction.

Appellant raises nine points of error, seven of which complain of alleged error during voir dire. In his eighth point of error, appellant claims that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury verdict that appellant was in the course of committing or attempted to commit aggravated sexual assault, arguing that the evidence failed to exclude a reasonable inference other than appellant's guilt. In his ninth point of error, appellant claims that the trial court erred in admitting appellant's statement and "other evidence" which appellant claims were obtained as a result of an illegal search and seizure. Appellant's points of error will be treated in the order in which they were raised.

In order to place the discussion of appellant's arguments into proper perspective, we first offer a brief summary of the facts of this case. On the morning of December 3, 1983, Michael John Rammel found the body of Marilyn Peter in her home. He and Pat Faulkner arrived to install her clothes dryer. After installing the dryer, Rammel went to the front door where he found blood on the doorjamb. Rammel knocked on the door and entered after he heard a baby crying. He found Peter's small son crying on top of the kitchen counter. There was blood all over the kitchen and living room areas. The body of Marilyn Peter was lying in the living room, with numerous stab wounds on virtually all areas of her body. Robert Dunn, the police investigator also described the scene of the murder in like manner, although in greater detail.

Peter's body sustained numerous injuries which the State's expert witness Aurelio A. Espinosa described for the jury. Dr. Aurelio, a specialist in forensic pathology, performed an autopsy on the victim on December 4, 1983. He found evidence indicating that the victim had been the subject of sexual assault immediately prior to her murder. In addition, the autopsy indicated that the cause of death was five stab wounds to the victim's chest, but that the victim also was subjected to manual strangulation sufficient to cause death in the absence of any stab wounds. The wounds to the victim were of such a nature that in Dr. Aurelio's opinion Peter sustained them in the process of defending herself from attack.

Appellant, William Hamilton Little, was arrested at his place of residence on another, unrelated charge during the early morning hours of December 6, 1983. During interrogation at the police station following his arrest, appellant gave a written statement which later was introduced at his trial. The State introduced an edited version of the confession, and the appellant introduced the balance under the rule of completeness. See Article 38.24, V.A.C.C.P. In the statement appellant admitted he went to the home of Marilyn Peter on the night of her murder, that he had sexual intercourse with her, and that he killed Peter with a butcher knife which was in her apartment. Appellant claimed in the portion of the statement he introduced that the sexual intercourse with Peter was consensual. He further claimed that he killed her only after she attacked him with the knife, which he took away from her, and after she repeatedly attacked him while he kept her away by stabbing her.

Glenn Wesley Harwell testified as to the events which took place in the company of appellant on the night of December 2, 1983, hours before the murder of Peter. He was in the company of appellant while at "The Game Room," a recreation facility located in the Old Snake River Subdivision in which both appellant and Peter lived. During this night at "The Game Room," appellant consumed beer and marihuana, and Harwell was of the opinion that appellant became intoxicated over the course of the evening. Harwell related that appellant was "talking crazy" during the evening, and that appellant had claimed to have scalped people and cut them up when he lived in New York. According to Harwell, appellant was carrying a knife that night, and had tried to start fights with both strangers and friends. Harwell gave appellant a ride to his home, arriving at approximately 1 a.m., during which ride appellant continued to threaten to "whoop" Harwell if he would pull the truck over to the side of the road.

Joseph Alba also was in the company of appellant during this time. He related that appellant said that he was "going to do something crazy or stupid or go out and kill somebody". Alba also told how appellant had previously told him of his sexual desire for Marilyn Peter. Alba indicated that he and Harwell left appellant alone at appellant's residence at around 1:30 a.m. on December 3, 1983.

Marion J. "Bubba" Zbranek, Jr., who lived with the deceased's sister, testified that he saw Marilyn Peter at her residence during the late night hours of December 2, or the early morning hours of December 3, 1983. At that time, she appeared calm and showed no signs of any injury. There also was no sign of struggle or anything unusual in her residence. Alicia Alba drove by the Peter home early on the morning of December 3, 1983, and saw a male individual with long hair and a beard standing in the doorway of the victim's home. Alba's description of the individual was consistent with the appearance of appellant at that time. She noticed no vehicles other than the victim's automobile parked outside of the house. The testimony of several witnesses indicated that the distance between the home of the victim and that of appellant was 1.5 to 2 miles and could be walked in approximately thirty minutes. Other facts concerning this crime will be set out as they are relevant to appellant's points of errors.

In his first four points of error appellant complains that the trial court abused its discretion in granting the State's challenges for cause to veniremen John Pratt, Gordon McIlvain, Patricia Berrote and Edwin M. Tyler. Each challenge was based on the ground that each such venireman would hold the State to a more stringent standard of proof than that of beyond a reasonable doubt. Article 35.16(b)(3), V.A.C.C.P., provides for the exclusion of a venireman who "has a bias or prejudice against any phase of the law upon which the State is entitled to rely for conviction or punishment." (Emphasis supplied.)

Venireman Pratt stated that although he favored the death penalty he could not vote to assess it, then qualified his statement that before he could vote so that the death penalty could be imposed there "couldn't be the least doubt in my mind." He explained he would have to be convinced "beyond any doubt," that he understood the difference between "a reasonable doubt" and "no doubt," and that he would require proof leaving him with no doubt at all. Although he subsequently stated in response to an inquiry by appellant's counsel that he could follow the reasonable doubt standard in answering the special issues on punishment, he, still later, made clear in response to the court's interrogation, he would hold the State to an "any doubt" standard.

Venireman McIlvain gave similar responses. He stated he would have difficulty in assessing the death penalty and would have to be convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever, and have to be absolutely sure. Although the defense attempted to rehabilitate McIlvain he made clear that he would have to be convinced beyond any doubt, whether reasonable or not.

At first venireman Patricia Berrote stated she would require the burden of proof to be beyond any doubt at both the guilt and penalty stages of the trial. She then switched and agreed it need be only beyond a reasonable doubt. Upon further questioning she indicated that reasonable doubt meant "no doubt in my mind at all," and that if she had a doubt it would automatically be a reasonable doubt. Still later she seemed to accept the reasonable doubt standard as to the special issues at the penalty stage of the trial. Thereafter she indicated her difficulty with circumstantial evidence, and stated she would answer the special issues "no" if the proof offered was by circumstantial evidence. She was rehabilitated by defense counsel's interrogation explaining circumstantial evidence, and stated she could return affirmative answers to the special issues based on circumstantial evidence. However, she then told the prosecutor that the circumstantial evidence would have to convince her beyond any doubt. Later Berrote indicated that at the guilt stage there would be a difference beyond a reasonable doubt standard and beyond any doubt standard, but at the penalty stage the two terms had the same meaning to her. Later Berrote told the court she would have to be absolutely certain and have no doubt whatsoever before answering "yes" to the special issues.

Venireman Tyler related he would require proof without any doubt in his mind before he could vote so that the death penalty would be assessed. He answered "yes" when asked if he would require proof before an iota of doubt. Tyler stated he could abide by the "reasonable doubt" standard in a murder case, but not in a capital murder case. Although defense counsel sought to rehabilitate Tyler he indicated he would require absolute certainty. Finally, Tyler, in response to the court's...