Miller v. State, 87-19
| Decision Date | 06 May 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-19,87-19 |
| Parties | John MILLER, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Wyoming Public Defender Program, Leonard D. Munker, State Public Defender, and Julie D. Naylor, Cheyenne, for appellant.
Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., John W. Renneisen, Deputy Atty. Gen., Sylvia Lee Hackl, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellee.
Before BROWN, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, URBIGKIT and MACY, JJ.
Appellant John Miller was convicted by a Laramie County jury of being an accessory before the fact to the crime of first-degree murder. He was sentenced by the court to life in prison.
On appeal appellant raises five issues:
Damon Runyon would have been hard pressed to improve on the cast of characters in this human tragedy. So far as this case is concerned, John "Bulldog" Miller, appellant, and the late Laurence "Diggie" DeGroff, the victim, were the principal actors. The supporting cast consisted of Leland "Yosemite" Brown, Robert "Troll" Davis, John "Lizard" Kasselder, Richard "Chainsaw" Leonard, and Sherry (No Nickname) Newell. The principal actors were unproductive members of society, and both were recipients of the largess of the federal government. Diggie's entitlement checks were not insubstantial, and some of his friends, with strange sounding names were wont to take advantage of him and help redistribute his wealth. The deceased might be characterized as the "goose who laid the golden egg."
Before July of 1985, Diggie lived with two men known as Tramp and Stash, who relieved Diggie of most of his money as fast as it came in. In the latter part of July Diggie moved in with appellant and his girlfriend.
A typical "down-home" day in the life of "Bulldog" Miller is described in his brief:
" * * * He would get up at 8:00 a.m., have breakfast, then ride his motorcycle till about 11:00 a.m.; then he would stop at the Eagle's Nest bar for a few beers (five or six); then he would ride his motorcycle until about 6:00 p.m. when he would have dinner; next he would ride his motorcycle some more and then go to the Mayflower or the Eagle's Nest and drink whiskey and beer until closing time, 2:00 a.m.; last he would ride his motorcycle home."
October 2, 1985, started out as a typical day in the life of appellant. Diggie DeGroff had just received a check and his friends with sub-culture "handles" were at the premises occupied by appellant and Diggie to help Diggie reduce his cash balance. 1 At the party alcohol flowed freely; Lizard Kasselder and Diggie threw a few punches. Lizard slammed Diggie's head into the wall, denting the wall, but not Diggie's head. At this juncture, a girl named Sue, exhibiting considerable foresight and good judgment, hustled Lizard away from the party.
The drinking continued unabated, whereupon Diggie announced that he had to throw up, so he repaired to the bathroom and did that. Next, Yosemite Brown stopped drinking for a few moments, went into the bathroom and stabbed Diggie a couple of times with his buck knife. Diggie's reaction was to yell "ouch." Yosemite returned to the scene of the drinking and announced that he had just stabbed Diggie. Appellant said to Yosemite, "Well you started it, finish it." Whereupon, Brown, Yosemite, that is, headed for the bathroom mumbling something about stabbing Diggie again or slitting his throat. Brown returned and said he had stabbed Diggie again. The conversation then shifted to a discussion about a check Diggie had just received, which led to a decision that Diggie should be forced to sign the check so that it could be cashed. Yosemite, Troll and Bulldog (appellant) returned to where Diggie lay, bleeding and moaning and forced him to endorse the check. Diggie had blood on his hands, and stained the check. The threesome returned to the kitchen table to decide whether the check could be cashed. Sherry (No Nickname) Newell, girlfriend of appellant, attempted to clean the blood off the check, but tore it in the process. The check was then ripped up and tossed into the fireplace. Appellant was angry that the check could not be cashed; after sending Sherry into the bedroom, he walked over to Diggie and stabbed him.
Diggie died around 9:15 p.m. He sustained about twenty stab wounds, any one or all of which could have been fatal. Appellant then suggested that Diggie's hands and head be chopped off to prevent identification. The corpse was pulled into the bathtub to allow the blood to wash down the drain. Either Yosemite or Troll hacked off the right arm. Bulldog then sent Sherry into town to get Chainsaw Leonard and to buy firewood. The two stopped at a convenience store where Chainsaw purchased the firewood. Sherry returned with Chainsaw about 11:00 p.m. When Chainsaw walked in, he saw Troll kneeling by the fireplace, holding a butane torch and using it to burn something. Chainsaw peered into the fireplace, and saw " * * * a human hand in there burning." He then glanced into the bathroom where Yosemite stood with a butcher knife. Chainsaw saw Diggie lying in the tub, and " * * * the stump of bloody arm sticking out of the bathtub. * * * "
Appellant used the wood Chainsaw brought to fuel the fire. Appellant hacked off Diggie's left hand, tossed it into the fireplace. He and Troll then undertook the tedious job of decapitating Diggie. They took turns slicing with the butcher knife. Appellant testified: "I'd go out and drink and he'd [Troll] chop, and then I'd go in and chop and he'd drink * * *." Appellant finally removed Diggie's head, holding it by the hair with one hand, while chopping with the other. He put the head in a plastic bag and tossed it into the fire, along with Diggie's clothes and his wallet, saving only the driver's license.
About 4:30 a.m. appellant and Troll shoved the body, sans head and hands, into the trunk of appellant's car. They drove around on the back roads east of Cheyenne looking for a place to hide the corpse. They finally dumped it by a haystack near the Wyoming Hereford Ranch, and then they cleaned up the car and house.
Diggie's checks continued to arrive at appellant's post office box. Since appellant had Diggie's driver's license, he was able to cash the checks. Appellant paid Diggie's bills " * * * to make it look like he was still alive so nobody started asking questions," and then appellant paid his rent and bought groceries. About $400 was left after that, and appellant said he didn't know what he did with it, but " * * * probably drank it up." He used part of the December check for Christmas presents.
The crime came to light when in late January, 1986, Chainsaw Leonard needed a copy of his G.E.D. record for an apprentice training program. Because he had obtained his G.E.D. while incarcerated in a federal penitentiary, he went to the United States Marshal's office to see if they had the information he needed. While at the U.S. Marshal's office he talked to George Stumpf, a deputy marshal whom Chainsaw had known for several years. At one point in the conversation, Chainsaw mentioned that " * * * there's dead bodies out here, and I know where they are and I know who did it. * * * " Mr. Stumpf reported the conversation to Sergeant Bill Null, a Cheyenne Police Department detective. Sergeant Null made arrangements to meet with Chainsaw on January 24, 1986, at which time Chainsaw revealed the details of the murder and led officers to the body.
An autopsy was performed on the decomposed remains, and it was determined that the cause of death was "multiple stab wounds to the thorax and upper abdomen of the body, both from the front and the rear." Since the internal organs were gone "due to insect or animal activity," it was impossible to determine the depth of penetration of any single wound. The pathologist stated, however, that any one or all of the twenty stab wounds could have been fatal.
Before appellant's trial, Leland "Yosemite" Brown pled guilty to first degree murder, and Robert "Troll" Davis entered pleas of guilty to accessory after the fact and mutilation. Both testified at appellant's trial, as did Richard "Chainsaw" Leonard, John "Lizard" Kasselder and Sherry (No Nickname) Newell. Appellant also testified in his own behalf. Sherry testified that appellant did nothing to prevent the murder, which was consistent with appellant's own statements.
On the final day of hearing the evidence the jury learned that Diggie had been murdered, in appellant's words, "For shits and giggles." The next day, the jury found appellant guilty of "accessory before the fact" to the crime of first-degree murder. 2
At his arraignment appellant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency. He was initially examined at the Wyoming State Hospital to determine his competency to stand trial. Appellant was subsequently examined by his own doctors, Arthur Merrell and Neal Roach. None of these pre-trial evaluations contained an opinion that appellant was suffering from mental illness or deficiency at the time of the crime. Section 7-11-304(a), W.S.1977 (Cum.Supp.1985), provides:
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