Mollett v. State

• Citation: 1997 OK CR 28,939 P.2d 1
• Decision Date: 30 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. F-95-214,F-95-214
• Parties: 1997 OK CR 28 Lloyd Edward MOLLETT, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 1

939 P.2d 1

1997 OK CR 28

Lloyd Edward MOLLETT, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. F-95-214.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

April 30, 1997.

Rehearing Denied June 23, 1997.

Debbie Mattox, Oklahoma Indigent Defense, Robert G. Perrine, Norman, for Defendant at trial.

Beth Pauchnik, Laura Austin Thomas, Assistant District Attorneys, Stillwater, for the State at trial.

W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General, William L. Humes, Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma City, for Appellee on appeal.

Cindy G. Brown, James A. Drummond, Appellate Defense Counsel, Norman, for Appellant on appeal.

OPINION

JOHNSON, Judge:

Lloyd Edward Mollett was tried by a jury in the District Court of Payne County, Case No. CRF-93-491 before the Honorable Donald L. Worthington. Appellant was convicted of First Degree Malice Aforethought Murder (Count I) and Rape in the First Degree (Count II). After finding the existence of two aggravating circumstances--the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel"; and the murder was committed to avoid lawful arrest or prosecution--the jury set punishment at death for the murder and seventy-five (75) years imprisonment for the rape. The trial court sentenced Appellant accordingly. Appellant now appeals.

This case arises out of the rape and murder of Sri Sedjati Sugeng. Sri Sugeng and Appellant both lived at the Forty North Apartments during the summer and fall of 1993. During this time, the two became somewhat acquainted as they both owned Rottweiler dogs and would sometimes talk to each other as they walked the dogs. Ms. Sugeng was from Indonesia and had moved to Stillwater in order to attend Oklahoma State University.

On the evening of October 22, 1993, Sugeng and two of her friends, Latina Harjono and Erfin Soesanto, met at a local restaurant at approximately 6:00 p.m. After eating dinner, the trio went to the Carmike Cinema to see a movie. Finding that they had missed the start of the movie, they made plans to see a later show. Sugeng drove Harjono and Soesanto home at approximately 8:00 p.m. At approximately 9:50 p.m., Harjono and Soesanto went to Sugeng's apartment after repeated attempts to reach Sugeng by telephone were unsuccessful.

Upon arriving at Sugeng's apartment Harjono and Soesanto received no response to their knocks. The pair heard the television and entered the apartment calling for Sugeng. After quickly taking Sugeng's dog for a walk, the pair returned to the apartment. Harjono went into Sugeng's bathroom and found Sugeng face down in the bathtub. A call to 911 was made while Soesanto administered CPR. Sugeng was wearing only a jacket when she was found. Attempts to resuscitate Sugeng by Soesanto and ambulance personnel were unsuccessful.

A subsequent investigation of the victim's apartment revealed, among other things, two blood stains on the living room floor. Near those blood stains was a baseball cap in which hairs were subsequently found. A pair of torn pink panties were found near the victim's bed. Bloodstains were also found near Sugeng's bed and on the bed, near the corner.

The baseball cap found in the victim's apartment was later traced to Appellant, who admitted the cap was his. The bloodstains in the living room were identified as the blood of the victim. The stain on the bed contained both the blood of the victim and Appellant's semen. Appellant's semen was also detected on the vaginal swabs later taken by the medical examiner.

Dr. Larry Balding, a deputy medical examiner, examined the victim's body and found contusions and bruises on her cheek, under her chin and inner lips. Dr. Balding also noted a contusion on the victim's chest and bruising on her hips. Both these injuries were consistent with weight bearing down on those areas of the body. A laceration just outside the victim's vagina and a laceration inside the vagina in the area of the hymen were also discovered. Dr. Balding testified that the injuries to the vaginal area were consistent with blunt force trauma.

Injuries consistent with defensive wounds were found on the victim's hands, wrists and forearms. In addition, marks on the victim's throat, in conjunction with petechial hemorrhaging, indicated the victim had been strangled. Lastly, the victim was found face down in her bathtub and her lungs and trachea were filled with fluid in a manner associated with drowning. The medical examiner ultimately concluded the cause of death to be asphyxia from either drowning or neck compression.

Other relevant facts will be discussed in the propositions of error to which they relate.

ISSUES RELATING TO GUILT/INNOCENCE

Appellant contends in his first assignment of error that error resulted from the issuance and execution of search and arrest warrants. On October 28, 1993, Special Judge Lois Belden signed an arrest warrant for Appellant's arrest and search warrants to search Appellant's apartment and to obtain body samples. ¹ Appellant maintains the warrants were not supported by a sufficient showing of probable cause. Appellant further contends he was denied effective assistance of counsel by defense counsel's failure to file a motion to suppress the arrest, the searches and the evidence derived therefrom.

"The purpose of a warrant is to allow a neutral judicial officer to assess whether the police have probable cause to make an arrest or conduct a search." Steagald v. U.S., 451 U.S. 204, 212, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 1648, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981). Although an arrest warrant and a search warrant both involve a probable cause determination, the interest of the two warrants differ. Steagald, 451 U.S. at 212-13, 101 S.Ct. at 1648. An arrest warrant may be issued upon a showing that probable cause exists to believe that the subject of the warrant has committed an offense. Id. at 213, 101 S.Ct. at 1648. Thus, the warrant serves to protect an individual from an unreasonable seizure. Id. On the other hand, a search warrant may be issued upon a showing of probable cause to believe that a legitimate object of a search is located in a particular place. Id. This determination safeguards an individual's interest in the privacy of his home and possessions against an unjustified intrusion by law enforcement. Id.

In the instant case, the affidavits for both the arrest and search warrants utilized the same facts to demonstrate probable cause existed. The information provided included the following: (1) that Appellant admitted the hat found inside the victim's apartment was his; (2) that Appellant gave two different versions of why the hat was in the apartment; (3) that Appellant stated he had never been past the front door entry way of the victim's apartment; and (4) that OSBI criminalist Mary Long determined that hair found on the hat and on a wet towel lying near the victim's body was consistent with known samples voluntarily given to authorities by Appellant.

Appellant contends that one hair matching his found on a towel near the body was not sufficient to support the magistrate's probable cause determination. ² Appellant is underestimating the significance of the information provided in the affidavits. Appellant's hair was found near the victim's body. This hair is physical evidence linking Appellant to the room in which the victim's body was found. Moreover, the presence of Appellant's hair in the victim's bathroom is inconsistent with Appellant's claim that he had never been beyond the victim's front door. Appellant also gave the interviewing officer two different explanations for how his hat was found inside the victim's apartment. While one of these factors alone may or may not support a finding of probable cause, when combined, the probability that Appellant committed the crime and that a search of his apartment may uncover further evidence of his wrongdoing becomes substantial.

The question is not whether the information contained in the affidavits was sufficient to convict Appellant in a court of law, but whether probable cause existed for the issuance of the warrants. "The existence of probable cause is a common sense standard requiring facts sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has or is being committed." United States v. Wicks, 995 F.2d 964, 972 (10th Cir.1993). A magistrate's finding of probable cause is to be given great deference. Gregg v. State, 844 P.2d 867, 874 (Okl.Cr.1992).

Upon review, we find the information set forth in the affidavits was sufficient to support the magistrate's findings of probable cause for both the arrest and search warrants. With regard to the arrest warrant, the above described information was sufficient to establish probable cause that a crime had been committed and that Appellant was involved in the crime. See Shadwick v. City of Tampa, 407 U.S. 345, 350, 92 S.Ct. 2119, 2122, 32 L.Ed.2d 783, 788 (1972). With regard to the search warrants, we find the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed. Lynch v. State, 909 P.2d 800, 805 (Okl.Cr.1995). The residence of a person arrested for committing a crime is the natural place for concealing evidence of that crime. Bollinger v. State, 556 P.2d 1035, 1039 (Okl.Cr.1976). Thus, a fair probability existed that items involved in the crime would be found there. Furthermore, the magistrate was provided with sufficient information to conclude that the requested blood, hair and saliva samples would be probative in the prosecution of the case. See Pyle v. State, 645 P.2d 1390, 1391 (Okl.Cr.1982). ³

Finally, Appellant contends he was denied effective assistance of counsel because defense counsel failed to move to suppress the arrest, the searches and the evidence obtained there from. Appellant has failed to show that his counsel's performance was deficient and that his deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Therefore, this assignment of error fails.

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