Parker v. State

• Decision Date: 26 August 1994
• Docket Number: No. F-88-365,F-88-365
• Citation: 1994 OK CR 56,887 P.2d 290
• Parties: Henry Harold PARKER, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 290

887 P.2d 290

Henry Harold PARKER, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. F-88-365.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

Aug. 26, 1994.

As Corrected Sept. 13, 1994.

Order Granting Rehearing and

Reaffirming Decision Dec. 28, 1994.

An Appeal from the District Court of Seminole County; Lee Stilwell, Associate District Judge.

HENRY HAROLD PARKER, Appellant, was tried by jury for the crime of Murder in the First Degree in Case No. CRF-87-208 in the District Court of Seminole County before the Honorable Lee Stilwell, Associate District Judge. Appellant was sentenced to death by lethal injection and has perfected this appeal. The conviction for Murder is AFFIRMED, however, the death sentence is VACATED and REMANDED for a NEW TRIAL.

Thomas E. Salisbury, William H. Luker, Asst. Appellate Public Defender, Norman, for appellant.

Robert H. Henry, Atty. Gen., David Walling, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, for appellee.

OPINION

LANE, Judge:

Appellant, Henry Harold Parker, was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to death following his conviction in Case No. CRF-87-208, in the District Court of Seminole County. Appellant has raised a number of issues with respect to the allegation of error in both stages of his trial, however, we find that we need address only the allegations relating to the first stage of the trial, in that error occurred which requires a new sentencing proceeding in this case.

Insofar as one of Appellant's allegations of error concerns the sufficiency of the evidence offered against him, we will review the facts of the case in light of the dictates of Spuehler v. State, 709 P.2d 202 (Okl.Cr.1985):

The test to be utilized by a reviewing court when determining if the State presented sufficient evidence to support a conviction where both direct and circumstantial evidence has been introduced is whether, after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

Drew v. State, 771 P.2d 224, 227 (Okl.Cr.1989).

In August of 1984, Appellant and the victim in this case, Warren Thrasher, entered into a contract involving conveyances of a number of pieces of property. In exchange for a mobile home park valued at $1,110,000.00, Thrasher agreed to give Appellant clear title to three pieces of property, one in Muskogee, one in Seminole and one in Meeker. Although the total value of the property was $389,000.00¹, two different banks held various mortgages on the land in the amount of $58,702.00. Thrasher was to satisfy the mortgages within six months of the closing date.

Thrasher had a variety of problems with the mobile home park and soon became convinced that Appellant had fraudulently induced him to buy the property. There was a dispute as to the actual number of lots at the park, as well as a number of zoning problems which had not been disclosed. As a result of his dissatisfaction with the trailer park, on the advice of counsel, Thrasher decided not to pay off the mortgages on the three pieces of property which he had conveyed to Appellant.

Appellant sued Thrasher in the District Court of Muskogee County, where he received a judgment for $70,000.00 on December 31, 1986. The trial court ruled against Thrasher on his counter claim for fraud. Thrasher filed an appeal of the district court's decision and did not pay either the judgment against him or the original mortgages. As a result, Appellant was unable to obtain new mortgages on the properties and lacked the ability to obtain funds to support his ongoing business concerns. Foreclosure proceedings were instituted by the two banks against both Appellant and Thrasher.

Around Christmas of 1986, Appellant approached B.G. Peoples on a number of occasions asking if he knew anyone that would be willing to commit a murder. Appellant told Peoples that he would get his trailer park back if Thrasher were dead. Although Peoples believed that Appellant was serious about his request, he did not want to get involved and took no action on the request.

Thrasher filed his brief in the pending civil appeal in mid-September of 1987. Although Appellant's response was due in late October, he was not represented by counsel, his previous attorney having withdrawn from the case.

On October 23, 1987, Appellant took the van which he normally drove to a mechanic in Muskogee. The mechanic, Dale Walker, testified that the two men were old friends and often bought and sold vehicles from each other. Appellant told Walker that he wanted to sell the van and that the interior lights needed to be repaired. He left the van and returned to his home in Walker's blue El Camino. The El Camino had a white camper shell on the back.

On October 25, neighbors of the Thrashers noticed a blue El Camino with a white camper shell on it moving very slowly down the street in front of the Thrasher's home. Kenny Davis was in the line of traffic which was backed up behind the El Camino. He testified that he followed the blue car for a short distance until he was able to pass. When he passed the car, he looked over to the driver and made an obscene gesture, expressing his displeasure at the slow speed which the car was going. He later identified Appellant in a photo lineup and at trial as the driver of the slow moving El Camino.

Wanda Gardner lived across the street from the Thrashers. She testified the she saw a blue El Camino drive slowly past the Thrasher's house with a line of cars following it. A few minutes later, she saw the same car in front of the house again. She moved away from the window, then heard five shots. When she looked outside again, she saw the El Camino speed away from the Thrasher's house.

After hearing the shots, Mrs. Gardner called her son, who was a local police officer, and the home of one of the Thrasher's children. She told her son about seeing the El Camino. He advised her to call the police department and report what she had seen.

Eight year old Shannon Ringle, whose home was adjacent to the Thrasher's testified that she saw a car drive through the Thrasher's driveway, honk, then back up and stop. She saw the driver get out of the car and pull on some brown pants up to his waist. She saw him get a black gun out of the car and walk toward the house. She went inside her house, then heard five shots.

Mrs. Thrasher arrived at her home soon after the shooting occurred. She found her husband lying on the ground under the carport. He had been shot five times. The medical examiner testified that either of two shots could have been fatal.

When the police arrived, Mrs. Thrasher and her son told police that Henry Parker had done the shooting. Both testified at trial that Parker had been violent and threatening in the past and they had immediately thought of him as a suspect. Officers spoke to Mrs. Gardner who told them about the blue El Camino. They immediately broadcast that information over the police radio.

Officer Travis Palmer of the Wewoka Police Department heard the broadcast putting him on notice to watch for a blue pickup with a white camper shell. He stopped the blue El Camino that Appellant was driving on eastbound I-40 about twenty-five minutes after the shooting was reported. Appellant explained that he was returning from a trip to Oklahoma City.

Due to the amount of traffic on the air and inclement weather, Palmer was unable to make radio contact with Seminole police. His broadcasts were heard, however, he could not receive any communications, so he released Appellant.

Appellant's explanation of his activities to Deputy Palmer was in contradiction with the testimony of Deputy Dave Anderson who testified that he had passed a blue El Camino with a white camper shell going west on highway 9 while he was eastbound on his way to the Thrasher house. He explained that he had stopped and gone through Seminole on his way home, which would explain why his vehicle had been seen south of I-40. Appellant's name was added to the bulletin and officers were posted at various points in an attempt to apprehend Appellant.

At the time of his arrest, Appellant was wearing brown coveralls pulled up only to his waist and red rubber boots. A pair of brown gloves were found in the car. When the police car arrived at the station, Appellant got out of the car and walked for several steps in the gutter which was full of water. He then moved to the grass, where he scraped the soles of his boots rather vigorously. Subsequent testing of the boots did not reveal any substance which might have connected Appellant with the murder.

A gun and a rifle were eventually discovered under a bridge near where Appellant's car was first observed by Officer Anderson. Testing showed that the gun was the murder weapon, however, police were unable to trace the ownership or possession of the weapons to Appellant.

While Appellant was in pretrial detention on this charge, he had conversations with two other inmates at the county jail concerning the establishment of an alibi defense. Through written notes and conversations, Appellant asked the two inmates to find people who would testify that he had been out shooting a gun on a farm near Seminole. One inmate, Gerald Warledo, was provided with a map of the area where the shooting was to have occurred. Instead of contacting anyone to have them be witnesses, Warledo notified the Sheriff and gave him the notes. Warledo also testified as to Appellant's request at trial.

The State theorized that Appellant's attempt to create an alibi involving the firing of a gun was in anticipation of a positive result on the forensic testing done on his hands by police immediately after his arrest. The test, however, did not reveal the presence of evidence which would indicate that Appellant had recently fired a weapon.

We find that the evidence introduced against Appellant more than satisfied the Spuehler...