Phillips v. Com., s. 5162
| Decision Date | 10 October 1960 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 5162,5163,s. 5162 |
| Parties | WILLIAM V. PHILLIPS v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. CHARLES R. CAMPBELL v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. Record |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
H. E. Widener, Jr. (Elmo Summers Sheffey, on brief), for plaintiff in error, William V. Phillips.
George M. Warren, Jr., for plaintiff in error, Charles R. Campbell.
D. Gardiner Tyler, Assistant Attorney General (A. S. Harrison, Jr., Attorney General, on brief), for the Commonwealth.
The dominant and decisive assignment of error taken by each accused is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict and judgment.
Summarized, the evidence relied upon by the Commonwealth to sustain the convictions follows:
The testimony of Captain Newton J. Roark and police officer Norman Smith shows that on the morning of August 6, 1959, Phillips came to the police station in Bristol, Virginia, and reported that on August 4, 1959, he let a boy who said his name was Chuck Davis use his car to go home, that Davis still had possession of the automobile, and did not want to give it back. Roark informed Phillips that the police would look for the car but Phillips said that he did not want Davis prosecuted.
The next day, August 7, Phillips returned to the police station and told Roark and officer Norman Smith that he wanted to make another statement different from the one he had previously made; 'that he wanted to tell the truth about it.' After being advised that he did not have to make any statement, that if he did, it could be used against him, and that he was entitled to consult with an attorney if he desired, Phillips voluntarily made a confession that was reduced to writing, read by him, and signed. In the confession Phillips said that about 10:45 p.m. August 4, 1959, he was seated in his car at the F & M Cafe when a boy walked up and engaged him in conversation. The boy, who was a stranger to Phillips, said that he had to go to the Virginia Drive-In some miles distant to see his brother, and Phillips volunteered to drive him there. When they reached the drive-in each drank a cup of coffee, and the boy said that he had forgotten that 'his brother did not go to work until 3 o'clock.' Phillips, accompanied by the boy, then began driving toward Bristol, and on the way turned off the highway to allow the boy to relieve his bladder. After each had thus relieved himself, they re-entered the car and Phillips drove to an area called Briarwood Addition where he parked, and there the boy suggested that they commit the crime. The confession then recites their commission of the crime of sodomy and its sordid and disgusting details. When they left Briarwood, at the boy's request, Phillips allowed him to drive, and on the way to Bristol he asked Phillips to let him keep the car until tomorrow. Phillips was reluctant to grant that request, but when the boy threatened to 'run the car into some house or over some cliff', Phillips became scared, and on the boy's promise to bring the car back the next day, he agreed to let him keep it. The confession then states that at the boy's insistence Phillips loaned him $7.00, and after driving around for a while longer, they stopped on the highway. When a police car stopped and the officer accosted them, the boy stated to the officer that Phillips was his boss and they were talking over what they were 'going to do tomorrow.' About one o'clock a.m. Phillips was let out of the car near where he and his wife were living.
The only evidence that tends to corrobate any part of Phillips' written statement is the testimony of Deputy Sheriff Clendenen, who said that when he arrested Campbell on August 7 in nearby Washington county on a charge against him in Bristol for the unauthorized use of an automobile, he was in possession of Phillips' car. Shortly after Phillips made and signed the confession a warrant charging him with sodomy was issued, and he was arrested.
Campbell was also arrested by Deputy Sheriff Clendenen sometime later on August 7 on a warrant charging him with sodomy. Clendenen testified that when arrested and questioned about that offense, Campbell admitted that he had been with Phillips in the latter's automobile during the evening of August 4, having gotten in the car at the F & M Cafe in the city of Bristol. He also admitted that he had gone in Phillips' car to the Virginia Drive-In several miles east of Bristol and had driven from there to Briarwood Addition in Washington county where they stopped. He further said that while at the Briarwood Addition, Phillips made advances toward him by laying his hand on Campbell's leg, but when that occurred, he told Phillips 'to get his hand off him or he would break his neck.' Campbell had never seen Phillips before that evening, and he said that this incident was his first knowledge that Phillips was 'queer.' He also said that when he and Phillips left Briarwood, he drove the car and took Phillips to the latter's home where he let him out.
After Campbell's arrest he was also interviewed by Captain Roark and made an oral statement to him practically identical with the one made to Clendenen, though he did tell Roark that when he let Phillips out of the car, Phillips told him to use the automobile but to bring it back the next day.
Neither accused testified. Phillips' confession was not made in Campbell's presence, nor were the oral statements of Campbell to Clendenen and Roark made in Phillips' presence.
When Phillips' written confession and Campbell's statements to Clendenen and Roark, all made after the commission of the alleged offense, were offered in evidence by the Commonwealth, the court rightly ruled that Phillips' confession was not admissible against Campbell nor were Campbell's statements admissible...
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