State Of Or. v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 04 February 1999 |
| Docket Number | SC S43235 |
| Citation | 328 Or. 248,971 P.2d 879 |
| Parties | STATE OF OREGON, Respondent, v. MATTHEW DWIGHT THOMPSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
David E. Groom Public Defender, Salem, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief was Sally L. Avera, Public Defender.
Robert B. Rocklin, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Michael D. Reynolds, Solicitor General.
Before Carson, Chief Justice, and Gillette, Van Hoomissen, Durham, Leeson, and Riggs, Justices. *
This is an automatic and direct review of a judgment of conviction and a sentence of death. ORS 163.150(1)(g); ORAP 12.10(1). Defendant seeks reversal of his convictions for aggravated murder, ORS 163.095, felony murder, ORS 163.115, and first-degree burglary, ORS 164.225. Alternatively, defendant asks this court to vacate his death sentence. We affirm the judgment of conviction and the sentence of death.
The jury found defendant guilty. We therefore view the evidence in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Rose, 311 Or. 274, 276, 810 P.2d 839 (1991).
About 10:30 p.m. on November 18, 1994, Andrew McDonald and his wife, Debra Oyamada were at the Driftwood Tavern in Portland. Defendant and his companion, Paul Whitcher, entered the tavern and ordered a pitcher of beer. Oyamada was sitting at a video poker machine and McDonald was sitting at the bar. Defendant was wearing a plaid shirt. Defendant and Whitcher approached Oyamada. Defendant asked Oyamada if she was from "the 'samurai family'" or "from samurai blood." She responded, "As a matter of fact, yes, I am." Defendant continued, but Oyamada said she did not want to talk. Oyamada turned her back to defendant because she thought those were "weird questions" and that defendant was "overbearing." Defendant persisted, saying, Oyamada replied that she did not want to talk about it. Defendant then sat next to Oyamada. She said, "You're sitting in someone else's seat." After that, defendant got up from the seat and started to walk toward the door. As they walked, McDonald approached defendant and Whitcher and said, "Please leave her alone, she doesn't want to talk about it." Pat Disciascio, the bartender, became concerned, and he directed defendant and Whitcher to leave the tavern. When defendant and Whitcher did not leave immediately, Disciascio said "Good night, you guys, " and pointed toward the door. As defendant and Whitcher left the tavern, one of the two men said, "I feel like killing somebody tonight."
Defendant and Whitcher then stood outside where defendant said to Whitcher, "I'm going to go back in there and kick that guy's ass." Defendant stated to Whitcher, "If we do this, you know, we're going to jail."
Between five and ten minutes after leaving, defendant ran into the tavern alone, grabbed McDonald from behind, began striking him, and dragged him outside. Oyamada tried to pry defendant off of McDonald. Defendant then turned on Oyamada, hitting her in the head, throwing her to the ground, and stabbing her in the head and neck. Bill Jones, another tavern patron, grabbed defendant. Defendant stabbed Jones six times. Defendant then ran away. Ambulances took McDonald, Oyamada, and Jones to the hospital. McDonald died as a result of his wounds.
Defendant and Whitcher went to defendant's grandmother's home, where defendant lived. Defendant introduced Whitcher to his grandmother, then she went to her room to sleep. About 1:30 a.m. that night, defendant's grandmother awoke and went downstairs because she heard a lot of noise. She saw Whitcher cleaning up broken glass and defendant cleaning grape juice off the rug. She asked Whitcher to leave. Defendant said that he was going to see that Whitcher got home safely, and the two men left the house. When defendant returned shortly, his grandmother was still cleaning grape juice. Defendant said he would clean the grape juice and told his grandmother to go to bed, which she did. Before she fell asleep, she heard the washing machine running.
About 1:30 a.m. that night, Sally Woolley called "911" to report that she heard loud, angry, male voices outside her home. Woolley reported that a man was lying face down in the street. Another man, wearing a plaid shirt, was kneeling over him and rolled him partially onto his side. The man in the plaid shirt rummaged through the other man's pockets, then ran away.
The police arrived. The man on the street was identified as Whitcher. He had been stabbed sixteen to twenty times and was dead. One pocket had been turned inside out.
About 2:00 a.m. that night, the police found defendant walking nearby. He smelled of alcohol and was nervous and evasive. His shoes were untied and although it was a cold night, he was sockless. One eye was swollen. The police thought that defendant might have witnessed Whitcher's stabbing and questioned him. After denying that the had been in an altercation, defendant stated that he lived nearby with his grandmother, but gave the police his mother's address. He denied ever having been arrested or being on probation. After a record check indicated that he had been arrested and that currently he was on probation defendant was taken into custody.
The police first contacted defendant's mother, who stated that defendant did not live with her. She gave the police defendant's grandmother's address. The police contacted defendant's grandmother at her home. She invited the officers into her home and gave them permission to look around. Defendant's grandmother then led them to the washing machine in the basement and opened the lid. Blood was smeared on the outside of the machine. The washed clothing in the machine had stains consistent with blood. The grandmother told police that the clothing in the machine was defendant's. The state's criminologist concluded that the DNA recovered from the top of the washing machine, and from jeans, a shoelace, and a sock found in the washing machine, was consistent with Whitcher's.
At 12:30 p.m. on November 19, 1994, detectives returned to defendant's grandmother's home with a search warrant. After finding no weapons, the police left. The returned around 5:00 p.m. that day. With defendant's grandmother's consent, the detectives searched her basement. A detective found a bloody knife on a cross-beam and a blood-smeared wallet inside a wood stove. The knife was consistent with defendant's grandmother's description of a knife defendant owned. The state's criminalist concluded that the blood on the knife and wallet matched Whitcher's blood type.
Defendant was charged in a 22-count indictment with the murders of Andrew McDonald and Paul Whitcher and with related crimes. The first 14 counts charged crimes that occurred at the Driftwood Tavern in the late hours of November 18, 1994. The remaining counts charged crimes that occurred in the early morning hours of November 19, 1994. Defendant pled not guilty to all charges. 1 After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of aggravated murder (4 counts), murder (2 counts), felony murder (2 counts), first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary (2 counts), and first-degree assault (2 counts). After a penalty phase proceeding, he was sentenced to death. 2
Defendant assigns nine claims of error relating to the guilt phase and five claims relating to the penalty phase of his trial. He also contends that Oregon's death penalty statute violates the Oregon and United States constitutions.
Before trial, defendant informed the trial court that his counsel was "not working out." Specifically, he complained that: he had not yet received all police reports, his counsel took two to three weeks to return some phone calls, his counsel should have attempted to "lower" the indictment, and that he had filed an action against his counsel under 42 USC § 1983 (). After permitting defendant to explain his reasons for moving to substitute counsel, the trial court denied his motion. The court explained that defendant was being well represented by qualified attorneys and that he had not given the court sufficient grounds to change his counsel.
Later, defendant filed a pro se motion for substitution of counsel. Again, the trial court asked him to explain his complaints. He asserted that there was "no harmony" between him and his attorneys. The court then stated:
This court reviews a trial court's denial of a criminal defendant's motion for substitution of counsel for an abuse of discretion. State v Langley, 314 Or. 247, 258, 839 P.2d 692 (1992), opin adhered to 318 Or. 28, 861 P.2d 1012 (1993). 3
A trial court, presented with a defendant's request for substitution of court-appointed counsel, must assess the facts and determine whether the defendant's complaints are "legitimate." Langley, 314 Or at 257; see also State v. Davidson, 252 Or. 617, 620, 451 P.2d 481 (1969) ().
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