State v. Barnes
| Decision Date | 23 September 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 100,719.,100,719. |
| Citation | 293 Kan. 240,262 P.3d 297 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee,v.Anthony BARNES, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
1. The district judge's acceptance of defendant's jury trial waiver on the third day of his jury trial and continuation of the trial to the bench was not an abuse of discretion, despite defendant's history of mental illness. The record before the court includes an extensive conversation—between the defendant and his lawyer, and among the defendant, counsel for the defense and the State, and the district judge—that, when viewed holistically, demonstrates the defendant's understanding of his right to jury trial and the consequences of waiving it. The district judge was not obligated to stay the trial and order a new competency evaluation sua sponte.
2. On the facts of this case, the defendant's waiver of his right to jury trial was knowing and voluntary.
3. Sufficient evidence of the defendant's mental state was presented to support the district judge's verdict of guilty on first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated assault. It is not necessary that defense expert psychological testimony be rebutted by State expert psychological testimony.
4. The district judge did not err in relying upon the defendant's criminal history in sentencing.
5. The district judge did not err in sentencing the defendant to the highest number in the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act grid box range for the aggravated assault conviction.
Michelle A. Davis, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause, and Heather Cessna, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, was on the brief for appellant.Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Nola Tedesco Foulston, district attorney, and Steve Six, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
Defendant Anthony Ray Barnes appeals his convictions on one charge of first-degree premeditated murder and one charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years for the murder, with a consecutive 14 months for the aggravated assault.
Barnes raises five issues:
(1) Whether the district judge erred by failing to investigate Barnes' competency to stand trial rather than accepting his waiver of jury trial;
(2) Whether Barnes' waiver of his right to jury trial was knowing and voluntary;
(3) Whether there was sufficient evidence to support Barnes' possession of the requisite mental state for first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated assault;
(4) Whether the district judge erred by relying on Barnes' criminal history score to impose sentence, when Barnes' criminal record had not been proved to a jury; and
(5) Whether the district judge erred in sentencing Barnes to the high number in the range assigned to the presumptive grid box for the aggravated assault.
Jacklyn Wesley, the wife of Barnes' nephew, gave Barnes a ride to his ex-wife's home in Wichita. Wesley remained in the car while Barnes went up to the door and had a conversation with a young woman. Barnes then asked Wesley to take him to a QuikTrip at the corner of Murdock and Broadway. When Barnes left Wesley's vehicle there, he told her to tell his sister, Regina Billingsly, with whom he lived, that he would not be coming home.
Barnes stood near pay phones outside the QuikTrip, smoking a cigarette. A customer, Prentiss Cherry, went into the QuikTrip to buy a soda. As Cherry paid for the soda, he joked with the QuikTrip clerk, Brian Hall. As Cherry left the store and walked toward his car, Barnes walked up to him with a gun and told him to stop laughing. Cherry backed away from Barnes and fled toward the gas pumps. Barnes did not follow Cherry; instead, he walked into the store. Once inside, Barnes walked up to the counter, raised his gun, and shot Hall in the head. Barnes then left the store and resumed standing by the pay phones, smoking another cigarette. Hall died from his head wound.
Shortly after the shooting, police arrived on the scene. Police Chief Norman Williams first engaged with Barnes, telling him to drop his gun. Barnes did not immediately drop his gun, instead finishing his cigarette and indicating to the surrounding police that he would shoot one of them. According to one officer, Barnes also said something about the police not helping him with the situation with his kids. Another officer testified that Barnes said the police did not understand about grief and did not care about his kids. After Barnes finished his cigarette, he placed his gun on a nearby curb and turned around to put his hands on the exterior wall of the store.
After his arrest, Barnes waived his Miranda rights and confessed to shooting Hall and menacing Cherry. The State charged Barnes with one count of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of aggravated assault.
Before trial, Barnes filed a motion for a competency evaluation. ComCare evaluated Barnes and, while recognizing he had diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia and intermittent explosive disorder, concluded that, with adequate medication, he was competent to stand trial. Barnes did not object to ComCare's report or provide any additional information for the district judge's review at the subsequent hearing, and the district judge found him competent to stand trial.
Shortly thereafter, Barnes notified the court and the district attorney's office of his intention to pursue a mental disease or defect defense under K.S.A. 22–3219.
At trial, the State presented evidence from multiple witnesses present at the QuikTrip on the day of the shooting.
Wesley testified that Barnes was not behaving in a strange way when she gave him a ride to his ex-wife's home and then to the QuikTrip.
Cherry testified that, as he was walking out of the QuikTrip, Barnes walked up to him with a gun and said, “Stop laughing.” As Cherry ran from Barnes toward the gas pumps, Barnes said, “fuck it,” and turned to go into the store. Barnes walked up to the counter and shot the clerk one time.
Felicia Redmon, who was walking out of the QuikTrip a few paces behind Cherry, testified that Barnes walked up to Cherry with a gun in his hand, saying something along the lines of “keep talking.” She also testified that she saw Barnes walk into the store and raise the gun over the counter. She also heard a gunshot.
Donnie Coleman testified that, before he could walk into the QuikTrip, a man warned him not to go inside because there had been a shooting. Coleman did not believe the man and went inside the store. He saw Hall lying on the ground. After he walked out of the store, a different man in a blue hooded sweatshirt approached him from the pay phone area and asked him, “Do you want one too?”
Cheryl Donelan, a nurse who stopped at the QuikTrip immediately after the shooting, had started to walk into the store when a woman urged her to help because someone had been shot. Donelan testified that she turned to Barnes, who was standing by the pay phones and asked: “Is she kidding?” Barnes replied: “No, go on in, he's been shot.”
Sergeant Michael McGee and Officer Jon Estrada were among the police officers who responded to the QuikTrip after the shooting. McGee testified that Barnes was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt. Both McGee and Estrada understood Barnes to indicate, verbally and nonverbally, that, after he finished smoking his cigarette, he intended to shoot one of the officers who had responded to the scene. However, when Barnes finished smoking, he instead laid his gun down. Several other eyewitnesses, including Williams, McGee, Estrada, and Officer Matthew Lowe, confirmed that, after Barnes finished his cigarette, he responded to police instructions to drop his gun and put his hands against the exterior wall of the store.
Detective Rick Craig interviewed Barnes after he was arrested. Craig testified that Barnes responded calmly to his questions and did not complain about hearing voices. Barnes confessed that he had shot someone at QuikTrip but did not know the victim's name. He described what happened, stating Cherry had come out of the store and said something under his breath. Barnes thought Cherry and Hall were laughing at him and was upset by it. He said that he intended to shoot Cherry, but, when Cherry saw him coming up to him with the gun, he decided to shoot Hall instead. Barnes initially said he did not know why he shot Hall; but, later in the interview, he said he had shot Hall because Hall was laughing with Cherry. Barnes did not say that he shot Hall because he was hearing voices. He said that his original intention was to shoot himself and he would have done so, but then he saw Cherry and Hall laughing. He also said he wished he had shot at the police because they then would have shot him.
Barnes' evidence at trial was designed to support his theory that, because of his paranoid schizophrenia, he was unable to form the requisite intent for each of the charged offenses. His ex-wife testified that, after a car accident many years ago, Barnes had become increasingly withdrawn and angry, believing people were after him and making fun of him. Andy Meyer of ComCare testified that the suicide hotline at ComCare received several bizarre calls from Barnes a few months before the shooting.
After 2 days of testimony before the jury, Barnes' attorney told the district judge that Barnes wanted to waive his right to jury trial and proceed with a bench trial. The district judge acknowledged Barnes' history of mental illness and stated that she wanted to ensure that Barnes understood his right to a jury trial. The judge then questioned Barnes on his understanding of his rights and the roles of the parties and the court:
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