State v. Brown, 84-22

• Decision Date: 17 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-22,84-22
• Citation: 397 N.W.2d 689
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Ronald Harris BROWN, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 689

397 N.W.2d 689

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Ronald Harris BROWN, Appellant.

No. 84-22.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 17, 1986.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 13, 1987.

Paul T. Shinkle of Gottschalk, Shinkle & Long, Cedar Falls, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Joseph P. Weeg, Asst. Atty. Gen., and James Metcalf, Co. Atty., for appellee.

Considered en banc.

REYNOLDSON, Chief Justice.

Ronald Harris Brown and Jay Winston Hollins were convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Alvin Davidson, a Waterloo attorney. Hollins' appeal is addressed in a separate opinion also filed today. See State v. Hollins, 397 N.W.2d 701 (Iowa 1986). Here, we address Brown's appeal and the issues raised in it. Finding no basis for reversal, we affirm the judgment sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Alvin Davidson was murdered on January 10, 1983, as he was about to enter the Russell Lamson Hotel in Waterloo. He died at the hands of a masked man wearing blue jeans and an Army field jacket, who fired a single blast from a twelve-gauge shotgun.

A little over a month after Davidson's death, murder charges were filed against three men, Jay Hollins, Ronald Brown, and Ennis Montgomery. Subsequently, Brown and Hollins were jointly tried by jury and convicted of first-degree murder. Trial court entered judgment, and Brown's appeal from that judgment is now before us.

I. Brown's initial two challenges center on the testimony of Ennis Montgomery, the third individual charged in Davidson's murder. Shortly after his arrest, Montgomery, on March 2, 1983, entered into an immunity agreement with the State in which he agreed to testify against Brown and Hollins. In April, under separate court order, Montgomery began receiving a twenty-five dollar a day witness fee.

Before trial, Brown moved to suppress Montgomery's testimony. Brown argued language of the immunity agreement that required Montgomery's trial testimony be "the same as his sworn testimony given to the State ... on the 3rd day of March, 1983," coupled with the twenty-five dollar per day witness fee, evidenced a corrupt bargain impermissibly tainting Montgomery's testimony and rendering it inadmissible. Brown particularly emphasized his view the immunity agreement did not call for Montgomery to testify truthfully, but rather required Montgomery to give the "same" testimony he gave on March 3 regardless of whether or not that testimony was true.

Responding, the State denied the immunity agreement required Montgomery to follow any set script in his trial testimony. The State supported its position by pointing to statements in the agreement that granted immunity "in exchange for [Montgomery's] truthful testimony in the investigation and subsequent trial arising out of the death of Alvin Davidson" and warned that "failure to testify truthfully, under oath, shall subject [Montgomery] to the penalties of perjury." The State further disputed Brown's contention a twenty-five dollar per day witness fee evidenced any type of corrupt bargain.

The applicable law is undisputed. The controlling Iowa case is State v. DeWitt, 286 N.W.2d 379 (Iowa 1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 844, 101 S.Ct. 127, 66 L.Ed.2d 53 (1980). In DeWitt, we made clear that when "the prosecutor or sentencing judge, in combination or singly, bargains with an accomplice for false or specific testimony or a specific result, the accomplice's subsequent testimony is tainted and inadmissible." Id. at 384. We also pointed out, however, that "no unnecessary barriers should be imposed on the State's option to bargain for truthful testimony" and expressed our "confidence in our adversary system and the tool of cross-examination to expose fraud to the jury." Id. at 386.

The DeWitt court held, and we today reaffirm, that "except where no reasonable person could avoid finding a corrupt bargain has been struck, the accomplice's testimony should be weighed by the jury following liberal cross-examination to expose all factors which might influence the witness." Id. Cross-examination, of course, includes the right to bring out and develop fully the existence of any type of immunity agreement or witness fee arrangement.

In light of the above law, we turn to the record before us. Following Brown's motion, trial court held an evidentiary hearing at which the persons involved in the immunity and per diem agreements were subjected to direct and cross-examination. Trial court found negotiations for the immunity agreement were initiated by James Beeghly, who at that time was Montgomery's attorney. Bargaining began after Beeghly, conferring with his client over the weekend of February 26-27, 1983, advised Montgomery to break his silence and to tell the truth about what he knew.

Montgomery and the State subsequently entered into an immunity agreement on March 2, 1983, which contemplated a sworn statement from Montgomery the following day. At that time, the State did not know the extent, detail, or content of Montgomery's statement. There was no script set for him to follow, and the only stipulation required by the State was that Montgomery's March 3 statement be truthful.

Turning to Montgomery's per diem witness fee, trial court found the State refused to have any part in arranging for such fees prior to Montgomery's March 3 statement. The court also found that at the time of his March 3 statement Montgomery knew nothing about any per diem fee other than that his attorney would pursue the matter. Some time after March 3, attorney Beeghly filed a formal application and obtained a court order authorizing the fee. See Iowa Code § 815.6 (1983) (authorizing payment of fee to material witness for each day confined). The State neither supported nor resisted that motion and subsequent order.

Based on these findings, which the record supports, trial court concluded it could not find as a matter of law the immunity agreement was corrupt and thus tainted Montgomery's testimony and rendered it inadmissible at trial. We agree with trial court that reasonable minds could differ on the question of whether a corrupt bargain was struck. Thus, under DeWitt, trial court committed no error when it admitted Montgomery's testimony.

II. Brown's second challenge to Montgomery's testimony concerns the question of corroboration and is essentially an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence. This contention is equally meritless.

Davidson was murdered on January 10, 1983. Evidence totally independent of Montgomery's testimony was sufficient to allow a jury to find the following sequence of events leading up to and including that date: (1) Brown arrived in Waterloo on January 3 at the request of Jay Hollins; (2) Brown was a close friend of Jay's brother Jan who was in jail awaiting trial on a charge of attempting to murder Alvin Davidson; (3) while in Waterloo Brown, who went only by the name "Joe," purchased shotgun shells of the same type used to murder Davidson; (4) Brown was observed studying Davidson's travel to and from the hotel where he lived; (5) January 10, 1983, within a short time after Brown was observed in the area, Davidson was murdered as he entered the Russell Lamson Hotel by a masked man wearing an Army jacket similar to one Brown had been seen wearing and wielding a shotgun that contained shells of the same type earlier purchased by Brown; and (6) immediately after the murder Brown left Waterloo and traveled to Des Moines where he caught a bus back to Arizona.

This evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from it arguably constitute substantial evidence of guilt and thus are sufficient to uphold Brown's conviction without any consideration of Montgomery's testimony. When we consider Montgomery's testimony, however, the case against Brown is even stronger.

While in Waterloo, Brown stayed at the home of Annie Redd, Montgomery's girl friend. Montgomery testified that on the afternoon of January 10, 1983, Brown and he left Redd's and drove to the home of Janie Middleton, Hollins' aunt. Here, they picked up Hollins.

Hollins, Brown, and Montgomery left Middleton's riding in a Volkswagen van owned by Ernie Balkman. After eating lunch, they drove to the Russell Lamson Hotel. Montgomery drove into the alley separating the hotel and the Central Battery building and parked the van near the back of Central Battery.

After glancing up and down the alley, Hollins, who was sitting in the back, asked Brown, "What do you think, Joe?" Brown responded, "It should be a cinch. It should be no trouble at all."

The three then left the area. After stopping briefly at the I.P.S. building, they returned to Janie Middleton's house. Balkman arrived shortly; he and Hollins departed in a Blazer Hollins was using. Montgomery and Brown left in Balkman's van.

Brown and Montgomery proceeded to the courthouse and waited for Davidson to leave work. When Davidson came out, they followed him to his hotel. The car in which Davidson was riding parked in front of the hotel. Montgomery drove into the same alley the three had visited earlier.

When Montgomery stopped the van Brown reached behind Montgomery and picked up a "reddish looking" blanket from which he unwrapped a shotgun. He pulled on a ski mask and proceeded down the alley. Brown was wearing blue jeans and an Army fatigue jacket. Montgomery parked the van as before and waited.

A few minutes later, Montgomery heard a shotgun blast. He turned to see Brown running down the alley. Brown dropped the shotgun on a dumpster in the alley and jumped in the van, cursing the fact he had been unable to shoot Davidson more than once.

Montgomery and Brown then fled the area. Rather than return to Janie Middleton's, they went to the house of Janie Middleton's daughter, Debra Hodges. Hollins arrived, and after a brief exchange, told Montgomery they had to get Brown out of Waterloo and to Des Moines. Later that evening, Montgomery drove Brown to Des Moines where, after telling Montgomery to keep quiet, he...