State v. Carter, 112,269
| Decision Date | 30 September 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 112,269,112,269 |
| Parties | State of Kansas, Appellee, v. Kyle Carter, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Samuel Schirer, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellant.
Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
Defendant Kyle Carter appeals his conviction for premeditated first-degree murder. Carter raises five issues in his appeal, including multiple claims of prosecutorial misconduct, multiple claims of instructional error, and a claim that cumulative error compels reversal.
As detailed below, we ultimately reject Carter's arguments and affirm his conviction and sentence.
On the evening of September 7, 2013, through the early morning hours of September 8, friends Kyle Carter and Trenton Custer went to a couple of bars before ending up at Michelle Wilmore's Wichita home.
About 3:45 a.m. Richard Heptig, who lived near Wilmore, found a man named Carl Cooper on his front porch. Cooper and the porch were covered in blood. Cooper told Heptig that he had been stabbed by two men who fled in a white truck. Heptig's wife called 911, and the dispatcher issued a radio call about the stabbing. The call provided Heptig's address and described the fleeing suspects' vehicle as a white truck.
Cooper later died of his injuries.
Moments after the call went out, an officer saw a white truck only five blocks from the scene. Because it matched the vehicle description, he stopped the truck. Other officers arrived to provide backup. The driver and lone occupant was identified as Custer. When asked if there were any weapons in the car, Custer said there was a knife on the floor. An officer picked up the knife, unsheathed it, and saw that the blade was bloody. Custer was arrested.
At 4:02 a.m. defendant Kyle Carter sent Custer the following text message:
An investigator would later testify that he followed a trail of blood from Heptig's porch to the College Hill Park pool across the street. Another investigator would measure the distance from Wilmore's home to the start of the blood trail at 847 feet.
Investigating officers went to Custer's house later the morning of his arrest. They were looking for Custer's wife, Sara, but found Carter, who had been living in Custer's house. Carter's name had not yet surfaced. Officers informed Carter that they were investigating an incident that involved Custer, but they did not mention it was a stabbing. Officers would later testify that Carter told them he and Custer had gone to a couple of bars the night before but had separated about 3 a.m. Carter said Custer may have gone to Wilmore's house. He failed to tell them he had been to Wilmore's house. The officers communicated that they would be going to Wilmore's house after talking to Carter.
Wilmore would later testify that Carter called her, told her officers were coming to her house, and asked her to tell them he had not been there. Carter also sent Wilmore a text message telling her that the officers had said Custer stabbed someone, even though officers had not yet provided that level of detail to Carter.
Officers arrived at Wilmore's house for the first time before noon. Wilmore had surveillance cameras that enabled her to see her porch and front yard on a television screen in her bedroom. Early that morning, she said, she had seen a man breaking into one of her cars and had seen Custer's truck drive by as the man was running away. She also said she never saw Custer without Carter, so officers became suspicious that Carter had been involved as well.
Tracey Mans, the mother of Carter's son, and Sara would both testify later that they spoke with Carter the morning that officers were investigating. Carter told them that a man had broken into Wilmore's car early that morning and that Carter “beat him up.” Carter also told Sara that the police had arrested Custer and that they thought he had stabbed someone. Sara decided to call the police station to figure out what was going on.
While officers were en route from Wilmore's house to speak to Carter again, they received word that Sara had called the police station and reported that Carter had told her he and Custer had seen someone breaking into a friend's car and had beaten him up and “punished” him.
Officers then returned to Wilmore's house. They found Carter on her front porch and arrested him.
The officers also spoke with Wilmore again. She admitted that Carter was at her house when she observed what she thought was a burglary of her car. She said that Carter and Custer were together at her house and that they pursued the man breaking into her car—Carter on foot and Custer in his truck. Wilmore said Carter and Custer returned a short time later. Carter told her that he had caught the burglar and that the burglar would not bother her again.
While interviewing Carter, officers noticed that he had blood on the cuticle of his smallest left finger. A crime scene investigator swabbed the cuticle.
An autopsy conducted on Cooper revealed three stab wounds : one on the middle of the left side of his back and two on the backside of his left thigh. The wounds indicated great compressive force. One was more than 6 inches deep and another was 5–½ inches deep, while the murder weapon, the knife found in Custer's truck, had a blade shorter than 4 inches. Cooper had no defensive wounds on his body.
The State charged Carter and Custer with the premeditated first-degree murder of Cooper. At their joint preliminary hearing, neither testified, and no other witness testified that Custer had implicated Carter in Cooper's death. The district judge bound both men over on the murder charge.
Carter's trial began the following April. Before the start of voir dire, the district judge provided potential jurors with information about serving as a juror, including qualifications, scheduling, and the “basic tenets of a criminal case.” He explained the State's burden of proof, the presumption of innocence, and then told potential jurors: “It's only if and when you are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that what the State alleges occurred, that they have proven their case, the presumption then leaves the defendant and then your obligation becomes to vote guilty, if you are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors Justen Phelps and Heather Botter presented the State's case. Among their witnesses was the investigator who processed Custer's truck. The investigator photographed the knife found on the floor and determined that its blade was 3–¾ inches long. He was unable to locate any fingerprints on the knife. Another of the State's witnesses was the forensic scientist who performed DNA analysis on the blood from the knife and from Carter's cuticle. Both samples matched Cooper's DNA.
Carter testified in his own defense. He said that he and Custer went to Wilmore's house early on the morning of September 8. When Wilmore thought she saw someone on her surveillance monitor, she asked Carter to check. Carter went to the front door to look out. He saw a man in her car and yelled, “Get the fuck out of the car,” and the man, later identified as Cooper, ran away. Carter thought he saw something in Cooper's hands, and so he ran after him.
The pursuit was headed toward College Hill Park pool when Custer drove past Carter in his truck. Carter said he saw Custer pull up to Cooper and jump out. Carter saw a brief fight between Custer and Cooper and then saw Cooper fall to the ground. Carter did not see a knife. He kept running toward the two men. When he reached them, Custer was backing away from Cooper, and Cooper was on the ground. Carter took a right-handed swing at Cooper but missed. Carter's next swing with his left hand connected to Cooper's hand. Carter said Cooper ultimately walked away. Carter said he did not see any blood on Cooper or in the grass; he said he had no idea that Cooper had been stabbed.
Because Custer had already left in his truck, Carter walked back to Wilmore's house. Custer was there when he arrived. Carter said Custer appeared nervous and was pacing. Custer left soon after, but Carter remained at Wilmore's. Carter eventually returned to Custer's house, but Custer was not there. Carter called Sara, looking for Custer. He told her that a man had broken into a friend's car and said he had beaten the man up.
Carter testified about his arrest after he had returned to Wilmore's house. When Carter spoke with officers after his arrest, i.e. , the second time during the investigation, he conceded that he had been at Wilmore's during the night but he claimed to know nothing about the stabbing and again failed to mention that he had struck Cooper. When officers confronted him with inconsistencies in his story, he eventually gave more information but never admitted to punching Cooper. Carter admitted on the stand that he had not been forthcoming with officers. He said he had not mentioned the car burglary or the fight between Custer, Cooper, and himself because he “just didn't want to be involved in it.” He acknowledged texting Wilmore that Custer had stabbed somebody despite the fact that officers had not told him the type of weapon Custer had used. He testified that he merely assumed it was a stabbing because Custer always carried a knife and never carried a gun. Carter also admitted that he had asked Wilmore to tell officers he had not been at her house earlier in the morning.
On cross-examination of Carter, Phelps highlighted multiple inconsistencies in the various versions of events Carter had given to officers. Carter agreed that there were inconsistencies when he was shown transcripts of earlier interviews. He also...
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