State v. Clemmons

• Decision Date: 14 June 1988
• Docket Number: No. 69422,69422
• Citation: 753 S.W.2d 901
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Eric D. CLEMMONS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 901

753 S.W.2d 901

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Eric D. CLEMMONS, Appellant.

No. 69422.

Supreme Court of Missouri En Banc.

June 14, 1988.

Rehearing Denied July 26, 1988.

Nancy A. McKerrow, Columbia, for appellant.

William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., John M. Morris, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

BILLINGS, Chief Justice.

Defendant Eric Darnell Clemmons, an inmate at the Missouri State Penitentiary, was convicted of the first degree murder, § 565.020, RSMo 1986, for slaying another inmate, Henry Johnson, and sentenced to death. The jury found the following aggravating circumstances: (1) the defendant had a prior murder conviction, § 565.032.2(1), RSMo 1986; (2) the defendant had a prior first degree assault conviction, § 565.032.2(1); (3) at the time of the murder the defendant was in the lawful custody of a place of lawful confinement, § 565.032.2(9), and (4) the murdered individual was an inmate of the Missouri State Penitentiary, § 565.032.2(13). Affirmed.

Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to support a jury finding that he acted deliberately, a key element of first degree murder. Section 565.020.1. (No challenge is made as to the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the other elements of first degree murder.)

In assessing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, is viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict and evidence and inferences contrary to the verdict are ignored. State v. Guinan, 665 S.W.2d 325, 327 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 873, 105 S.Ct. 227, 83 L.Ed.2d 156 (1984).

Defendant and Henry Johnson were cellmates in the Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP). Due to problems between the defendant and Johnson, which they would not specify to correctional officers, defendant was moved to a different cell on about July 1, 1985. The move, according to George Brooks, the chief investigator at MSP, appeared to alleviate the problems between the two inmates and defendant later told Brooks that there had been no further trouble between himself and Johnson.

A little over a month later, on August 7, 1985, at shortly before 9:00 p.m., Corrections Officer Thomas Steigerwald walked out of the main corridor of MSP into an open area of the prison grounds called the upper lawn. Immediately after coming onto the upper lawn, Steigerwald saw Morris Cavanaugh, another employee of MSP, and the two exchanged brief greetings.

Both Steigerwald and Cavanaugh noticed a group of inmates standing around in a little circle near the entrance to Housing Unit 3. Most of the inmates in this group appeared to be talking together, but two of them stood a little apart from the rest. One of these two, who was standing between the other inmates and the entrance to the main corridor, was looking towards that entrance. The other, who was standing between the other inmates and the entrance to Housing Unit 3, was facing the other inmates. Steigerwald could see no signs of ill temper or threatened violence from any of the inmates in the group.

As Steigerwald began to walk toward the group he saw one of the inmates, who was the only one of the group wearing a gray sweatshirt, move a few feet toward another of the inmates, grab that inmate, and strike him in the upper left chest. The inmate in the gray sweatshirt followed this blow up with a roundhouse blow to his victim's left side. At that time Steigerwald did not see a weapon in the attacking inmate's hand and he thought the blows were simply closed fist punches. As Steigerwald continued on toward the group of inmates the inmate who had been attacked, Henry Johnson, ran past Steigerwald to the entrance to the main corridor. He had blood on the front of his shirt and on his pants. Steigerwald then realized that the blows he had seen had been with a knife and he ran toward the inmate in the gray sweatshirt while broadcasting over his radio that a stabbing had occurred and that he needed assistance.

The inmate in the gray sweatshirt started walking with another inmate away from Steigerwald toward the back of the prison chapel. This other inmate wore what appeared to be a gray towel wrapped around his head and had beads around his neck. When Steigerwald drew within 10 to 12 feet of the two inmates he saw both their faces clearly. Steigerwald also saw a knife sticking out of the right hand of the inmate in the gray sweatshirt. The knife was a flat piece of metal about four or five inches long, with both sides sharpened to where it made a point at the tip. At about this time the inmate wearing the towel and beads broke off from the inmate in the gray sweatshirt, dodged around to Steigerwald's right side, and headed back in the direction of the entrance to Housing Unit 3. The inmate in the gray sweatshirt continued on behind the chapel.

Steigerwald, choosing to continue after the inmate in the gray sweatshirt, ran around the front of the chapel to cut him off on the other side. The inmate was out of Steigerwald's sight until they approached each other on the other side of the chapel. As they approached each other at that time Steigerwald got another clear look at the inmate but he did not see the knife again. When the inmate saw Steigerwald on the other side of the chapel he turned around and started back the way he had come. Steigerwald also retraced his steps, again losing sight of the inmate while they were on opposite sides of the chapel.

After coming back around the chapel, Steigerwald saw the inmate heading toward the entrance of Housing Unit 3. Steigerwald caught up with the inmate just inside the doors of the Housing Unit and took him into custody. The inmate was identified as defendant Eric Darnell Clemmons. No weapon was found in defendant's possession. A search of the upper lawn and surrounding areas for the knife was also unsuccessful. The weapon was never found.

At the time defendant was taken into custody he was wearing what appeared to be a white sweatshirt instead of the gray sweatshirt Steigerwald had initially seen him wearing. It was soon discovered, however, that defendant was wearing a gray sweatshirt turned inside out so that the white lining was showing. When the sweatshirt was turned right side out a smear of blood was visible on the right sleeve.

After taking defendant into custody and leaving him at the control center, Steigerwald began looking through Housing Unit 3 for the inmate wearing the towel and beads that he had seen walking with defendant. Steigerwald found this inmate in one of the cells. He was identified as Keith Brown. Corrections officers searched Brown's cell where they found a hat and a school book which had been splattered with blood. Papers in the school book bore defendant's name and inmate number. A corrections officer reported that he had seen Brown carry this hat and book into Housing Unit 3 shortly after the stabbing had occurred.

While Steigerwald had been pursuing defendant through the upper lawn, Henry Johnson, the victim of the stabbing, ran up to the entrance to the main corridor. Corrections Officer Brian Smith saw Johnson was bleeding profusely from the chest and signaled another officer to open the gate. Smith could not get Johnson to lie down until help arrived so he escorted Johnson to the prison hospital. When Smith asked what happened, Johnson said only that "they have stuck me in my heart." Johnson died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Approximately an hour and a half after defendant was taken into custody he was questioned about the death of Henry Johnson. Defendant waived his Miranda rights and gave a statement in which he denied stabbing Johnson. While defendant was being taken to a maximum security cell after investigators had finished questioning him, however, he spontaneously remarked to an accompanying officer, "I guess they got me."

An autopsy revealed the cause of Johnson's death to be a stab wound inflicted on the left side of his chest which had penetrated the left ventricle of his heart. The depth of the wound was about four inches. In addition, Johnson suffered a stab wound to his left side, another under his right arm, and a scratch on his right shoulder which may or may not have been inflicted at the same time as the other wounds. The knife blade which caused the fatal wound and at least the two other major wounds was flat and sharper on one side than the other. The fatal wound must have been inflicted with considerable force because the blade entered Johnson's body perpendicularly to his ribs and thus had to cut, break, or spread the ribs in some way so that the blade could travel as far into the body as it did.

Forensic analysis of the smear of blood found on the sleeve of the defendant's sweatshirt showed that it was human blood, but further tests to type the blood were inconclusive. The blood splatters on the hat found in Keith Brown's cell were found to be human blood of either type B or type AB. Henry Johnson's blood was type B.

"Deliberation" is defined as "cool reflection for any length of time no matter how brief." Section 565.002(3), RSMo 1986. The evidence that immediately before the stabbing none of the inmates in the group in which defendant and Henry Johnson were standing showed signs of ill temper or threatened violence gives rise to the reasonable inference that the defendant's subsequent actions were not motivated by sudden strong emotion. The evidence that defendant had to take a few steps toward Henry Johnson before grabbing him and striking him in the chest with what was eventually determined to be a knife gives rise to the reasonable inference that defendant reflected for at least the time it took to reach Johnson before striking him. These inferences alone support a jury finding of deliberation. See State v. Mallett, 732 S.W.2d 527, 533 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 309, 98 L.Ed.2d 267 (1987), and State v....