State v. Copeland, 24402
| Decision Date | 10 January 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 24402,24402 |
| Citation | 468 S.E.2d 620,321 S.C. 318 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Angela COPELAND, Appellant. . Heard |
Lisa T. Gregory and Tara Dawn Shurling, Assistant Appellate Defenders, South Carolina Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for Appellant.
Attorney General T. Travis Medlock, Chief Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney General Harold M. Coombs, Assistant Attorney General Alexandria B. Skinner, Columbia; and Solicitor Wade S. Kolb, Jr., Sumter, for Respondent.
Angela Copeland appeals her convictions and sentences for murder (life imprisonment), armed robbery (ten years consecutive imprisonment), and possession of a weapon during a violent crime (five years concurrent imprisonment). We affirm.
At approximately 8:30 pm on March 22, 1991, police officers found the body of Floyd Davis (Victim) lying along a roadside in Sumter County. The deceased Victim had been shot in the heart at close range. Although twelve dollars in change was found on the Victim, wallets normally carried by the Victim were not found at the crime scene.
At trial, the Victim's employer testified that the Victim had received a paycheck between 4:00 and 5:00 pm on March 22nd. As was his custom, the Victim took his payroll check to a retail liquor store to be cashed. The owner of the liquor store testified that on March 22nd he cashed the payroll check as well as a tax refund check for the Victim--both checks totalling in excess of one thousand dollars.
The Victim's girlfriend testified that he normally carried two wallets--a green cloth wallet which contained his spending money and a leather wallet which contained the bulk of his money. She further stated that the Victim was at a beer garden adjacent to the liquor store at approximately 5:00 pm on March 22nd. The girlfriend testified that she saw him take money from the green wallet to pay for beer. Another friend testified that he drove the Victim home from the beer garden that night between 6:00 and 6:15 pm.
A neighbor testified that he saw the Victim in his yard between 7:30 and 8:00 pm on March 22nd. He further stated that when a small car drove up, the Victim approached it and talked to the driver. The car left shortly thereafter. The neighbor identified Copeland's car as the vehicle he saw on March 22nd in the Victim's yard.
The following was revealed during an in camera hearing. After Copeland, a resident of Tennessee, became a suspect in this matter, police officers from South Carolina met with her in Tennessee. Copeland initially told them that she had been in Tennessee at the time the murder was committed. Police officers then interviewed Copeland's husband, and as a result of his statements, the officers located and identified the vehicle seen by the neighbor in the Victim's yard on March 22nd. The identified vehicle belonged to Copeland.
The trial court ruled that the spousal privilege prevented admission of the actual content of the statements of Copeland's husband.
However, the trial court held that references could be made to the fact that discussions with Copeland's husband subsequently led the police to discover the vehicle seen in the Victim's yard on March 22nd. This discovery provided the police with probable cause to suspect Copeland. As a result, on April 24, 1991, Copeland was arrested and read her Miranda rights. She then voluntarily stated that she had been in Sumter on March 22nd and that someone named "John" committed the murder.
Copeland returned to Sumter, South Carolina, and was incarcerated with Tonya McBride. At trial, McBride testified that Copeland admitted that she and "John Carter" planned to rob the Victim for his income tax check. The plan was for Carter to pose as a drug dealer, for the three of them to get crack cocaine together, and then for Carter to pull a gun on the Victim. However, when Carter pulled the gun, the Victim would not give up his money. McBride further testified that Copeland told her that when Carter did not shoot the Victim after she told him to do so, she did it herself and then drove to Tennessee.
Copeland negotiated an agreement with police whereby she would give a statement in exchange for leniency. Based upon this understanding, Copeland gave a statement on May 22, 1991, naming "John Carter" as the trigger man in the murder. When Carter was not immediately located, Copeland's brother, in exchange for dropping a gun charge and armed robbery charges pending against him, assisted the police in finding Carter.
The trial court ruled Copeland's May 22nd statement inadmissible because it had been induced by promises of leniency which were not delivered, thus making it involuntary. Nevertheless, the trial court refused to rule that the discovery of Carter depended entirely upon the illegally obtained statement. The judge based this ruling upon the fact that while Copeland was in Tennessee, she voluntarily revealed the existence of an individual named "John" to the authorities.
Prior to trial, Carter pled guilty to armed robbery and possession of a firearm while committing a violent offense. At trial, Carter admitted that he agreed to participate in Copeland's plan to pose as a drug dealer and to pretend to hold up the Victim and Copeland. He further testified that Copeland gave him a gun, but she told him that it was not loaded. In addition, Carter conceded that he pointed the gun at the Victim and demanded money from him. However, Carter asserted that when Copeland came from behind him and grabbed the gun, it went off and he dropped it. Upon realizing that his fingerprints were on the gun, he picked it up and ran.
Copeland testified that Carter and the Victim were riding with her in her vehicle on March 22nd. Carter was in the back seat and the Victim was in the front passenger seat. Copeland asserted that as Carter got out of the back seat, she heard a boom and saw the Victim fall from the car. She panicked and pulled away leaving the Victim behind.
Counsel for Copeland moved for a directed verdict on the armed robbery charge. The trial court denied the motion after concluding that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to warrant submitting the three charges to the jury.
Did the trial court err in:
I. Admitting John Carter's testimony?
II. Admitting police testimony concerning conversations with Copeland's husband?
III. Denying Copeland's motion for a mistrial following the State's closing argument?
IV. Denying Copeland's motion for a directed verdict?
On April 24, 1991, after Copeland was arrested in Tennessee, she voluntarily told police that a person named "John" murdered the Victim. Copeland contends that this statement did not reveal John's last name and, therefore, John Carter was discovered only through a statement made by her on May 22, 1991. Because the May 22nd statement was illegally obtained and inadmissible, Copeland contends that the trial court erred in not applying the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine to preclude Carter's testimony. We disagree.
The "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine provides that evidence must be excluded if it would not have come to light but for the illegal actions of the police, and the evidence has been obtained by the exploitation of that illegality. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). However, the challenged evidence is admissible if it was obtained from a lawful source independent of the illegal conduct. State v. Cox, 287 S.C. 260, 335 S.E.2d 809 (Ct.App.1985).
The discovery of Carter as a witness was procured from sources independent of the illegally obtained statement. First, Copeland disclosed to McBride the name of "John Carter", and McBride immediately provided her lawyer and the police with this information. Second, Copeland's brother actually assisted the police in locating Carter. Because the discovery of John Carter was procured from lawful sources independent of the illegal actions of the police, we find no error in admitting his testimony.
Copeland's Husband.
Copeland asserts that the spousal privilege extends to statements made by her husband to police. Therefore, she contends the trial court erred in allowing police officers to testify that after talking with her husband, they discovered a car owned by her that matched the description of the vehicle seen by a neighbor at the Victim's house on March 22nd. We disagree.
The spousal privilege provides that in criminal cases married persons cannot be compelled to testify against their spouses concerning any communication made between them during their marriage. S.C.Code Ann. § 19-11-30 (Supp.1995). We have held that the right to exercise the privilege against disclosing marital communications is solely that of the witness/spouse from whom the privileged information is being sought. State v. Motes, 264 S.C. 317, 215 S.E.2d 190 (1975).
At trial, Copeland's husband elected not to testify against his wife by asserting his spousal privilege. He was not called as a witness, and the trial court ruled that the content of Mr. Copeland's statement to the police was inadmissible. The testimony presented merely referred to the fact that conversations with Copeland's husband led the police to the discovery of Copeland's vehicle, thus providing them with sufficient probable cause to suspect her. The testimony did not reveal the actual content of Mr. Copeland's statement to the police nor did it disclose marital communications. On these facts, Mr. Copeland's assertion of the spousal privilege at trial did not preclude the police from stating what transpired after they talked with him. Accordingly, we find no error in admitting the police testimony regarding their investigation.
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