State v. Fields

• Decision Date: 16 February 1995
• Docket Number: 19809,Nos. 19185,s. 19185
• Citation: 127 Idaho 904,908 P.2d 1211
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Zane Jack FIELDS, Defendant-Appellant. Boise, September 1994 Term
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 1211

908 P.2d 1211

127 Idaho 904

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Zane Jack FIELDS, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 19185, 19809.

Supreme Court of Idaho,

Boise, September 1994 Term.

Feb. 16, 1995.

Rehearing Denied May 17, 1995.

Alan E. Trimming, Ada County Public Defender, and Amil N. Myshin, Jr., Deputy Ada County Public Defender, Boise, for appellant, Amil N. Myshin, Jr. argued.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., Lynn E. Thomas, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for respondent. Lynn E. Thomas argued.

McDEVITT, Chief Justice.

I. BACKGROUND AND FACTS

This is an appeal from a conviction for first-degree murder and sentence of death for the killing of Katherine Marie Vanderford (Vanderford). The defendant, Zane Jack Fields (Fields) was charged by indictment with first-degree felony murder for killing Vanderford during the commission of a robbery and/or burglary at the Wishing Well Gift Shop in Boise.

Prior to trial, on March 16, 1990, Fields moved to suppress all witness identifications derived through photographic lineups on the grounds that the lineups were impermissibly suggestive. The district court denied this motion.

The State notified defense counsel of its intention to call several inmate witnesses in November 1989. Because several of these prospective witnesses were represented by the public defender's office, defense counsel moved to withdraw from the case on the grounds of a conflict of interest. The district At approximately 11:15 a.m., February 11, 1988, Vanderford was stabbed to death while working at the Wishing Well Gift Shop (the Wishing Well) in Boise. The stabbing occurred during a robbery in which approximately fifty dollars in cash was taken. Vanderford was working alone in the shop at the time. Soon after the perpetrator left, Ralph P. Simmons (Simmons) arrived at the store. When Simmons arrived, Vanderford was speaking to the emergency dispatcher. Simmons put pressure on a wound on Vanderford's neck and began speaking with the dispatcher.

[127 Idaho 907] court granted this motion, and the trial date was vacated and reset to May 2, 1990. At trial, the only element of the State's case challenged by Fields was the identification of Fields as the perpetrator. Most of the material facts of this case are undisputed.

Ada County Police Detective Randy Folwell (Folwell), who was in the area at the time, heard the emergency dispatch and drove to the Wishing Well. Vanderford told Folwell that her attacker was a lone male who had left the store. Emergency medical personnel soon arrived and began treating Vanderford. Vanderford was immediately transported to Saint Alphonsus Hospital.

Dr. Frank J. Fazzio, Jr., the doctor who treated Vanderford when she arrived at the emergency room, testified that Vanderford was in full cardiac arrest upon arrival. Vanderford was never resuscitated. Dr. Fazzio opined that Vanderford's death was a result of loss of blood. Frank A. Roberts, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Vanderford, similarly concluded that the cause of death was loss of blood as a result of stab wounds, primarily a neck wound.

The State also called a number of witnesses who identified Fields as a person they saw in or near the store immediately before and after the incident. Betty Hornecker (Hornecker) testified that she was in the Wishing Well at approximately 11:00 a.m. on February 11, 1988 when a man, who appeared to be acting strangely, came into the store and walked immediately to the back of the building. The man remained in the building after Hornecker left the store. Hornecker immediately contacted the police after reading about the murder the following day. Although the police used Hornecker's description to prepare a composite drawing of the suspect, she was unable to make an identification from a photographic lineup provided by police. Another witness, Murie Jan Munk, had been in the Wishing Well at approximately 11:05 or 11:10 a.m. the day of the murder. She saw a man in the store at the time, although she could not describe his face. All she was able to remember was that he was "fat and sloppy, a little over six feet tall." The man was still in the store when she left.

Nancy Carol Miller (Miller), an employee at Quilter's Crossing, a craft store at the intersection of Liberty and Fairview, testified that a man came into Quilter's Crossing at approximately 12:30 p.m. Miller testified that her attention was drawn to the man because it is rare for a man to come into the store and because the man had "wild looking eyes." Miller also noted that the man appeared to have a brown wooden-handled knife in his right coat pocket. Miller later telephoned the police when she read that they were seeking information about possible suspects in the Wishing Well incident. The police showed Miller a photographic lineup, from which she identified Fields as the man who had been in the store. She also identified Fields in court. Miller stated that after Fields left her store, she saw him go into T-Shirts Plus, a neighboring store.

Vicky Tippetts (Tippetts), an employee at T-Shirts Plus, testified that a "wild looking man," who appeared to have a wooden-handled knife sticking out of his pocket, came into the store. When Tippetts asked the man if she could help him, he said no, but kept staring at her and at the cash register. After approximately five minutes, the man left the store. Tippetts identified Fields in the photographic lineup, as well as in court, as the man who had been in her store that day.

The next witness was Robert D. Starbrad (Starbrad), an employee at Videon, a video The State also called Keith Edson (Edson), who first met Fields while serving a prison sentence for grand theft auto in 1982. Edson and Fields were in protective custody together while they were both in prison. Edson was walking on Fairview Avenue the morning of the murder when he saw a man he vaguely recognized go into the Wishing Well. The man came out of the store looking nervous and upset. It was not until Edson heard Fields' name on television ten days later that he was able to remember the name of the person he saw.

[127 Idaho 908] rental and sales store located near the Wishing Well. Starbrad testified that, at 12:15 p.m., he received a call from another Videon store, informing him of the Wishing Well robbery. At approximately 12:30 p.m., a man Starbrad later identified as Fields came into the store. The man's odd appearance and behavior made Starbrad nervous, and Starbrad contacted the store's manager to ask that someone keep an eye on the man while he was in the store. Starbrad identified Fields as the man who had been in the store in both the photographic lineup and in court. The retail floor manager at Videon, Timothy S. McWilliams (McWilliams), testified that Starbrad contacted him about a man in the store, and identified Fields as the man who had been in the store when shown a photographic lineup by police.

Most of the State's remaining witnesses were inmates who testified about statements Fields made about the killing while in jail. The first such witness was Jeffrey L. Acheson (Acheson), Fields' roommate at the Ada County Jail while Fields was awaiting trial on charges stemming from an incident at the ShopKo store in Boise. Acheson testified that whenever a "Crime Stoppers" report about the incident at the Wishing Well came on television, Fields would get upset and nervous and change channels, turn the television off, or turn the down the volume. Acheson also testified that Fields said "they can't pin that on me," because Fields "took care of the evidence."

Joe Heistand (Heistand), another inmate at the County Jail, testified that Fields said he had been near the Wishing Well a few times before the incident looking for a "possible score," and had noticed that an "old lady ran the store and was alone." Fields further told Heistand that Vanderford began screaming and hollering when she saw him taking money out of the cash register. Fields told Vanderford to cooperate but, when she continued to scream, he stabbed her. Fields also told Heistand that he took between forty eight and fifty dollars from the till, and that Vanderford was still alive when he left the store. Heistand further testified that Fields told him that Fields expected his roommate Jim to testify that Fields was not in Boise at the time of the murder, but Fields' roommate had already contacted the police and given a different statement.

Scott Bianchi (Bianchi), another inmate, testified that Fields told him that, although he killed Vanderford, he did not mean to do so and felt bad. Bianchi was also approached by an investigator working for Fields before the preliminary hearing. Bianchi stated that Fields asked him to testify falsely at the preliminary hearing, but Bianchi told the investigator that his testimony "wouldn't be helpful."

Fields' case consisted of two brief witnesses. The first was Mark Ayotte, a detective with the Boise City Police Department, who testified that he had contacted approximately nine contractors who had been at BMC West on Fairview the day of the murder, as well as several jail inmates. The second witness was Robert W. Jue, a Department of Health and Welfare district health inspector, who testified that the Taco Bell on Fairview opened to the public on February 23, 1988, and was not operational on February 11 of that year. This testimony was presumably offered to impeach Edson's testimony that he bought a drink at Taco Bell while out walking the morning of the murder. Fields did not testify.

The jury found Fields guilty of first-degree murder, finding that the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary and/or robbery. Fields moved for a judgment On July 17, 1990, Fields moved for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. At an evidentiary hearing on the motion for a new trial Fields attempted to establish through an inmate, Salvador Martinez (Martinez), that the inmate...