State v. Goodwin
| Decision Date | 23 June 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 4571.,4571. |
| Citation | 683 S.E.2d 500,384 S.C. 588 |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Kevin Dwayne GOODWIN, Appellant. |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Appellate Defender Elizabeth A. Franklin, of Columbia, for Appellant.
Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka; and Solicitor Warren B. Giese, all of Columbia, for Respondent.
Kevin Dwayne Goodwin appeals his convictions and sentences for first-degree burglary and murder. Goodwin argues the trial court erred in admitting his statements into evidence and denying his mistrial motion. We affirm.
On June 7, 2004, Dr. Joseph Dillard's residence was burglarized. Sometime during the burglary, Dillard returned home, surprised the intruder, and was fatally shot. During a search of Dillard's home, a cigar butt containing DNA evidence was found near the point of entry, which was a broken window in the back of the house.
Five days later, Officer Derwood Joseph Barton, Jr. was contacted by a DNA analyst who informed him the DNA found on the cigar butt matched Goodwin's DNA.1 As a result, Barton visited three locations he suspected Goodwin frequented to obtain physical descriptions for potential search warrants. At the same time, Officer Bryant William Hinson, Jr. was in transit to get the magistrate to sign an arrest warrant alleging Goodwin was responsible for burglarizing Dillard's home.
When Barton arrived at one of the three locations he suspected Goodwin frequented, he observed Goodwin outside. Barton asked him for assistance in an attempt to dispel suspicion, but Goodwin shook his head and walked back inside the house. Barton then moved his vehicle to the entrance of the dead-end road where he could maintain visual surveillance, and called for backup. Hinson heard Barton's request for backup and responded before he obtained the magistrate's signature on the arrest warrant.
After additional officers arrived, Goodwin attempted to leave the house in a car with his grandmother. The officers stopped his vehicle and arrested Goodwin for the burglary charge. After the arrest, officers arrived with a search warrant and searched the residence.
Goodwin was transported to the police station where he was interrogated by Hinson and Barton. The interrogation was audio-taped. Hinson advised Goodwin of his right to remain silent and his right to an attorney. When asked if he understood his rights, Goodwin replied in the affirmative. Hinson asked Goodwin if he was willing to speak with them, and Goodwin replied: "I'll listen, yeah I'll listen." Then Hinson asked Goodwin if he would be willing to sign the waiver of rights form, and the following colloquy took place:
Hinson: Okay. Are you willing to sign this?
Goodwin: So what is it say....
Hinson: All it is....
Goodwin: ... sign over my rights?
Hinson: All it is, is your basically saying that we told you these, you understand them and you're willing to talk to us. As you read, you don't have to say a thing if you don't want to.
Barton: Right. You're not signing any rights away, I'll [sic] you gotta do, if you don't want to talk to us, don't talk to us. If, if you want to stop, you can stop.
Goodwin: Yeah, I'll sign. Yeah, I'll listen.
As a result, Goodwin signed the waiver.
Once the interrogation began, Hinson informed Goodwin they had DNA and fingerprint evidence linking him to the burglary. However, at that point in their investigation, the palm print found at Dillard's house had not yet been matched to Goodwin. Additionally, Hinson informed Goodwin that Dillard's neighbors saw him at the time of the burglary. However, during his cross-examination at trial, Hinson testified the neighbor indicated they saw someone at Dillard's before the police arrived, but did not identify Goodwin as the perpetrator. Moreover, Hinson pressed Goodwin about the guns stolen from Dillard's house:
And we'd like to get the guns. I mean, we've already been in a couple of houses, we're fixing to go to a couple of more houses. I mean I don't want to waste our time anymore than we have to, going all over these places harassing people, going in people's houses that had absolutely nothing to do with this and putting them in, ya know, putting them out and staying there hours on end cause these are your loved ones that we going to these houses, or your friends, that we going to these houses. I mean, I don't want to do that. I'm sure you don't want us to have to do that or you don't want it for them anyway.
Eventually, Goodwin admitted to breaking into the house, but denied killing Dillard. Barton asked: "Alright, you didn't kill nobody, but, who took you to the house?" Goodwin responded: Hinson replied: The officers began to question Goodwin about the stolen guns.
Shortly thereafter, the officers began questioning Goodwin about the stolen jewelry. Additionally, Barton began discussing what Goodwin could be charged with: The officers then began to tell Goodwin it would be in his best interest to tell them what happened, and Barton stated: "[T]he longer you wait, the more chance that somebody else is going to tell your story or tell their side of a story that doesn't sound good for you and you won't get to tell your story because we won't need to talk to you."
As a result, Goodwin began talking about how he would receive a life sentence regardless of whether he identified the murderer because of the burglary charge and his previous conviction. Then, Barton pointed out that South Carolina also employed the death penalty. Goodwin replied that the death penalty would be better than a life sentence.
Next, the officers began to push Goodwin to talk by discussing Goodwin's family and their reactions to the burglary and murder:
Barton: Do you know how bad tore up your daddy is right now?
Goodwin: Huh, yeah.
Barton: And your momma.
Goodwin: um, yeah.
Barton: I mean they good people ...
Hinson: And your girlfriend too
Goodwin: Yeah, I know.
Barton: But you want your kids, your 6 and 11 year old child to think that you're a cold blooded murderer, that you would just put somebody down and shoot them in the back of the head. Not that you had, you know, that's, but if you don't tell your side, you don't tell that somebody else was there or whatever, they'll never know.
Goodwin began telling the officers that he entered the house to rob it after he noticed it was already burglarized. He admitted to stealing a gun, some jewelry, and urinating in the bathroom. Hinson then instructed Goodwin they were matching footprints found at the scene to shoes taken from the search of his residence. Moreover, Hinson explained some of the items recovered from Goodwin's residence were items stolen in another burglary incident on Lake Shore Drive.
Additionally, the officers told Goodwin that the jury would consider his cooperation because at trial, the prosecutor would ask them if he was cooperative. Barton attempted to push Goodwin to confess to murder, stating: "using your logic and your reality, okay, that life sentence, you going to get it anyway, right?" Barton also tried to get Goodwin to confess by saying the shooting was an accident: "And your momma and daddy don't have to deal with the fact they raised somebody that killed somebody in cold blood, shot him in the back of the head." Barton stated:
[Y]ou're telling me, that your [sic] cooked anyway, that your [sic] going to get life one way or the other. It's time you start thinking about the other people in your life. And I, I'm using your logic, I'm not putting this on you. I'm not saying that's what I think. I'm just saying using your own, using your own words, if you're done anyways, you need to start thinking about the people in your life. [Because] your daddy said that today, he said Lord, I can't even leave out my house. You got two boys. What they going to think? Daddy's a murderer or daddy did some bad things in life and some shit happened bad and he had to do what he had to do. It was him or, or me. There's a big difference.
At this point in the interrogation, Goodwin began to ask the officers about a plea bargain. Hinson instructed Goodwin only the solicitor's office could offer a plea bargain, but stated:
I mean, but there's no plea bargain I can see. I mean there's, there's really no room except for maybe life to, [I] mean from a death penalty to life without a chance of parole ... but I can't say. We don't have the authority to make that but I, but I can assure you it won't go any lower than that. There's no way.
....
You, in fact you really think they going to plea bargain on something like that [(murder)]. I mean, I ain't even going to sit here and try to tell you something that you, you know. That ain't going to happen. I mean, but when it comes down to was he cooperative, was he not, it can make a difference on where you're going. What happens with you when you get to SCDC. Those types of things can, can always be worked out.
Finally, Goodwin admitted to shooting Dillard, and claimed Dillard startled him while he was robbing the house. Goodwin also stated he flushed all the jewelry he stole down the toilet, and got rid of the guns. The officers then asked Goodwin to handwrite a statement, and Goodwin declined. However, Goodwin did agree to sign a typed statement, and also admitted to taking a television and cigar box from the other burglarized house on Lake Shore Drive.
As a result, the officers took Goodwin across the hall into...
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