State v. Goodyear
| Decision Date | 19 July 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 1277,1277 |
| Citation | 98 Ariz. 304,404 P.2d 397 |
| Parties | STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Ronald Clifton Joseph GOODYEAR, aka Donald Clifton Joseph Goodyear, and Steven David Jackson, Appellants. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
Darrell F. Smith, Atty. Gen., Robert W. Pickrell, former Atty. Gen., Philip M. Haggerty, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
James F. Haythornewhite, Nogales, for appellant Goodyear.
George W. Oglesby, Nogales, for appellant Jackson.
Appellants, Ronald Clifton Joseph Goodyear also know as Donald Clifton Goodyear and Steven David Jackson, hereinafter designated as defendants or Goodyear and Jackson, were tried jointly for the crime of robbery and murder. Both were found guilty by a jury which fixed the punishment at death. From the conviction and sentence of the court they appeal.
Goodyear was born in Clifton, Arizona, in 1918, where he lived with his grandmother until he was seven or eight years old. After his mother's death--when he was about five years of age--he lived with various relatives, part of the time with an uncle and aunt in Europe. After returning to the United States he lived for four years in Michigan with a grandmother and two spinster aunts. He attended school until the tenth grade. After a year in the Civilian Conservation Corps, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1939, where he served until 1945. He married in 1940, while in the service, and remained married for a year or two after discharge. There were two children from this marriage. He worked in various places--mostly in the East as a cook and baker. In 1950 he was recalled to the service, and stayed until 1955. After his discharge he worked at various cooking and bakery jobs in California, New York, and Arizona. The evidence showed he had homosexual tendencies. In January 1960 he was sent to the California State Hospital at Atascadero, California, as a sexual deviate. It was here that he met Jackson, who was also an inmate. Jackson had not been proven a sexual deviate, but had exhibited definite signs to his parents and authorities of being mentaly unbalanced. While at Atascadero Goodyear and Jackson became good friends.
Jackson's father testified that defendant Jackson, while a child, was not like other children when he first entered kindergarten at the age of five. He got so that he couldn't talk for a while. He had to be taken to a speech specialist, and also to a child psychologist. At home he would lock the doors of the house, locking himself in the bathroom. Other children where they lived 'poked fun at him,' and for this reason they moved to another locality. After giving him speech lessons they put him in school again when he was seven years of age. While in school he would never play with other children--would never associate with any one. There developed a resentment between Jackson and his sister. When he started high school at thirteen or fourteen years of age, he began to have problems, and would stay out of school without the knowledge of his parents. He started to threaten his sister, and would beat her. The parents tried sending him to a parochial school. After problems there, he was taken to a psychiatrist, who advised them to take him out of the parochial school and put him back in public school. He continued to have problems and would miss school. He ran away from home twice--had trouble with his teachers, and offered to fight them, and they finally expelled him from school, at which time he began to run around with a rough bunch of boys. His father went to the juvenile probation office, and it was agreed to arrest him for stealing his father's car the next time he did in order to send him away to school.
He was sent to the Preston Trade School for Boys, and after his return began to have trouble again. He had a violent temper, and would walk in a circle around the trees where they lived, shouting and screaming and beating at the trees, making out as though he were beating his mother. There were days when he would not say a word to any of the family--would cook his own meals. When he was seventeen he went into the Navy, but was only there thirty-four days when they sent him back home. After he returned from Preston he developed a resentment toward his parents. He had a shotgun. He sawed the barrels off, and carried it around with him in the car, saying there was a gang after him, and he was carrying it to protect himself. His father stated that it was only in his imagination. He was placed in jail for four months where he was involved in a riot. He threw such a tantrum that they committed him to the State Hospital at Atascadero. He remained there about a year and a half. After his return he became calmer. Defendants, while at Atascadero, had made plans to come to Arizona upon their release, and prospect. Goodyear, after his discharge, wrote Jackson's parents wanting him to come to Arizona to prospect with him. Jackson thereafter joined Goodyear in Tucson. Upon being re-united, they obtained enough camping equipment to live out of doors in an area in Blue Haven near Patagonia, Arizona. Shortly after arriving there, they met the deceased, Maurice 'Shorty' Powell, a retired railroad pensioner, who was camping in that area. A short time later the three of them decided to move to another area to an abandoned house in the 'Mowry Mine area.' The three lived there together, largely upon the contributions of Goodyear and Powell. Goodyear received a Navy disability compensation, and Powell a railroad pension.
On October 5, 1961, they went to Tucson in an old truck owned by Powell, and spent most of the day shopping and doing errands. They left Tucson about dark for Patagonia--a distance of approximately seventy-five miles. Upon their return, Goodyear prepared supper, and all three had several drinks furnished by deceased, Powell, and proceeded to become intoxicated. Later, after dinner, they had more drinks. While Goodyear was washing dishes, about one o'clock in the morning, he heard some shots. Jackson staggered into the house, and said: Then he broke into hysterics. Goodyear attempted to sober him by giving him coffee. In the meantime Goodyear went outside and saw Powell had been shot. While Goodyear was still in the house, Jackson went back outside and returned with a paper bag, in which he had placed the severed hands of the deceased. They did not report the incident to the sheriff's office, but disposed of the body by taking it to the 'World's Fair area,' which is along the Flux Canyon Road, placing it on a board and dumping it along the side of the road.
Before disposing of the body Jackson took Powell's wallet, keeping ten dollars for himself and giving the remainder (about eighty dollars) to Goodyear. That morning, after disposal of the body, they drove Powell's truck to Tucson, where they purchased a camping stove and supplies for the camp. While in Tucson, they visited some people Goodyear knew. Then, they returned to Patagonia. On the following day, October 7th, at one p. m., while Goodyear was in the Patagonia post office, Joseph Hill, deputy sheriff of Santa Cruz County, approached the truck, and proceeded to talk with Jackson. When Goodyear returned, the deputy asked both of them concerning the whereabouts of the deceased. They told him that Powell had gone back East on a trip--that he had a railroad pass. Hill stated that he told them he had a complaint out of Tucson about the vehicle. Shortly afterwards Milo Rendon and John Gammons, deputy sheriffs from Pima County, arrived. Hill read a complaint which had been brought by the deputies from Tucson. The police then asked for permission to search the truck. Hill testified that defendants said: '* * * we could look at anything,' after which the deputies searched the vehicle. On searching the truck they found two pistols, one belonging to Jackson and one belonging to Goodyear, two types of hunting kinves--one belonging to Jackson--and a bayonet. The deputy told defendants he was placing them under arrest for concealed weapons, and told Jackson he was under arrest for driving without an operator's license. The authorities then asked defendants if they would go with them to Mowry Mine. The truck was left in Patagonia, and Goodyear and Jackson accompanied the deputies to Mowry Mine. Hill testified in detail to the conversation which occurred with defendants, most of which was with Goodyear. The defendants made an explanation in regard to the crutches that were found, stating that Powell had taken another pair with him, and went more in detail as to how they had taken Powell to Tucson where he took a train East.
At six p. m., October 7th, the deputies brought both defendants before Judge Rothrock at Nogales for carrying concealed weapons. Between the 7th and the 10th of October, there were numerous conversations between defendants and the authorities--particularly with Goodyear--in which practically the same story was related as to Powell's whereabouts.
On the 10th day of October, 1961, Goodyear made a confession which was later signed by him. In the confession he admitted that he and Jackson had talked about doing away with Powell, and had agreed to wait until after Powell had received his check. Goodyear stated that they had talked about it four to six times. He then related the incidents of the killing of Powell, the cutting off of his hands by Jackson, and how thereafter they burned the hands and did away with the body. After making the confession, he then took the sheriff and other witnesses to the scene of the killing.
On the following day--the 11th--the officers told Jackson that Powell's body had been found and asked him about making a statement. He stated that he wanted to talk to Goodyear first, and was given this opportunity. Hill testified that Jackson asked Goodyear if he had told about Powell. Goodyear stated yes, and Jackson asked him if he should give a...
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State v. Laws
...the punishment at death, when the furtherance of justice requires such modification. 203 P. at pp. 282--283. See State v. Goodyear, 98 Ariz. 304, 404 P.2d 397, 410 (1965), reversed on other grounds, 100 Ariz. 244, 413 P.2d 566 (1966); State v. Valenzuela, 98 Ariz. 189, 403 P.2d 286 (1965); ......
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State v. Boag
...be justified in considering in determining their verdict * * *.' Also see State v. Gallegos, 99 Ariz. 168, 407 P.2d 752; State v. Goodyear, 98 Ariz. 304, 404 P.2d 397. The vicious nature of the acts could be properly emphasized by counsel within the latitude given to him in closing argument......
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State v. Narten, 1381
...cert. denied 371 U.S. 970, 83 S.Ct. 552, 9 L.Ed.2d 539. Attorneys are given wide latitude in their arguments to the jury. State v. Goodyear, 98 Ariz. 304, 404 P.2d 397. We do not think any of the quoted language of which defendant complains was improper argument by the prosecutor. State v. ......
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State v. Hunt
...the case. We have noted, however, that the case upon which we relied in deciding this question in our former opinion, State v. Goodyear, 98 Ariz. 304, 404 P.2d 397 (1965), has recently been indirectly overruled by the United States Supreme Court. Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.......