State v. Haddock

• Decision Date: 09 June 1995
• Docket Number: No. 71907,71907
• Citation: 257 Kan. 964,897 P.2d 152
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Kenneth E. HADDOCK, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 152

897 P.2d 152

257 Kan. 964

STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Kenneth E. HADDOCK, Appellant.

No. 71907.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

June 9, 1995.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The record in this first-degree spousal murder case is examined, and it is held: (1) The State did not comment impermissibly on the defendant's post-Miranda silence; (2) the trial court did not admit evidence obtained in violation of the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights; (3) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of marital discord, the defendant's prior bank fraud conviction, DNA test results, or blood spatter testimony; and (4) defendant was not entitled to a voluntary manslaughter instruction.

2. The giving of Miranda warnings does not, itself, transform a noncustodial interrogation into a custodial interrogation.

3. Although most marital homicide cases have arisen, predictably, out of abusive relationships, that does not mean evidence of prior discord between a defendant and victim must rise to a violent level to be admissible. Admissibility properly rests in the sound discretion of the trial court.

4. Mere evidence of an altercation preceding a victim's death does not, itself, constitute sufficient evidence of legal provocation to require the trial court to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter.

Danny K. Wiley, Murray, Tillotson & Nelson, Chartered, Leavenworth, argued the cause, and John C. Tillotson and Gary A. Nelson, of the same firm, were with him on the brief for appellant.

Richard G. Guinn, Asst. Dist. Atty., argued the cause, and Paul J. Morrison, Dist. Atty., and Carla J. Stovall, Atty. Gen., were with him on the brief for appellee.

SIX, Justice:

Kenneth E. Haddock appeals his jury trial conviction of the first-degree murder, K.S.A.1992 Supp. 21-3401, of his wife of 20 years, who was found beaten to death and lying under a pile of wood in the garage of their Olathe home. Our jurisdiction is under K.S.A.1994 Supp. 22-3601(b)(1) (a maximum sentence of life imprisonment was imposed).

The many trial errors asserted by Haddock, a former bank president, are separated for discussion into four groupings:

(1) The propriety of certain questions and comments by the State in cross-examining Haddock and in closing argument;

(2) the trial court's failure to suppress evidence based on alleged violations of Haddock's Fifth Amendment rights;

(3) evidentiary questions arising from the admission of evidence of marital discord, a prior federal bank fraud conviction, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA analysis, and expert opinion on blood spatters; and

(4) the trial court's failure to give a requested voluntary manslaughter instruction.

We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

The five-day trial included over 40 witnesses and 100 exhibits. Although Haddock does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, a background review is helpful in understanding the issues presented.

Haddock has a college degree in agriculture education. He moved into banking and finance, eventually serving as president of two Kansas banks. In 1986, he started his own company, First Finance, Inc., which purchased loans from the FDIC and other institutions. He described First Finance as "very profitable."

Although Haddock and his three teenage children testified that their family was loving and supportive, a dark cloud loomed overhead. For two years preceding the murder, Haddock and his family lived with uncertainty

and anxiety caused by his indictment and conviction for federal bank fraud.

The Federal Bank Fraud Case

In September 1990, Haddock was indicted in federal court for bank fraud and related offenses arising from transactions in 1987. A jury convicted him on 10 counts. Haddock was sentenced to 42 months' imprisonment. He remained free on bond pending appeal. On appeal, the Tenth Circuit affirmed his conviction but remanded for resentencing. United States v. Haddock, 956 F.2d 1534, modified on reh'g 961 F.2d 933 (10th Cir.), cert. denied 506 U.S. 828, 113 S.Ct. 88, 121 L.Ed.2d 50 (1992); see also United States v. Haddock, 12 F.3d 950 (10th Cir.1993) (collateral claim of ineffective counsel denied; remanded for resentencing); United States v. Haddock, 50 F.3d 835 (10th Cir.1995) (error found in restitution order of $76,000; remanded for recalculation of restitution). Haddock's first resentencing in the federal case was scheduled for December 18, 1992.

Thus, on November 20, 1992, the day of the tragedy, Haddock's conviction had been affirmed and he was awaiting resentencing. Haddock's attorney met with an Assistant United States Attorney and a probation officer from 10:30 a.m. to noon that day to negotiate matters relevant to the upcoming sentencing hearing. Haddock did not attend the meeting.

Haddock and his children admitted that the federal bank fraud case was stressful for them. In May and June of 1991, Haddock's wife, Barbara, spoke with two social workers, expressing "anxiety" and "anger" about the federal prosecution. However, neither social worker recalled Barbara mentioning any fear of violence from her husband. Haddock spoke with a marriage and family therapist in March 1992 about stress-related breathing problems experienced by his oldest daughter. He told the therapist that Barbara brought up the federal case "almost any time he would get in her presence," whereas he "tended to shy away from talking about it" because it was a "real hard thing to talk about."

Barbara's best friend, Kathy Finkleston, testified that she and Barbara often discussed the federal case and that Barbara would get very upset and emotional, "not knowing what was going to happen or what she was going to do." Finkleston said she believed Barbara was "becoming very frustrated" with the expense and duration of the federal case, and that "she was getting angry with Ken that it kept going on and on and on." Barbara told Finkleston that the retainer alone for Ken's Washington, D.C., lawyer was $40,000, and that whenever the lawyer asked for more money he wanted at least $25,000.

The Hours Preceding Barbara's Death

Barbara's last day began early. She met Finkleston for breakfast at 6:30 a.m., something the two of them did often. She and Finkleston talked about Barbara's upcoming surgery, about their children, about Christmas, and then about the federal case and the meeting of attorneys scheduled for that day. Finkleston remembered that when Barbara brought up the federal case, she said, "Oh, my stomach just took a flip." Barbara then said that Haddock's lawyer was wanting additional money and that Barbara was concerned that they might have to dip into a savings account they had set aside for their son's college education. Overall, however, Finkleston believed that Barbara was in "pretty good spirits."

Barbara worked until around noon at her job as a triage nurse. She ran a couple of errands on her way home. Haddock went to work at First Finance from about 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and then went home for lunch. Haddock and Barbara arrived home at the same time, around 1:20 p.m.

According to Haddock, when he first arrived home he and Barbara brought in groceries from her car. She told him the garage door had a problem, so he worked on it for a few minutes. He then ate a light lunch as Barbara made chili for the weekend. They discussed Barbara's upcoming surgery and their younger daughter's plans to have friends over that night. Haddock said he brought in the mail at about 1:45 p.m., then started a fire in the fireplace. The last thing he said he did before leaving was to throw

two articles of clothing in the hallway by the washing machine. One was a white shirt he had been wearing; the other was a pair of slacks from his bedroom. Haddock testified that the shirt was missing a button and the slacks needed to be let out in the waist, and that Barbara said she would mend them. Haddock said he left home at approximately 2:00 p.m.

Discovery

At around 3:20 p.m., the youngest daughter arrived home from junior high school. Barbara's car was in the driveway and the garage door was closed. She entered through the front door, noticed some chili cooking, saw the television on, and called out for her mother. She was not concerned when she heard no reply, as nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Within minutes, the older daughter arrived home from high school.

The daughters eventually found Barbara in the garage buried under a pile of wood. They called 911. The older daughter summoned the neighbors, the Hartleys, who were registered nurses. When the Hartleys arrived, they cleared the remaining logs off of Barbara and checked for a pulse or respiration, but found neither.

The police arrived at 4:08 p.m. Haddock did not arrive home until 4:20 p.m. A daughter had called her father's office and left a message that he needed to come home right away. A neighbor and a police officer met Haddock at his car and escorted him inside through the front door to the living room. He embraced his daughters, who were crying. Haddock later tried to walk into the garage, but he was quickly stopped and told to stay inside the house. The police told Haddock that because his wife's death was "unattended," a police term meaning unattended by a physician, standard procedure required that the death be handled like a homicide until homicide could be ruled out.

Investigation

Detectives at the scene quickly suspected foul play. Barbara's injuries were unlike those that might be expected from falling wood. In an autopsy, Dr. Bonita Peterson found bruises and abrasions on Barbara's hands and arms, consistent with defensive wounds. She also observed bruises and lacerations on the face, and massive trauma to the back of the head, which she thinks resulted from 6 to 12 blows with a blunt object.

Other evidence revealed an orchestrated crime scene. Detectives found a separate pool of blood a substantial distance from Barbara's body....