State v. Hutchinson

• Decision Date: 08 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 31409.,31409.
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee v. Bruce Edward HUTCHINSON, Defendant Below, Appellant.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

599 S.E.2d 736

215 W.Va. 313

STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee v. Bruce Edward HUTCHINSON, Defendant Below, Appellant.

No. 31409.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted January 13, 2004.

Decided March 8, 2004.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Esq., Attorney General, Robert D. Goldberg, Esq., Assistant Attorney General, Charleston, West Virginia, Attorneys for Appellee.

Timothy P. Lupardus, Esq., Pineville, West Virginia, Attorney for Appellant.

Justice MCGRAW deeming himself disqualified did not participate in the decision of this case.

PER CURIAM:

This case is before this Court upon appeal of a final order of the Circuit Court of Wyoming County entered on September 26, 2002. In that order, Bruce Edward Hutchinson (hereinafter "the appellant") was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation of mercy for his conviction of first degree murder. In this appeal, the appellant contends that the circuit court erred by refusing to dismiss for cause three prospective jurors from the jury panel and by allowing the State to introduce testimony at trial in violation of Rule 404(b) of the West Virginia Rules of Evidence. The appellant also claims that there was insufficient evidence of premeditation to support a first degree murder conviction. Finally, the appellant asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective.

I. FACTS

It is undisputed that during the evening of April 7, 2000, the appellant used a handgun to fatally shoot Jeff West in the chest at close range. The evidence at trial revealed that the appellant was agitated throughout the day, prior to the shooting believing his girlfriend of three years, Debbie Cline, was having an affair with his landlord, Henry Robinson. In fact, the appellant's frustrations led him to threaten to kill himself, Ms. Cline, and her alleged lover Mr. Robinson. According to Ms. Cline, the appellant made these threats "on and off all day." At one point, the appellant, who began drinking during the morning and continued drinking the entire day, went into the woods where he pretended that he had shot himself and again expressed to Ms. Cline, "I'm gonna kill you."

Later that same day, between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., the appellant told a clerk at a nearby convenience store that anyone giving him a hard time would get hurt and that before the night was over someone was going to be harmed. Two clerks working at the store described his demeanor as angry and agitated. Moreover, one clerk stated that the appellant repeatedly patted the back of his pants while he made these threats. According to Ms. Cline, the appellant "kept [the gun] in the back of his pants most of the time." Sometime after 10:00 p.m., Mr. West and his friend Randy Toler, both long-time friends of the appellant, were giving Adam Walker a ride to the appellant's home where Mr. Walker would be spending the night. When they arrived, Mr. Walker left the truck and went into the appellant's house. Mr. Toler and Mr. West stayed in their truck and began a conversation with Dee Henry and Ms. Cline.

The appellant then came out of the house with a pistol in his hand demanding to know Ms. Cline's whereabouts. Mr. West jokingly replied, "She's sitting in the truck with me and Randy." Mr. Toler testified that Mr. West had joked with the appellant in this manner on many occasions. Nonetheless, this time, the appellant responded, "She better not be ... I'll shoot every one of you[s]." Mr. Toler then stepped out of the truck and tried to calm the appellant. The appellant fired a shot in the air. Mr. Toler then said, "What are you doing shooting that damn gun around like that for?" The appellant replied, "I'll shoot you" to which Mr. West responded, "You won't shoot me." The appellant then aimed the gun at Mr. West's chest and pulled the trigger. After witnessing the shooting, Mr. Toler ran to the neighbor's house to call an ambulance and the police. Meanwhile, the appellant stood on his porch and yelled, "I told you I'd shoot you-ins."

Subsequently, the appellant was arrested and charged with first degree murder. On November 6, 2001, a jury returned a verdict of guilty with a recommendation of mercy. Thereafter, pursuant to the jury verdict, the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment with mercy. This appeal followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The appellant has presented several assignments of error for our review. Initially, he contends that the circuit court committed error by failing to dismiss three potential jurors and by allowing evidence in violation of Rule 404(b). The appellant also claims that he was denied effective assistance of counsel and that there was insufficient evidence of premeditation to convict him of first degree murder. In Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Paynter, 206 W.Va. 521, 526 S.E.2d 43 (1999), we held, "Where the issue on an appeal from the circuit court is clearly a question of law or involving an interpretation of a statute, we apply a de novo standard of review." Syllabus Point 1, Chrystal R.M. v. Charlie A.L., 194 W.Va. 138, 459 S.E.2d 415 (1995). We have further indicated that a circuit court's final order and ultimate disposition are reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard. State ex rel. Hechler v. Christian Action Network, 201 W.Va. 71, 491 S.E.2d 618 (1997).

As noted above, we are required to determine in this appeal whether the trial court committed error in refusing the appellant's motions to strike for cause a potential juror. The standard of review for this issue was articulated in State v. Miller, 197 W.Va. 588, 600-01, 476 S.E.2d 535, 547-48 (1996), wherein we held:

In reviewing the qualifications of a jury to serve in a criminal case, we follow a three-step process. Our review is plenary as to legal questions such as the statutory qualifications for jurors; clearly erroneous as to whether the facts support the grounds relied upon for disqualification; and an abuse of discretion as to the reasonableness of the procedure employed and the ruling on disqualification by the trial court.

See State v. Wade, 200 W.Va. 637, 654, 490 S.E.2d 724, 741 (1997)

; Syllabus Point 2, State v. Mayle, 178 W.Va. 26, 357 S.E.2d 219 (1987). In Syllabus Point 4 of State v. Miller we further held:

The relevant test for determining whether a juror is biased is whether the juror had such a fixed opinion that he or she could not judge impartially the guilt of the defendant. Even though a juror swears that he or she could set aside any opinion he or she might hold and decide the case on the evidence, a juror's protestation of impartiality should not be credited if the other facts in the record indicate to the contrary.

197 W.Va. 588, 476 S.E.2d 535. See Syllabus Point 11, State v. Salmons, 203 W.Va. 561, 509 S.E.2d 842 (1998). In addition, we are asked to determine if there was sufficient evidence to justify the appellant's conviction. This issue is governed by Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Guthrie, 194 W.Va. 657, 461 S.E.2d 163 (1995):

The function of an appellate court when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction is to examine the evidence admitted at trial to determine whether such evidence, if believed, is sufficient to convince a reasonable person of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, the relevant inquiry is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Accordingly, we proceed with our examination of the assigned errors with these standards in mind.

III. DISCUSSION

The appellant raises four assignments of error in his appeal to this Court. We do not find merit in any of the assigned errors and proceed to discuss them below.

A. Prospective Jurors Mullens, Jennings, and New

The appellant maintains in his first assignment of error that he was denied a fair trial due to the failure of the circuit court to excuse three prospective jurors from the juror voir dire panel. Initially, the appellant argues the circuit court erred in denying his challenge for cause of prospective juror Jonathan Mullens. During voir dire, Mr. Mullens indicated that he was a fellow employee of potential witness Randy Toler and had worked with him for approximately seven months. As noted above, Mr. Toler was present during the murder of Mr. West. Consequently, the appellant requested that Mr. Mullens be removed from the jury panel for cause. However, his request was denied.

In this appeal, the appellant maintains that Mr. Mullens made an unambiguous statement that he could not be impartial due to his association with Mr. Toler. The appellant thus believes that Mr. Mullens should have been struck immediately and that any further questioning was an improper attempt to rehabilitate a prospective juror noting that "[o]nce a prospective juror has made a clear statement during voir dire reflecting or indicating the presence of a disqualifying prejudice or bias, the prospective juror is disqualified as a matter of law and cannot be rehabilitated by subsequent questioning, later retractions, or promises to be fair." Syllabus Point 5, O'Dell v. Miller, 211 W.Va. 285, 565 S.E.2d 407 (2002).

The State counters that mere friendship or a work relationship with a State's witness does not, per se, disqualify a potential juror from serving on a jury. The State further says that the circuit court was not attempting to rehabilitate Mr. Mullens as he did not make "a clear statement during voir dire reflecting or indicating the presence of a disqualifying prejudice or bias." Id. The State notes that Mr. Mullens' initial indication that he would be uncomfortable making a decision on the life of any person was an ambiguous statement and that the circuit court was entitled to probe further without violating O'Dell.

We note at the outset that although Mr. Mullins was not struck by the trial court for cause, ...