State v. Oliver
| Decision Date | 16 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 88,987.,88,987. |
| Citation | 124 P.3d 493 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Cornelius Devon OLIVER, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Debra J. Wilson, capital appellate defender, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.
Debra S. Byrd Peterson, deputy district attorney, argued the cause, and Nola Foulston, district attorney, and Phill Kline, attorney general, were with her on the brief for appellee.
This case arises out of a quadruple homicide in Wichita. Defendant Cornelius Oliver appeals his convictions and hard 50 sentences on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder in the deaths of Jermaine Levy, Quincy Williams, Odessa Ford, and Raeshawnda Wheaton.
Oliver raises five issues: (1) Did the police have probable cause to support his arrest? (2) Did the district court err in limiting testimony regarding his psychological disorders? (3) Did the district court err in instructing the jury on the lesser included offenses of capital and premeditated murder? (4) Was an instruction on compulsion warranted? and (5) Is the hard 50 sentencing statute unconstitutional?
Investigation of the murders at the center of this case began when a Wichita police officer was dispatched to a house on a shooting complaint. Inside the house, the officer found four dead bodies. The bodies of Jermaine Levy, Quincy Williams, and Odessa Ford were in the front room. Raeshawnda Wheaton's body was in a bedroom.
Levy was sitting on the floor, leaning against a couch. Two bullets fired from a .380 semi-automatic handgun were recovered from his body; the points of entry were the lower left side of his head and the lower left side of his neck. One of his pockets was pulled out. Williams was facing a television and sitting on another couch. He had been shot three times, twice with a .38 caliber special revolver and once with the .380 handgun. Williams' entry wounds were on the top left side of his head, above his left eyebrow, and in the center lower area of his head. A bullet was found underneath Williams that had been fired from the .38 revolver. Ford was lying on her back on the floor. She had been shot in the head with a .38 revolver from 3 feet to 6 feet away. Investigators found no defensive wounds on these three victims.
In the bedroom, there was a bullet hole in the doorway to the closet and in the wall. These bullets had been fired from the .38 revolver. Wheaton was sitting between a wall and a bed. She had a pillow clutched to her face, and there were two bullet holes in the pillow. Wheaton sustained a graze wound on her left hand and a graze wound on her left cheek, which were classified as defensive wounds. Another shot went through her wrist. She had also been shot in the top of her head at close range. These bullets were fired by the .380 handgun.
Various shell casings from the .380 handgun were found at other points in the house. Police also found a live .380 round. The markings on it were consistent with a misfeed.
Jesse Hardyway, a friend of Williams, arrived at the house before the police. He testified that a video game was on the television on pause and that Williams had a video controller in his hand. Hardyway also testified that Ford was selling drugs for defendant out of her house. Another person who entered the house testified that he took the adapter to the video game.
In the bedroom, a ceiling tile had been moved. The police recovered a small amount of drugs and money from the ceiling.
Before arresting defendant Oliver, the police knew he and Wheaton shared a violent romantic history. They also knew Oliver was a gang member, and Levy and Williams were affiliated with a rival gang. The police were wary, however, of assuming the crimes were gang-related. Neither Levy nor Williams had been in a defensive position, and each appeared to have been shot from behind. Further, the killing of the two women, while not unheard of, would have been rare in gang crime. The police therefore decided to explore robbery and domestic violence, in addition to the gang theory, as motives for the murders.
There had been no forced entry, and the investigators concluded that the shooter was probably someone familiar to the victims. While at the crime scene, a police officer had received a sheet of paper with defendant's name written on it from an unidentified person.
Wheaton's father informed police about Wheaton's rocky relationship with Oliver and told them people suspected Oliver had committed the crime. He also told them that Oliver often stole Wheaton's car. Wheaton's mother reported to police that Oliver had pulled a gun on Wheaton.
The police also learned from Ford's mother that Wheaton had described a fight with Oliver in which he dropped his gun and she picked it up and shot him with it. The same day, Wheaton had appeared at a hospital with injuries to her face. She was interviewed by a police officer but refused to file a complaint, claiming a stranger had attacked her. Oliver appeared at another hospital with a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. He also was interviewed by a police officer. Oliver first told the officer that he had been shot in a drive-by shooting; he later claimed he had shot himself.
Ford's mother also told police that Oliver had threatened Wheaton and Ford two days before the murders and that he was crazy. Oliver had said he would "get" the people helping Wheaton.
Police also searched a house associated with defendant and turned up three weapons, including a .380 handgun.
At this point, the police decided to arrest Oliver. One officer testified that, because Oliver had yet to surface and inquire about Wheaton, police feared he might leave town before he could be questioned.
The officers sent to arrest Oliver found him on his brother's porch. Oliver was wearing pants and a sleeveless tank top, which seemed odd to the officers because it was December and cold outside. The officers observed Oliver from their car until he started to leave the porch; then they arrested him. One of the officers testified that he observed blood on the toes of Oliver's shoes. Other clothing belonging to Oliver was found in the garage. Blood from both Oliver and Levy was found on that clothing. Other blood stains on the clothing could not be identified.
After his arrest, Oliver was placed in an interview room for 45 minutes. His shoes were taken, and he was shackled to the floor and handcuffed to the table. He was given Miranda warnings and agreed to speak with officers.
Oliver told the officers different versions of the events on the night of the homicide, initially saying he had nothing to do with the murders. When the officers told Oliver that they had spoken with Earl Bell and Demetrius Butler, whose nickname was "DJ," and that they wanted to clear up some discrepancies, Oliver continued to deny having anything to do with the shootings. Oliver referred to Bell as his "brother" or "stepbrother."
Oliver eventually said he regretted going over to the house where the bodies had been found. In this second version of his story, Oliver said he had walked up to the house, and Ford had opened the door. "Two dudes" were sitting on the couch, looking at him like "we gonna get you or we know who you is and we gonna get you." Oliver said he then talked to Wheaton, and she told him one of the men had a "glock." Oliver realized that the man did not have a "glock" but did have a .380 handgun. The men were playing a video game and calling him names like "crab," which was disrespectful toward his gang. Oliver said he was also seeing "stuff" out of the corner of his eye. He thought one of the men grabbed for his gun; so Oliver shot that man in the head. Ford then ran out of the bedroom, and the other man shot her. Oliver then started shooting again, and he said that he thought he had shot the other man. Oliver said he then ran away, hearing more shots as he was leaving. He claimed that he threw his gun, a .38 caliber revolver, into some bushes.
A detective responded to this story by presenting Oliver with contradictory physical evidence. Oliver then admitted that he had shot Ford once. He also said that he and Wheaton had wrestled and that she had been shot accidentally.
Eventually Oliver told a third version of his story. In this version, he admitted Bell and "DJ" had accompanied him to the house. He again stated that Ford let them in. Again, he claimed Wheaton told him that one of the men at the house had a gun. Oliver admitted that the two men were still playing the video game when he shot both with a .380 handgun in the back of the head. One was still shaking, so Oliver pushed him over. Oliver checked this man's pockets but decided not to take the lighter he felt there. Oliver claimed that his gun jammed, and Bell gave him a .38 revolver. Oliver then entered the bedroom where the frightened women were huddled. Ford started to run; so he shot her. He then fired a warning shot at Wheaton. She cowered under a pillow, and he fired again. Oliver then retrieved his .380 handgun from Bell and shot Wheaton.
Oliver was charged with one count of first-degree premeditated murder pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3401(a) for the killing of Levy and with three counts of capital murder pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3439(a)(6) for the killings of Williams, Ford, and Wheaton.
Oliver testified in his trial, and, again, his account of events changed. This time, Oliver said Bell was the shooter. He asserted that Bell was upset and wanted to go over to Wheaton's house. Butler was carrying Oliver's .380 handgun. When the three arrived, Ford let them into the house. Oliver and Wheaton went into the bedroom to talk. Oliver thought he heard gunshots but did not think anything of it. He then saw Ford stumble. When he returned to the living room, Bell was holding a...
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State v. Vasquez, No. 95,400.
...and to cause [the defendant] to act out of passion rather than reason." Horn, 278 Kan. at 42, 91 P.3d 517; see State v. Oliver, 280 Kan. 681, 705, 124 P.3d 493 (2005); Engelhardt, 280 Kan. at 135-36, 119 P.3d 1148. On the contrary, this evidence provided strong support for the factors we ha......
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State v. Reid, No. 93,646.
...court has previously rejected the same challenge in numerous cases. See Kirtdoll, 281 Kan. at 1151, 136 P.3d 417; State v. Oliver, 280 Kan. 681, 708, 124 P.3d 493 (2005); State v. Wilkerson, 278 Kan. 147, 160, 91 P.3d 1181 (2004); State v. Hebert, 277 Kan. 61, 107-08, 82 P.3d 470 (2004); an......
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State v. Dixon
...included offenses are not appropriate in those cases in which the evidence of the underlying felony is strong. State v. Oliver, 280 Kan. 681, 703-06, 124 P.3d 493 (2005), cert. denied 547 U.S. 1183, 126 S.Ct. 2361, 165 L.Ed.2d 286 We note as a preliminary matter that a similar claim of erro......
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State v. Richmond
...increase the maximum penalty for first-degree murder. This court has de novo review of constitutional questions. State v. Oliver, 280 Kan. 681, 707, 124 P.3d 493 (2005). This court has previously rejected the same challenge in numerous cases. See, e.g., State v. Kirtdoll, 281 Kan. 1138, 115......