State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 20 May 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-KA-1686,85-KA-1686 |
| Citation | 490 So.2d 255 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. Dobie Gillis WILLIAMS. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Don Burkett, Dist. Atty., Elizabeth Pickett, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Michael Bonnette, Brett Brunson, for appellant.
Dobie Gillis Williams was indicted by a Sabine Parish Grand Jury of first degree murder in violation of R.S. 14:30. A Motion for a Change of Venue filed by the defendant was granted which resulted in the transfer of the case to the 35th Judicial District Court in Grant Parish. After a four day trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged. At the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty upon finding the existence of two aggravating circumstances. The two aggravating circumstances found by the jury were: (1) "the offender was engaged in the perpetration of aggravated burglary or the attempted perpetration of aggravated rape," and (2) "the offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner."
Defendant assigns twenty-four assignments of error; only six of which have been briefed. In a capital case we review all assignments of error. State v. Celestine, 443 So.2d 1091 (La.1983); State v. Narcisse, 426 So.2d 118 (La.1983). Our review also extends to an examination of the record in search for errors patent. In this opinion we will treat eleven assignments of error (assignments 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 24) and review the sentence. The defendant's remaining assignments involve legal issues governed by established principles of law and will be treated in an unpublished appendix to this opinion which will comprise part of the official record in this case.
On the evening of July 7, 1984, Sonja Knippers was brutally murdered in her Many, Louisiana home. After finishing supper that evening Sonja retired to the sofa in her living room and began watching television. Her husband Charles had retired to the bedroom and had gone to sleep. Around 12:30 a.m. that same night the defendant stacked two milk crates outside the bathroom window, cut the screen, and entered the Knippers' home. At or about the same time Sonja awoke from her sleep and proceeded to the bathroom. After pulling down her underwear to sit on the toilet, she saw the defendant with his pants off standing behind the bathroom door. After she began to scream the defendant locked the bathroom door and began stabbing Sonja with a knife while she was sitting on the toilet.
Charles Knippers was awakened by what he described as the "awfullest bunch of bumping and knocking and banging and screaming and hollering" coming from the bathroom of his home. After hearing his wife exclaim, "This black man is killing me, help me," Charles unsuccessfully attempted to break down the bathroom door. When Sonja finally opened the door, Charles observed blood "pouring down her [entire right side] and just puddling on the floor." He also found the bathroom window open and was told by Sonja that her assailant "went through the bathroom window." Moments after being assisted to the living room couch, Sonja bled to death.
Shortly thereafter officers of the Many City Police and the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Department converged on the Knippers' home. In the course of their investigation they found the bathroom wall and curtains smeared with blood. They also found the bathroom window open. On the brick ledge of the window blood, hairs, and darkly pigmented skin were discovered.
"As the crow flies," only 2000 feet separated the residence where the defendant was staying from the Knippers residence. A wooded area containing trails lies between the two homes. The defendant had been seen approximately one hour prior to the murder, "about 11:30 p.m.," walking away from the A.G. Williams residence, which was the home of his grandfather.
At the time of the murder the defendant was on a five day furlough from Camp Beauregard where he was imprisoned after being convicted of attempted simple burglary. Detectives Jimmy Kinney and Joe Byles, being aware of the defendant's criminal record, proceeded to the home of A.G. Williams to pick the defendant up for questioning. Mr. Williams invited the detectives in and then proceeded to awaken the defendant, who was sleeping on the living room couch. After being advised that he was wanted for questioning the defendant voluntarily accompanied the detectives to the sheriff's office.
Upon his arrival at the sheriff's office, the defendant was advised of the subject of the investigation, advised of his rights, and signed a waiver of rights form. He was then asked to remove his clothing in order for the officers to observe whether there were scratches and abrasions on his body that would be consistent with the type of wounds probably sustained by the person who had dived out of the Knippers' bathroom window.
After removing his shirt the detectives and Dr. C.E. Poinboef observed a puncture wound between Dobie's thumb and forefinger and a fresh scratch on the upper portion of his left arm. When asked to remove his pants, the defendant initially refused. However, after Detective Kinney advised Dobie that he would not be released until he complied with their request, he promptly did so. Detective Kinney and Dr. Poinboef, the coroner, then observed numerous deep abrasions on defendant's thighs and shins. At the trial, Dr. Poinboef expressed the opinion that these injuries had been sustained within two or three hours of the examination. After further interrogation the defendant finally admitted that he had murdered Sonja Knippers.
In confessing to the murder he explained how he entered the Knippers' home through the bathroom window. Once in the house he walked down the hall leading to the living room; after reaching a certain point and seeing Sonja stretched out on the living room couch, he retreated to the bathroom. When defendant heard Sonja walking down the hall towards the bathroom, he hid behind the bathroom door. After entering the bathroom, she pulled down her underwear, and sat down on the toilet. It was then that she saw the defendant behind the door and began screaming. Defendant immediately closed and locked the bathroom door. Defendant then began to repeatedly stab the victim. 1 Defendant then jumped out of the bathroom window, dropped the knife in the Knippers' yard and ran to his grandfather's house where he hid his shirt underneath the porch. Although no written confession was obtained, an unsuccessful attempt was made to record the statement mechanically. At trial detective McComic, Byles, and Kinney testified as to the content of the defendant's confession.
After defendant made his statement, the investigators returned to the Knippers' home where they found a kitchen knife in four inches of damp grass. The officers later retrieved the shirt from the place where the defendant stated it was hidden.
On the day after the homicide blood, saliva, and various hair samples were taken from the defendant at the North Louisiana Crime Laboratory in Shreveport. Laura Johnson, a forensic serologist, conducted various tests on these samples. She determined that a sample of blood retrieved from the bathroom window curtain was of a type entirely consistent with the defendant's. The expert also stated that only two out of every one hundred thousand blacks share this type of blood. Furthermore, the sample found on the curtain was inconsistent with the blood types of Charles and Sonja Knippers.
Laura Johnson also compared the hair samples taken from the defendant to strands of hair recovered from the window ledge of the bathroom window. Two strands of hair were recovered from the window ledge. One was a negroid pubic hair and the other was a leg hair. Laura Johnson testified that when compared to the samples taken from the defendant, the characteristics were consistent.
Dr. George McCormick, a forensic pathologist, examined the defendant and the remains of Sonja Knippers. When he examined the defendant he found scrapes and abrasions on his thighs and shins. He also found abrasions on the triceps of the left arm and on the outer surface of the left arm. Dr. McCormick expressed the opinion that all the abrasions occurred at the same time. He also stated that the injuries were consistent with the type of injuries that would be suffered by one scraping himself against the window ledge of the Knippers' bathroom window. Dr. McCormick further testified that it is highly unlikely that defendant was wearing pants when the abrasions occurred.
Dr. McCormick's autopsy revealed that the victim died of eight stab wounds that were inflicted in a random but repetitive fashion indicative of a "blitz attack" upon an idividual having no chance to defend herself. According to Dr. McCormick, the pattern of the kitchen knife found in the Knippers' yard was consistent with the type of wounds found on Sonja's body.
Defendant complains that the selection of a single "death qualified" jury for both phases of his bifurcated trial deprived him of a jury drawn from a representative cross section of the community. In Assignment No. 2 the defendant contends that the exclusion of people who are unalterably opposed to capital punishment constitutes a systematic exclusion of an identifiable segment of the population from serving in capital cases. This argument has been specifically rejected by this court in State v. Ford, 489 So.2d 1250 (La.1986); State v. Ward, 483 So.2d 578 (La.1985); State v. Lowenfield, (La. No. 85-KA-0255, decided December 2, 1985); and State v. Jones, 474 So.2d 919 (La.1985).
In Assignment No. 3 the defendant argues that the use of "death qualified" juries results in the exclusion of a significant portion of the black population from...
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