State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 29 May 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 72556.,WD 72556. |
| Citation | 366 S.W.3d 609 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Cornelle D. WILLIAMS, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Michelle D. Carpenter and Lindsey C. Bachman, St. Joseph, MO and Susan L. Hogan, Kansas City, MO, for appellant.
Shaun J. Mackelprang and Richard A. Starnes, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.
Before Division Three: JAMES E. WELSH, Presiding Judge, CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge and ZEL M. FISCHER, Special Judge.
Cornelle Williams (“Williams”) was convicted in October 2002 of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal, but reversed in a Rule 29.15 proceeding where Williams demonstrated ineffective assistance of counsel. On retrial, Williams was again convicted following a jury trial of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action. Williams claims on appeal that the trial court erred in permitting his testimony from the first trial to be read to the jury in the second trial over his objection. Williams also claims that the trial court erred in overruling his objections to the State's references during opening statement, on cross examination, and in closing argument, to Williams's participation in a robbery when Williams was not charged with robbery. We affirm.
The sufficiency of the evidence to convict Williams is not at issue in this appeal.1 On February 24, 2001, Williams and his friend, Kevin Johnson (“Johnson”) went to Wheel Warehouse on Truman Road in Kansas City, Missouri in Williams's white Chevy Monte Carlo. Williams needed to buy a new tire for another vehicle he owned. Williams spoke with Rusty Clinton (“Clinton”), an employee, about tires. Clinton offered to make Williams a deal for two tires he owned personally. Johnson asked Clinton whether he knew of any used or cheap wheels for sale. Clinton introduced Johnson to his friend Nathan Quick (“Quick”) who just happened to be in the store. Quick told Johnson he had four wheels for sale. Quick and Johnson discussed a price of between $300 and $400. Johnson showed Quick a wad of cash that appeared to be enough to buy the wheels. Quick told Johnson that he and Williams could follow him to his apartment. Quick felt uncomfortable meeting with strangers at his apartment, so he asked Clinton to come along.
Clinton dropped his car off at his residence, and then got into Quick's vehicle. Quick headed to Clinton's mother's house to get the tires Clinton had agreed to sell Williams. Then Quick and Clinton set out for Quick's apartment. Williams and Johnson were following in the Monte Carlo.
Before arriving at his apartment, Quick told Clinton he was feeling uneasy. Clinton assured Quick everything would be fine and told Quick that “if anything happens I just happened to grab this,” pulling a small chrome handgun from his front pants pocket.
Traveling behind Quick, Johnson told Williams that he planned to “get over” on Quick, meaning that he planned to steal the wheels or give Quick less money than he asked for. Williams did not respond, but nodded his head. When Quick stopped at Clinton's mother's house, Williams placed a 9 mm Intratec semiautomatic pistol that he kept in the Monte Carlo in the sleeve of his jacket.
Upon arriving at Quick's apartment, Quick and Clinton brought out two of the four wheels to show Johnson. Johnson agreed to buy the wheels, but wanted to see if they would fit in the trunk. While the two wheels were being loaded in the trunk, Williams loaded the tires that Clinton was selling him into the back seat.
Johnson asked to see the other two wheels. Quick and Johnson brought the other two wheels out, but left one by the entrance to the building so Johnson and Williams would not leave without paying. The trunk was now full, and would not close. Johnson tied it down with a t-shirt, and used the shirt to cover the Monte Carlo's license plate.
In the apartment, Quick told Johnson he needed $400 for the wheels. Johnson counted his money but said he was short. He went out to the car reportedly to look for extra money. Williams remained in the apartment. Johnson returned. He claimed he was still short of money. Quick said he would take $300 for the wheels. Johnson again said he needed to look for “extra money” in the car. He asked Williams to come with him, but Quick asked Williams to stay in the apartment, fearing the men intended to leave without paying.
Johnson again returned to the apartment. By now, Clinton was sitting on the couch watching television. Johnson began haggling with Quick over the price for the wheels. Suddenly, Williams pulled the gun from his sleeve, shot Clinton in the face, and shot twice at Quick. Quick ducked and dropped to the floor to avoid being shot. Williams hollered at Johnson “come on, come on.” The two ran from the apartment.
Quick heard Williams and Johnson fleeing down the apartment steps. He got up and saw Clinton still sitting on the couch, bleeding from his head. Clinton jumped up and pulled his gun from his pants pocket. Clinton stumbled toward the door, dropping the gun. Quick called for help as Clinton crawled through the apartment. Clinton was airlifted to the hospital where he died from a gunshot wound which entered his right cheek beneath his eye, severed numerous arteries and veins, and exited out his neck below and behind his left ear.
Around 11:00 p.m. that evening, the Kansas City police found Williams's Monte Carlo parked in the 400 block of Highland. Its license plate had been stolen from another vehicle. Johnson got out of the vehicle, saw the officers, got back into the vehicle for a few seconds, got back out of the vehicle, and locked the doors. The police ordered Johnson to halt, but he began running. Johnson was arrested after a foot chase.
In the Monte Carlo, the police recovered paperwork belonging to Williams and the t-shirt Johnson had used to tie down the trunk. The police also found Williams's gun which Johnson had thrown down during the foot chase. Testing demonstrated that the gun had been fired at the scene of Clinton's murder.
Johnson made statements to the police. He told the police that all four of the wheels and the two tires were at his grandmother's house, where they were recovered.Johnson led the police to Williams's apartment which was on Highland in the same block where the Monte Carlo had been located. Williams was found in his apartment hiding in a closet. He was arrested.
While both Johnson and Williams were in custody, Williams passed Johnson in the hall. Williams told Johnson to say that Clinton had a gun out before Williams shot him. Johnson, however, had not seen Clinton with a gun, and testified to that fact. Quick also testified that he did not see Clinton pull out his gun before Williams shot him.
Over Williams's objection, the State in its case-in-chief read Williams's testimony from his first trial 2 where Williams had claimed self-defense. Williams also testified during his case-in-chief, and claimed that he saw the gun in Clinton's hand and believed he was going to be shot if he did not shoot first. Williams testified that he shot at Quick because he feared Quick might also have a gun. Williams's testimony in the second trial and the testimony read to the jury which Williams gave in the first trial were not materially distinguishable.
The case was submitted to the jury with self-defense instructions. Williams was convicted of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action. He was sentenced according to the jury's recommendations to twenty-five years for murder, ten years for assault, and five years for each of the counts of armed criminal action, with each of the sentences running consecutively for a total sentence of forty-five years.
Williams filed this timely appeal.
Williams raises two points on appeal. In his first point, Williams claims the trial court erred in permitting his testimony from the first trial to be read to the jury in his second trial. Williams complains that his testimony in the first trial was compelled in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination because he was left with no choice but to claim self-defense after his trial counsel's ineffectiveness resulted in Williams's ineligibility to receive State funds to pay for an expert to assess the availability of a mental health defense negating criminal responsibility. Williams also claims that his testimony in the second trial was compelled in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination because the trial court's erroneous admission of the testimony from the first trial left Williams with no choice but to similarly claim self-defense in the second trial.
In his second point, Williams claims the trial court erred in overruling his objections to the State's several references to his participation in a robbery, though he was not charged with robbery. Williams claims the references to an uncharged crime were erroneously admitted to show his propensity to commit the crimes with which he was charged.
Both of Williams's points on appeal claim error with respect to the admission of evidence. A trial court is invested with broad discretion in determining whether to admit evidence, and a ruling with respect to the admission of evidence will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. State v. McElvain, 228 S.W.3d 592, 595–96 (Mo.App. W.D.2007). An abuse of discretion occurs when a trial court's ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to indicate a lack of careful consideration. State v. Forrest, 183 S.W.3d 218, 223 (Mo. banc 2006). Though we review the trial court's...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lottie v. Buckner
...or by a short interval of time and tend, as background information, to elucidate a main fact in issue." State v. Williams, 366 S.W. 3d 609, 624 (Mo. App. W.D. 2012).Here, Johnson's statements telling [Lottie] to "shoot that M Fur" or "air out the parking lot" was admissible as an excited ut......
-
State v. Ellmaker
...of discretion, whether a defendant's constitutional rights were violated is a question of law reviewed de novo. " State v. Williams , 366 S.W.3d 609, 615 (Mo. App. W.D. 2012) (internal quotations omitted). If a Doyle violation is found, courts have "discretion to review the violation or vio......
-
State v. McClendon
...which it is reasonable to believe that McClendon and Jenkins had some sort of motivation to kill one another. See State v. Williams, 366 S.W.3d 609, 624 (Mo. App. W.D. 2012) (motive is relevant where defendant claims he acted in self-defense). It was a reasonable inference from the evidence......
-
State v. Fritz
...of Victim's pregnancy to show: (1) motive; and (2) a complete and a coherent picture of the crime. See, e.g., State v. Williams, 366 S.W.3d 609, 624 (Mo. App. 2012). Third, the first evidence about fetal bones was elicited by Defendant himself during his cross-examination of Lieutenant Tayl......