Sumlin v. State
| Decision Date | 15 October 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Citation | 266 Ark. 709,587 S.W.2d 571 |
| Parties | Ruth Della SUMLIN, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 78-168. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Lanny K. Solloway, North Little Rock, for appellant.
Steve Clark, Atty. Gen. by Ray E. Hartenstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
On Thanksgiving day in 1977, Ruth Della Sumlin participated in an escapade that resulted in her being charged with capital murder. She was charged with the murder of J. Y. Cooper in the course and furtherance of being an accomplice to escape in the first degree. She was also accused of robbing Cooper. She was tried in the Columbia County Circuit Court, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
On appeal she alleges nine errors. We find on review none of these errors require reversal of the conviction or sentence. We have also examined the record for all other legal errors, as is our practice in cases of like punishment, and finding none prejudicial, affirm her conviction and punishment.
The facts concerning a jail break from the Columbia County Jail, around which all events of this case focus, are not seriously disputed.
Ruth Sumlin, formerly Ruth Brewer of Bradley, Arkansas, was a college student at Magnolia when she met Sumlin in October, 1976. She knew him as Warren Andrews from California. According to her, they kept steady company after they met. At the end of school in May, 1977, she only lacked a few hours toward a degree in psychology. She did not return to school in the fall of 1977, reciting a lack of money as the cause. She married Sumlin on October 2, 1977, while he was in the Columbia County Jail. Warren Sumlin, known to her as Andrews, had been in jail since August, 1977, pending the outcome of extradition proceedings initiated by California on a murder charge.
There is no doubt they had discussed breaking him out of jail, either by way of her supplying him a gun, or by forcing the jailer to release him. They discussed getting J. Y. Cooper's car for the escape. She was allowed generous visiting privileges with her husband by the jailers, both of whom were later fired for their laxness.
On Thanksgiving evening about 10:00 p. m., she went to the jail, held a pistol and knife on the jailer and forced him to open the cells. Five prisoners escaped, including Warren Sumlin; several other prisoners voluntarily remained at the jail.
Warren and Ruth Sumlin, Thurman Moore, Jr. and Jackie Moore left the jail in a Pontiac automobile which belonged to J. Y. Cooper. About four hours later the Sumlins were in the custody of the Fordyce city police; Thurman Moore, Jr. was in custody and hospitalized for gunshot wounds; Jackie Moore was missing and remained so until he was located in Michigan several months later. The other escapees were rounded up that night by local law enforcement officers.
The next day, Friday, J. Y. Cooper's body, clothed only in socks and an undershirt, was found by two hunters on a logging road east of Magnolia. He was dead, having been shot through the temple; there was also evidence his sexual organs had been mutilated.
The State's case was that Ruth Sumlin had killed J. Y. Cooper, emasculated him and took his car to be used as a getaway vehicle, forced the jailer to release the prisoners and then joined the escapees in flight.
Ruth Sumlin gave two versions of what transpired. In a statement to the police officers she admitted planning to get Cooper's vehicle to be used in the escape. She explained she and Cooper had been out before and that she and Warren Sumlin had discussed getting Cooper's vehicle. She went out with Cooper that afternoon, later that evening they drove to a back road and had sexual intercourse. Then she shot Cooper and took his car. Later she forced the jailer to release the prisoners at gun and knifepoint.
In her testimony at the trial she largely repudiated this statement. She admitted having sexual intercourse with Cooper they had seen each other on other occasions but denied she killed him. She said he was in the back seat of his car, drunk, when they all got in the car after the jail break. She said Warren killed Cooper later, or at least he took Cooper down the road and when she heard a shot, assumed he had killed Cooper. She said Warren killed Cooper because he knew Cooper had "disrespected" her.
She denied at all times mutilating Cooper's sexual organs, suggesting that the car had backed over his body, or perhaps Warren Sumlin had done it. There was evidence the car ran over Cooper's legs.
The two escapees did not fare well on their journey with the Sumlins. Both testified for the State and gave similar versions of what transpired.
Thomas Moore, Jr., who had been in jail about two weeks, said he knew in advance of the jailbreak. He said he saw Ruth Sumlin hold a gun and knife at the back of the jailer before the cells were opened. Jackie Moore said he saw her with a gun on the jailer. Both stated they were with the Sumlins at all times until they left the car near Fordyce; both said no one else was in the car contradicting Ruth's trial version that Cooper was in the back seat drunk and was later shot by Warren Sumlin.
Both Moores rode in the front seat of the Pontiac, first one and then the other drove. The Sumlins were in the back seat. They first stopped in Magnolia for gas, and then at Cairo for liquor. Next, they drove to El Dorado, trying to decide what to do; they then headed back north on the highway toward Fordyce.
According to Ruth, Warren was drinking heavily during the trip and he became unruly. More liquor was found in the trunk of the car which he began to consume. She said Warren took about $35.00 from Cooper's wallet which was in the car. Warren Sumlin learned that one of the Moores had about $160.00 and he decided to kill them both. He had been shooting a pistol she had found Cooper's .22 caliber pistol and Warren Sumlin had it out of the speeding car. He told her to shoot one at the same time he shot the other. His gun "clicked" several times, apparently misfiring, then it fired; then she fired her gun. Apparently the car was stopped at this time, and both Moores bailed out immediately after the shooting. Both Moores had been struck by bullets, Jackie in the head, Thurman in the neck. Thurman ran and hid in the woods, Jackie ran down the road. Sumlin pursued, firing his gun. Ruth Sumlin also fired her gun at them. Jackie Moore was able to escape, eventually reaching Michigan.
About this time two strangers happened along in a vehicle. Warren was still chasing the Moores; Ruth, in trying to drive the car, had run it into the ditch. The strangers stopped to help with the car and then Warren came back. According to Ruth, he robbed one of these men of his billfold after he shot him, and they took the strangers' vehicle.
A Fordyce policeman came on this scene, about seven miles from Fordyce, in answer to a radio call and gave chase to the Sumlins. He was able to stop them; Ruth ran to the policeman who put her in his vehicle. According to Ruth and the policeman, Warren Sumlin tried to drive off and being foiled in his efforts, rammed the strangers' vehicle into the policeman's car. He was subdued and arrested at this time.
It was about 2:00 a. m., the day after Thanksgiving, when the Sumlins were taken into custody by the Fordyce policeman.
Ruth Sumlin remained in the custody of the Fordyce police until she was transferred to the custody of Dallas County Sheriff, Joe Pennington, about daylight, the 25th of November. She remained there until about 7:00 p. m., when she was transferred to the Columbia County Jail. On Sunday the 27th, the Columbia County Sheriff told Ruth Sumlin he was transferring her to the El Dorado jail. At this time she made a statement. Before, she had refused to talk either with Dallas or Columbia county officials.
The State's case against Ruth Sumlin regarding the jail break was strong. There were many witnesses telling substantially the same story she forced the escape as we have described.
The evidence conflicted regarding the murder of Cooper and his emasculation. In her confession she admitted shooting Cooper, but in her testimony she denied it. She explained that she had been covering up for Warren Sumlin and had decided to tell the jury the truth. She testified Warren Sumlin killed Cooper. A good deal of testimony conflicted with her trial version of the events.
The medical officer who performed the autopsy on Cooper said Cooper was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. No alcohol was found in Cooper's bloodstream. The scrotum and perineal area had been cut with an edged instrument. The scrotum and its contents were absent.
Cooper had type O blood. A crime laboratory technician testified that he found human type O blood on the blade of a knife, one found in Ruth Sumlin's purse when she was arrested.
Tissue paper, containing semen and blood, was found around Cooper's body. This evidence was all consistent with the State's theory of the case that Cooper and Ruth Sumlin had intercourse beside the road and that Ruth Sumlin killed Cooper at the same place. She said the tissue paper must have been thrown from the car since she claimed in court that the sexual act occurred in the back seat where Cooper remained drunk until Warren Sumlin killed him. It was coincidental she explained that Warren Sumlin killed Cooper at the same place she and Cooper had intercourse hours before.
The appellant, Ruth Sumlin, does not argue there was not substantial evidence to support her conviction, as there no doubt was. Her arguments are mostly procedural, that certain evidence was improperly admitted and the court made procedural mistakes, prejudicing her right to a fair trial.
The first allegation of error is regarding the in-custody statement of Ruth Sumlin; that it was inadmissible because it was not voluntary.
The law is well settled in this area, being only...
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