The State v. Sims, 26820.
| Citation | 694 S.E.2d 9,387 S.C. 557 |
| Decision Date | 17 May 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 26820.,26820. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent,v.Keith Anthony SIMS, Petitioner. |
Senior Appellate Defender Joseph L. Savitz, III, and Appellate Defender LaNelle C. DuRant, both of South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, of Columbia, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Assistant Attorney General Melody J Brown, Assistant Attorney General Alphonso Simon, Jr., and Solicitor Warren B. Giese, all of Columbia, for Respondent.
This case concerns Rule 801(d)(2)(E), SCRE, which allows in evidence as non-hearsay an out-of-court statement made by a non-testifying “ coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy.” Keith Anthony Sims was convicted and sentenced for murder. Sims appealed, challenging the admission of a statement attributed to a non-testifying declarant as inadmissible hearsay. The court of appeals affirmed, and we granted a writ of certiorari to review that decision. State v. Sims, 377 S.C. 598, 661 S.E.2d 122 (Ct.App.2008). The court of appeals erred in finding the challenged evidence satisfied the “in furtherance of the conspiracy” prong of Rule 801(d)(2)(E). We affirm in result however, because the erroneously admitted hearsay was harmless.
The body of Brian Anderson was found in a Newberry County pond on December 31, 2003. The body was chained to a pipe weighted down by two cement blocks. Anderson had been shot in the right eye. Marks on Anderson's body indicated he was dragged to the pond. Nearby, law enforcement agents found work gloves and packaging.
The next day, Anderson's blood-spattered car was located in the parking lot of a Columbia apartment complex. The pattern of blood stains indicated that someone in the front passenger's seat had shot Anderson while he was in the driver's seat. Anderson was last seen alive on December 30 at a party in a Columbia hotel.
Sims and Anderson were acquaintances. They left the party together around midnight in Anderson's car. Evidence pointed to Sims as the killer, and he was arrested and charged with murder. His subsequent statements to law enforcement contained several versions of his involvement in Anderson's death.1
During the investigation, law enforcement learned that Sims had enlisted the support of three individuals to help him dispose of Anderson's body, Sims's bloody clothes and the gun used to kill Anderson. Those three individuals were Natalie English (Sims's girlfriend), Derrick Ruff (Sims's friend), and Nikki Davis (Ruff's girlfriend). English, Ruff, and Davis were charged as accessories after-the-fact of murder.
Davis cooperated with law enforcement and led them to several pieces of critical evidence, including the gun that Sims used to kill Anderson. The information Davis provided also enabled law enforcement to recover several items that had belonged to Anderson; these items were found in a dumpster behind the church Sims's mother attends.
At trial, Sims testified he and Anderson had lived near each other on Monticello Road in Richland County. Although they had occasional arguments, Sims stated they had been friends for several years. Sims testified that Anderson had “quite a few guns,” and a few weeks before his death, Anderson had threatened Sims “over some money.”
According to Sims, around 1:00 a.m. on December 31, 2003, Anderson offered to take him home from the party. Sims contended Anderson had “a little gun in his hand” when he got into the car. Sims acknowledged that he also was carrying a gun: Sims testified that as they turned into his driveway:
[Anderson] was telling me that he was going to end all his beefs before the New Year. And he was reaching underneath his seat. So I thought he was fixing to ... grab him a gun and shoot me. So I pulled out my gun. Out of fear I shot.
Sims added: Sims stated he did not realize until after he had fired that “I had just shot an unarmed man, so I was scared.”
Sims said that following Anderson's shooting, he told his girlfriend, English, “something happened between me and [Anderson].” Sims stated he and English drove to Newberry because he wanted to ask his friend Ruff what he should do. English drove her car, and Sims drove Anderson's car, which contained Anderson's body. After Sims and Ruff talked, they left to dispose of Anderson's body. After dumping the body in the pond, Sims testified, “we left [the car] in Columbia.”
Sims acknowledged that he gave several false statements to law enforcement in January of 2004. He admitted at trial: Sims said he was afraid to be truthful because “I had shot Brian [Anderson] and then I had seen he didn't have no gun.” On January 22, 2004, Sims acknowledged shooting Anderson but, again, his statement was not truthful: “I told them when we had got in my driveway and Brian had pulled a gun out on me.” At trial, Sims admitted, “I was lying because when I seen he had no gun I was scared.”
Ruff and Davis testified at trial and acknowledged helping Sims hide Anderson's body and destroy evidence. Sims's other coconspirator, English, did not testify.
Davis testified extensively regarding the events that followed Anderson's death. According to Davis, around 3:00 a.m., English and Sims knocked on the door of the home she shared with Ruff and his mother. After Sims woke Ruff, he and Sims spoke privately. Davis claimed at this point she was not aware of the killing or that her friends were planning to help Sims dispose of Anderson's body: Davis stated Sims searched for bricks in Ruff's yard. After leaving Ruff's home, they stopped at a gas station for English to buy “gloves and stuff.”
Next, they drove down a dirt road and parked in front of a house. Davis maintained that she still was unaware of the killing or the real purpose of the trip. Shortly after Sims and Ruff exited the car, Davis observed them “toting like this long thing I guess to a car, and a chain, you know, some bricks, just toting it to the back of the house....” Davis continued:
The next thing I knew he [Sims] sped from behind the house inside of another car. And that's when I, you know, started pushing Natalie [English]. I'm asking her what's going on? Did he steal a car or what's going on? Where did he get that from and stuff like that. And then she told me, you know, Keith had murdered somebody. But I didn't, you know-
Sims's counsel objected to this portion of Davis's testimony on the ground of hearsay. Without comment, the trial court overruled Sims's general hearsay objection.
Davis's testimony continued, stating they drove English's car to a park, where they met Sims, who had driven Anderson's car. According to Davis, as Sims opened the door to Anderson's car, “the guy, he just fell out.” Although Davis contended she had been “unable to think,” she admitted that she had helped Sims, English, and Ruff drag Anderson's body to the pond and throw him in.
Before leaving the park, Sims gave Davis a bag containing Anderson's cell phone, chain, and wallet. Sims then drove Anderson's car to Columbia, while Ruff, English, and Davis drove English's car to Charleston. After arriving in Charleston, Davis disposed of the bag and Sims's bloody clothes. They promptly returned to Columbia and met Sims at a friend's apartment. Sims rejoined the group and they drove together to Newberry.
Sims told Davis to dispose of the gun, which he had wrapped in a shirt. Davis testified she and English drove to Columbia to attend church with Sims's mother. Sims and Ruff remained in Newberry. While English and Davis were driving to Columbia, Davis disposed of the gun. When they reached the church, Davis threw several items from Anderson's car into a dumpster behind the church.
Ruff testified and confirmed that he had participated with Sims, English, and Davis in hiding the body and disposing of the evidence.
The court charged the jury on murder, voluntary manslaughter, and self-defense. Sims was convicted of murder and sentenced. The court of appeals affirmed, to which we granted a writ of certiorari.
Sims contends that the trial judge committed reversible error by allowing Davis to testify that English, a non-testifying third party, told her “Keith [Sims] had murdered somebody” because this evidence violated Rule 802, the rule against hearsay. The court of appeals analyzed the issue in terms of Rule 801(d)(2)(E), the coconspirator exception and found no error in the admission of the statement attributed to English.
An appellate court reviews challenges to the admission and exclusion of evidence for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Gaster, 349 S.C. 545, 557, 564 S.E.2d 87, 93 (2002) (). We agree with Sims that the challenged testimony was inadmissible hearsay, but in view of the overwhelming evidence of guilt, we find the error harmless.
“ ‘Hearsay’ is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Rule 801(c), SCRE. Generally, hearsay is not admissible evidence “except as provided by these rules or by other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court of this State or by statute.” Rule 802, SCRE.
Because of the generic nature of Sims's hearsay objection and the trial court's one word ruling-“overruled”-we do not have the benefit of any analysis in the trial court conc...
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...hearsay, mirroring the treatment Rule 804(b)(3) accords the non-self-inculpatory statements of accomplices. See State v. Sims, 387 S.C. 557, 566, 694 S.E.2d 9, 14 (2010) (finding co-conspirator statements that do not further the conspiracy but simply "spill the beans" inadmissible).6 We lea......
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