Thomas v. State

• Decision Date: 22 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: 847 S.W.2d 695,312 Ark. 158
• Parties: Annette THOMAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 92-412.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 695

847 S.W.2d 695

312 Ark. 158

Annette THOMAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 92-412.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 22, 1993.

Charles S. Gibson, Dermott, for appellant.

Clint Miller, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

GLAZE, Justice.

Appellant, Annette Thomas, was convicted by a jury of being an accomplice to first degree murder of Julia Golden and sentenced to life imprisonment. The state's case showed that Thomas had a female lover named Jody Matthews who became jealous of Thomas's relationship with Golden. The theory of the state's case was that Thomas and Matthews went to Golden's apartment in the early hours of September 24, 1989, because Thomas wanted Golden to explain that she and Golden were not having an affair. Based upon an oral statement Thomas purportedly gave Officer Tim Osborne after Golden's murder, the state asserted at trial that Matthews disbelieved Golden's explanation, and in a jealous rage, Matthews pulled a knife and stabbed and slashed Golden to death. Thomas's statement further reflected that, during this attack, Thomas tried to pull Matthews off of Golden. However, the state offered autopsy evidence showing Golden's wounds included ones caused by an object like an ice pick. An ice pick belonging to Thomas was ultimately recovered from her car. Based on this evidence along with a luminol test which indicated the ice pick had blood on it, the state theorized Thomas actually assisted Matthews in her attack on Golden.

At trial, Thomas raised a number of objections and now argues four of them on appeal. She argues the trial court erred in (1) admitting the state's luminol tests, (2) refusing her the right to introduce evidence on cross-examination to impeach an officer's credibility, (3) refusing to grant Thomas's directed verdict motions and (4) instructing the jury on accomplice liability. We find merit in Thomas's luminol test argument, but we first address her directed verdict argument because it involves a challenge to the sufficiency of evidence which must be considered prior to a review of trial errors. Lukach v. State, 310 Ark. 119, 835 S.W.2d 852 (1992).

The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, whether direct or circumstantial. Moore v. State, 297 Ark. 296, 761 S.W.2d 894 (1988). Substantial evidence is evidence forceful enough to compel a conclusion one way or the other beyond suspicion or conjecture. Lukach, 310 Ark. 119, 835 S.W.2d 852. In determining the sufficiency of the evidence, we need only ascertain that evidence most favorable to appellee, and it is permissible to consider only that testimony which supports the verdict of guilty.

Here, as previously mentioned, Thomas was charged and tried as an accomplice to first degree murder. In this respect, she allegedly was the accomplice of Jody Matthews. Under Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-403 (1987), an accomplice is defined as follows:

(a) A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of an offense if, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the commission of an offense, he:

(1) Solicits, advises, encourages, or coerces the other person to commit it; or

(2) Aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to aid the other person in planning or committing it; or (3) Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, fails to make proper effort to do so.

So long as a defendant renders the requisite aid or encouragement to the principal with regard to the offense at issue, the defendant is an accomplice even though the defendant may have rendered the encouragement or aid reluctantly. See Sumlin v. State, 266 Ark. 709, 722, 587 S.W.2d 571, 578 (1979). In addition, a defendant can be an accomplice to murder even though the defendant's participation in the murder is, compared to that of the principal, relatively passive. See Henry v. State, 278 Ark. 478, 486-87, 647 S.W.2d 419, 424, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 835, 104 S.Ct. 121, 78 L.Ed.2d 119 (1983). Finally, the presence of an accused in the proximity of a crime, opportunity and association with a person involved in the crime in a manner suggestive of joint participation are relevant facts in determining the connection of an accomplice with the crime. Redman v. State, 265 Ark. 774, 580 S.W.2d 945 (1979).

The state presented evidence supporting its theory that Thomas had a lover's relationship with Matthews and that, as a result of a jealous rage, on the early morning of September 24, 1989, Matthews stabbed Golden to death in Thomas's presence. The state's case largely relied on an oral statement that Thomas purportedly gave to Officer Osborne, who investigated Golden's murder, but Thomas's sister and brother-in-law, who resided across from Golden's apartment, confirmed having seen the presence of Thomas's car outside Golden's apartment complex during the early morning hours on the day Golden was killed.

The state also offered evidence showing that some of Golden's wounds were the result of an ice pick, and that, three days after Golden's murder, the police discovered an ice pick in Thomas's car. While Thomas explained she had the ice pick in her car for self protection after Golden's death, Chief Harris testified that, during his investigation, he asked about the ice pick used in Golden's slaying, and Thomas said that Matthews had possessed the ice pick. When Harris asked where the ice pick was now, Thomas said, "Y'all had it," thereby implying that the ice pick used in stabbing Golden was the one the police retrieved from Thomas's car. Officer Osborne related similar testimony. Osborne further stated that Thomas later said that she had lied about the ice pick, and she also recanted her earlier oral statement in its entirety, by claiming she knew nothing about the ice pick and denied being present when Golden was slain. At trial, Thomas maintained her story that she was not present when the murder occurred. This court, of course, has often stated that false and improbable statements explaining suspicious circumstances are admissible as proof of guilt. Bennett v. State, 297 Ark. 115, 759 S.W.2d 799 (1988); Surridge v. State, 279 Ark. 183, 650 S.W.2d 561 (1983).

Also significant to its case, the state introduced the results from luminol testing indicating that blood appeared on the ice pick found in Thomas's car. When considering all of the foregoing evidence, a jury could conclude that Thomas jointly participated with Matthews in Golden's murder, at least by furnishing the ice pick used by Matthews in her brutal slaying of Golden even though the ice pick, itself, was shown only to have produced non-lethal wounds to Golden's body.

We turn now to the point that gives us the most concern, namely, whether the trial court erred in failing to either (1) exclude the luminol test results...