Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 14 October 1987
• Citation: 539 A.2d 164
• Parties: Martin WILLIAMS, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. . Submitted:
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Delaware

Page 164

539 A.2d 164

Martin WILLIAMS, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: Oct. 14, 1987.

Record Supplemented: Dec. 22, 1987.

Decided: March 10, 1988.

Richard M. Baumeister, Asst. Public Defender, Wilmington, for appellant.

Loren C. Meyers (argued), Charles Butler, and Gary A. Myers, Deputy Attys. Gen., Wilmington, for appellee.

Before CHRISTIE, C.J., HORSEY, MOORE, WALSH and HOLLAND, JJ. (constituting the Court en banc )

HOLLAND, Justice:

The defendant-appellant, Martin W. Williams ("Williams"), was convicted, following a jury trial, of second degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. After the convictions and prior to sentencing, the State moved to declare Williams an habitual offender, pursuant to 11 Del.C. § 4214(b), on the basis of two prior convictions of second degree burglary. This motion was granted, and Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of probation or parole.

On appeal, Williams challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions for second degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. Williams also appeals the Superior Court's determination to sentence him as an habitual offender pursuant to 11 Del.C. § 4214(b). We find that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the convictions and to support the classification of Williams as an habitual offender.

Facts

On the morning of December 30, 1985, Ira Vandergrift ("Vandergrift") was on the second floor of his West 17th Street home in Wilmington when he heard some noise emanating from the downstairs area. Since his wife and sister had gone shopping, he called down to find out who was in the house with him. Vandergrift testified that someone, who sounded like a young black man, replied that he was "supposed to do some garden work." Vandergrift called down his address and heard the man reply that he was in the wrong house.

The man had left by the time Vandergrift made his way downstairs. Vandergrift discovered that a small drawer which he had previously closed was now open and that his wallet was missing from drawer. Vandergrift telephoned the police immediately to report what had happened. He subsequently told the police that his wallet contained approximately seven or eight one dollar bills. Vandergrift also reported to the police that approximately three dollars in loose change, kept in a glass dish, was missing.

The report of a burglary in progress at the Vandergrift home was radioed to all patrol cars by Wilmington police dispatchers. Several police patrol cars converged upon the area from different directions. One police car approached John E. Thornton ("Thornton"), an employee of the City of Wilmington, Division of Parks and Recreation, who was working in the area of Stapler Park near Vandergrift's home. Stapler Park is bounded by Bancroft Parkway, Union, 16th and 17th Streets. In response to an inquiry about observing any suspicious activity, Thornton gave the police a description of a black male, wearing a white jacket and dark pants, who he had seen jump a fence surrounding the park just two or three minutes earlier.

At trial, Thornton testified that at the time of the Vandergrift burglary he was working in Stapler Park when he and a friend observed a black male jump a fence and exit the park at a fast pace, continuously looking back as he walked away. Thornton testified that he remarked to his friend at the time: "That boy just stole something. He looks suspicious." ¹ Thornton identified Williams at the trial as the person he saw jumping the fence.

Thornton's description of a black male wearing a white jacket and dark pants was immediately broadcast by police dispatchers. At trial, Detective Philip Saggione ("Saggione") testified that he was three or four blocks from the Vandergrift residence when he heard the report of a burglary in progress, followed by a description of the suspect over the police radio. Saggione testified that he saw a black male, wearing a white jacket with dark pants, at the corner of 16th Street walking southbound on Union Street in a fast manner. That person, who was apprehended and subsequently arrested, was identified at trial by Saggione as Williams. At the time of his arrest, Williams was searched. He was found to have nine one dollar bills and three dollars and ninety-three cents in loose coins in his pockets.

Williams testified that he had been in the vicinity of 16th and Union Streets for some time prior to his arrest. He stated that he had worked for an upholstery dealer, known as Everfast, in the neighborhood and that he had also worked for other private individuals in the Bancroft Parkway area. Williams related that he had been to a particular residence in the vicinity to seek employment; however, no one answered the door. He testified that he was returning from that residence by way of Stapler Park when he was apprehended by the police. Williams stated that he was taking a familiar route when he jumped over the fence. Williams denied entering Vandergrift's house or taking any items from the house.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

Williams argues that the evidence in this case manifestly fails to meet the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), and its Delaware progeny and is insufficient to support a verdict of guilty. Williams also contends that the evidence presented by the State, which was all circumstantial, is rationally consistent with any number of innocent explanations.

The State argues that the evidence it offered sufficiently met the burden imposed by the Jackson standard. The State does admit that mere presence at the scene of the crime, without more, is insufficient to establish complicity. ² The State contends, however, that Williams' proximity to the scene of the crime, as well as the other circumstantial evidence which it presented and the inferences drawn therefrom, support the jury's verdict that Williams committed the burglary and theft at Vandergrift's home. ³

Williams' conviction rested exclusively upon circumstantial evidence. Prior to 1972, the law in Delaware provided that when a conviction rested entirely upon circumstantial evidence, the evidence had to be "consistent solely with the reasonable hypothesis of guilt." Smith v. State, Del.Supr., 229 A.2d 21, 21 (1967) (citing Littlejohn v. State, Del.Supr., 219 A.2d 155, 157 (1966)). Thus, prior to 1972, if the evidence was purely circumstantial and there was an alternative explanation of innocence that was consistent with the evidence, the conviction could not be sustained. See Littlejohn v. State, 219 A.2d at 157.

In 1972, this Court adopted a less restrictive standard, i.e., the federal standard, regarding the evaluation of circumstantial evidence. See Henry v. State, Del.Supr., 298 A.2d 327, 330 (1972). The United States Supreme Court stated the rationale for this less restrictive standard in Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 75 S.Ct. 127, 99 L.Ed. 150 (1954).

[T]he better rule is that where the jury is properly instructed on the standards for reasonable doubt, such an additional instruction on circumstantial evidence is confusing and incorrect[.]

Circumstantial evidence in this respect is intrinsically no different from testimonial evidence. Admittedly, circumstantial evidence may in some cases point to a wholly incorrect result. Yet this is equally true of testimonial evidence. In both instances, a jury is asked to weight the chances that the evidence correctly points to guilt against the possibility of inaccuracy or ambiguous inference. In both, the jury must use its experience with people and events in weighing the probabilities. If the jury is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, we can require no more.

Id. at 139-40, 75 S.Ct. at 137-38 (citations omitted), quoted in Henry v. State, 298 A.2d at 330.

Approximately seven years after this Court's decision in Henry, the United States Supreme Court held that when a defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support a guilty verdict, "the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (emphasis in original), quoted in Davis v. State, Del.Supr., 453 A.2d 802, 803 (1982) (per curiam). ⁴ Therefore, we must review the evidence against Williams according to the standards enunciated in Holland/Henry and Jackson/Davis.

Inferences from the Evidence in This Case

The State's circumstantial case against Williams was comprised of a series of facts and the inferences which flowed from those facts. The State first proved that whoever was burglarizing the Vandergrift home was surprised to learn that it was occupied when Vandergrift called downstairs. The inference that the State would draw from this fact is that the burglar would be startled and would quickly flee the residence and the area.

The State next proved that Williams was seen running from the general direction of the Vandergrift home by Thornton, a park worker, at about the same time that the burglary was reported. The testimony also showed that Williams was the only person in the area, and Williams was characterized as acting in a suspicious manner because he ran between several houses, jumped over a fence, and thereafter crossed Stapler Park at a brisk pace, looking back repeatedly. The inference that the State argued follows from this evidence is that Williams was fleeing from something, e.g., the Vandergrift home.

Williams was stopped by the police within minutes of the burglary only a few blocks from Vandergrift's home. Williams was stopped because he was the only person in the area and because he matched the description of the person who was described as jumping the fence...