Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 10 July 1995
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: 902 S.W.2d 767,321 Ark. 344
• Parties: Frank WILLIAMS, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 93-988.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 767

902 S.W.2d 767

321 Ark. 344

Frank WILLIAMS, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 93-988.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

July 10, 1995.

Thomas A. Potter, Charles A. Potter, Texarkana, for appellant.

Kent G. Holt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

GLAZE, Justice.

On October 7, 1992, Clyde Spence, a farmer in Lafayette County, fired appellant Frank Williams, Jr. for breaking a tractor. Spence had employed Williams for several years, and had recently helped Williams obtain parole from prison under a work-release agreement. Before midnight that same night, Spence answered a knock at the door to his home. When the door opened, Spence's wife overheard Williams' voice. Mrs. Spence then heard two shots. She ran to the door and found her husband lying in the floor with blood coming out his ears. The Spences' son, Paul, who was spending the night, came running to the door, and Mrs. Spence informed Paul that Williams had shot Mr. Spence. Paul Spence called Captain John Bishop of the Arkansas State Police, and told Bishop that Williams had killed his father. Paul informed Bishop that his mother had heard Williams' voice. Bishop then called the radio dispatcher, telling him that Mrs. Spence had heard Williams' voice at the time of Mr. Spence's murder and that Williams was a suspect.

The police dispatcher subsequently notified Chief Deputy Peter Briggs that Spence had been killed and that someone had heard Williams' voice prior to the shooting. ¹ Additionally, Captain Bishop told Deputy Briggs over the radio that Williams was apparently the assailant. Pursuant to information provided by Bishop and the dispatcher, Briggs found Williams, arrested him, and administered Williams his rights. Briggs performed a pat-down search of Williams which revealed the presence of a .25 automatic handgun in Williams' pocket. Knowing Williams was a parolee, Briggs realized Williams was violating the law by having a gun on his person. Subsequently, two .25 casings were found at the murder scene.

Williams was charged with breaking or entering, felon in possession of a firearm, theft of property, and the capital murder of Spence, but the felon in possession of a firearm charge was severed for a separate trial. Williams was tried by jury, and found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.

On appeal, Williams makes three arguments. First, Williams argues the seizure of the .25 pistol and his custodial statements should have been suppressed as fruits of an illegal arrest. Further, Williams argues his custodial statements should have been suppressed because the rights form he signed prior to giving his statements was defective. Finally, Williams argues testimony regarding his status as a work-release inmate had no independent relevance to any fact at issue, and thus, should have been suppressed. We find no merit with any of Williams' arguments.

In his initial argument, Williams contends his detention and arrest without a warrant were unlawful because the arresting officer did not have reasonable cause to believe Williams had committed a felony at the time he was arrested. See Ark.R.Crim.P. 4.1(a)(i). First, reasonable cause to arrest without a warrant does not require that degree of proof sufficient to sustain a conviction. Ray v. State, 304 Ark. 489, 803 S.W.2d 894 (1991). This court has also held that reasonable cause to arrest without a warrant exists when the facts and circumstances within the officers' collective knowledge, and of which they have reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to warrant in a man of reasonable caution the belief that an offense has been committed by the person to be arrested. Roderick v. State, 288 Ark. 360, 705 S.W.2d 433 (1986). See also Ark.R.Crim.P. 4.1(d). In sum, the officers, in arresting Williams, collectively were aware that Spence had been killed, that Williams' voice was heard at the time Spence was murdered, and that Williams was apparently the assailant.

Even if the foregoing facts lacked or fell short of reasonable cause, Williams' arrest was lawful under Ark.R.Crim.P. 3.1, which authorizes an officer to detain any person who he reasonably suspects has committed a felony. For purposes of this rule, reasonable suspicion means a suspicion based upon facts or circumstances which give rise to more than a bare, imaginary, or purely conjectural suspicion. Ray, 304 Ark. 489, 803 S.W.2d 894. In addition, if an officer who has detained a person under Rule 3.1 reasonably suspects that the detained person is armed and presently dangerous, the officer or someone designated by him may search the outer clothing of the detainee and seize a weapon or other dangerous thing which may be used against the officers or others. Ark.R.Crim.P. 3.4. Here, Briggs, the arresting officer, knew Williams was a murder suspect and a known felon. In detaining Williams, Briggs asked Williams if he had anything in his pocket, and Williams volunteered, "Yes, a pistol." Briggs then pulled a .25 automatic handgun from Williams' pocket. This court has held that evidence discovered as the fruit of a reasonable and lawful pat-down search is admissible. Webb v. State, 269 Ark. 415, 601 S.W.2d 848 (1980). In reviewing the totality of the circumstances, we conclude the trial court's finding that a valid warrantless search was performed was not clearly wrong. See Ward v. State, 308 Ark. 415, 827 S.W.2d 110 (1992). We conclude the facts here justified a lawful detention and subsequent search of Williams pursuant to Rules 3.1 and 3.4, and is yet a second reason why the trial court's denial of Williams' motion for suppression should be sustained.

We also mention a third reason why Williams' suppression argument should fail. At the time of his arrest, Williams was known as a felon and parolee. He had executed an Act 309 inmate agreement whereby he was released from the penitentiary conditioned upon, among other things, the following: ²

12. SEARCH. Inmate must submit your person, place of residence, and motor vehicles to search and seizure at any time, day or night, with or without a search warrant, whenever requested to do so by the supervisor or any law enforcement officer.

In Cherry v. State, 302 Ark. 462, 791 S.W.2d 354 (1990), the court upheld a warrantless search of Cherry, who, as a parolee, was subject to an agreement directing that his person, automobile, residence, or any property under his control could be searched by a parole officer without a warrant, if the officer had reasonable grounds for investigating whether Cherry had violated the terms of his parole or had committed a crime. Relying upon Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U.S. 868, 107 S.Ct. 3164, 97 L.Ed.2d 709 (1987), the Cherry court pointed out that the supervision of probationers is a "special need" of the state, permitting a degree of impingement upon privacy that would not be constitutional if applied to the public at large. The court further concluded that the special needs of the parole process call for intensive supervision of the parolee, making the warrant requirement impractical. The court, however, stated that a parole/probation officer's ability to conduct a warrantless search is not unlimited and that such a search must be reasonably conducted. ³ Again, in this case, Officer Briggs was well aware Williams was a parolee, and that he had been implicated in Spence's murder. Obviously, such facts suggested reasonable grounds to investigate whether Williams had violated the terms of his parole, including whether he had violated the law and was improperly in possession of a firearm.

Williams' second point for reversal is that his two custodial statements were inadmissible because the "constitutional rights form utilized by the officers failed to satisfy the requirements of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)." He argues the rights form was deficient because of the following language:

3. You have the right to consult an attorney before answering any questions or making a statement, and you may have him present with you during questioning. Do you understand? ___

4. If you cannot afford an attorney as determined by the Court one will be appointed for you at no cost to you. Do you understand? ___

(Emphasis added.) Williams claims the two paragraphs, as read together, can reasonably be interpreted as linking an indigent's right to counsel before and during questioning to some point after questioning. Thus, Williams argues the form violates both the letter and spirit of Miranda and his custodial statements should have been suppressed.

In Duckworth v. Eagan, 492 U.S. 195, 109 S.Ct. 2875, 106 L.Ed.2d 166 (1989), the Supreme Court addressed a similarly worded rights form and held that, based on the totality of the form, the warnings reasonably conveyed to the defendant his rights as required by Miranda. There, the relevant portion of the form provided the following:

You have a right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions, and to have him with you during questioning. You have this right to the advice and presence of a lawyer even if you cannot afford to hire one. We have no way of giving you a lawyer, but one will be appointed for you, if you wish, if and when you go to court.

Id. at 198, 109 S.Ct. at 2877-78. (Emphasis in the original with other emphasis omitted.) In finding the Duckworth form met constitutional muster, the Court distinguished California v. Prysock, 453 U.S. 355, 101 S.Ct. 2806, 69 L.Ed.2d 696 (1981), where the Court had "suggested that Miranda warnings would not be sufficient 'if the reference to the right to appointed counsel was linked [to a] future point in time after the police interrogation.' " Duckworth at 196, 109 S.Ct. at 2876. (Emphasis in original, citation omitted.)

The Duckworth court found the lower court had "misapprehended the effect of the inclusion of 'if and when you go...