Williams v. State, CR
| Decision Date | 18 February 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Citation | 804 S.W.2d 346,304 Ark. 509 |
| Parties | Michael Wayne WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 90-247. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Thomas B. Devine, III, Deputy Public Defender, Little Rock, for appellant.
Sandy Moll, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
The appellant, Michael Wayne Williams, was convicted of murder in the first degree, kidnapping, and aggravated assault and was sentenced to prison terms of life, twenty years, and six years, respectively, to run consecutively.
Williams' sole point of error on appeal is that the trial court erred in not granting his motion for a directed verdict on the charge of murder in the first degree. We disagree and affirm.
Sometime after midnight on August 13, 1989, Williams went to the home of the deceased, Virginia McGee, seeking his ex-girlfriend, Robin Jefferson. Ms. Jefferson had been living with Ms. McGee, who was her aunt.
Testimony at trial revealed that Williams and Ms. Jefferson had been boyfriend and girlfriend for approximately three years and had had a child together. A month before the murder, Ms. Jefferson ended the relationship, stating that Williams had been physically abusive. Ms. Jefferson testified that following their breakup, Williams repeatedly called and threatened her.
On one occasion, Williams fired a gun at Ms. Jefferson from his car and then ran his car into hers, causing her to run into a telephone pole. It was from this incident that Williams was convicted of aggravated assault. On another occasion, for which the jury convicted him of kidnapping, Williams forced Ms. Jefferson to leave her aunt's house with him at gunpoint. After making her drive around for some time, while he threatened to kill Ms. Jefferson and himself, Williams finally allowed her to return home.
The night Williams came to Ms. McGee's home, Robin Jefferson was staying with her grandmother. Ms. McGee was at home with her boyfriend, Willis Stewart. Mr. Stewart testified that they had fallen asleep in the back bedroom and awoke to find Williams standing in the doorway, holding a gun. Williams asked, "Where's she at?" indicating Ms. Jefferson. At that point, Ms. McGee got up and told Williams to leave. She and Williams proceeded down the hall towards the front door, arguing all the while. Mr. Stewart testified that Williams kept asking where Robin was and that "he was just kind of in a rage." Mr. Stewart heard the screen door slam and Ms. McGee walking back down the hall, at which point he heard gunshots. Williams then ran back down the hallway to the bedroom, again asking "Where's she at?" Mr. Stewart stated that "at this time I realized that he either shot at her or shot her." Williams then fled, and Mr. Stewart found Ms. McGee in the front bedroom, huddled beside a dresser. Mr. Stewart attempted to telephone for help but was unable to get a dial tone, whereupon he went to a pay phone and called the police and ambulance.
At trial, Williams' counsel made timely motions for a directed verdict on the basis that the state had failed to meet "its burden of showing there was any purposeful action or conscious object on Mr. Williams' part to kill Ms. McGee."
A motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. On appeal, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee and affirm if there is any substantial evidence to support the verdict. Dunlap v. State, 303 Ark. 222, 795 S.W.2d 920 (1990). Evidence is substantial to support a conviction if it is of sufficient force and character to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion and pass beyond suspicion and conjecture. Salley v. State, 303 Ark. 278, 796 S.W.2d 335 (1990).
The jury was properly instructed in accordance with Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-102((a)(2) (Supp.1989), that to sustain the charge of murder in the first degree, the state must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that "with the purpose of causing the death of Virginia McGee, Michael Williams caused the death of Virginia McGee." A person acts purposely with regard to his conduct or a result thereof when it is his "conscious object to engage in conduct of that nature or to cause such a result." Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-202(1) (1987).
We hold that there was substantial evidence from...
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