Williams v. State, 28394
| Decision Date | 28 August 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 28394,28394 |
| Citation | 945 P.2d 438,113 Nev. 1008 |
| Parties | Antoine Liddell WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
On December 1, 1994, Antoine Liddell Williams was charged with the commission of seven felonies, including: first-degree murder, victim sixty-five years of age or older; first-degree murder with use of deadly weapon, victim sixty-five years of age or older; burglary, robbery, victim sixty-five years of age or older; robbery with use of deadly weapon, victim sixty-five years of age or older; possession of stolen vehicle; and possession of controlled substance.
On December 5, 1994, the State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, alleging the following aggravating circumstances: Williams committed the murders during a burglary, during a robbery, to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest, and to receive money or any other thing of monetary value and he has been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first degree.
In October 1995, a jury found Williams guilty on all seven counts. The penalty hearing began on October 23, 1995, but the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Over Williams' objection, a three-judge panel was convened, and a second penalty hearing was conducted. The three-judge panel, concluding that the aggravating factors outweighed any mitigating factors, sentenced Williams to death on both first-degree murder counts. On March 29, 1996, the court entered the judgment of conviction and warrant of execution.
Williams appeals, challenging both his convictions and sentences of death, alleging that the district court erroneously admitted his confession, admitted unduly prejudicial photographs, failed to give adequate jury instructions, denied his motion to empanel a new jury for sentencing, denied him a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct, and denied his motion to argue last at the penalty hearing.
We conclude that Williams' arguments are without merit and affirm both his convictions and sentences.
Antoine Liddell Williams, a resident of Illinois, had been staying at his girlfriend's apartment a few doors away from the residence of William and Alice Nail in Las Vegas. On August 17, 1994, Kathleen Dupree reported a maroon Datsun 280-Z stolen from in front of her home in Las Vegas. On August 26, 1994, Williams drove William Nail to the Las Vegas airport in Dupree's stolen car. Because his own car would not start due to a problem with the battery, Mr. Nail had requested the ride to the airport to pick up his son, James Nail. At the airport, Mr. Nail and his son rented a car to return to the Nails' residence. Mr. Nail thereafter told his son that he had given Williams $20.00 for the ride to cover the cost of gasoline.
Three days later, Williams knocked at the Nails' front door. Williams asked about the condition of Mr. Nail's car and asked to see the new battery. Mr. Nail invited Williams in and escorted him through the house into the garage. While alone in the garage with Mr. Nail, Williams asked for and received a $40.00 loan.
On Friday, September 2, 1994, Williams decided that he needed money to purchase drugs, but that he was not willing to rob a store. He thought he could get the cash from the Nails. Williams took a lamp cord from the apartment where he was staying, and went to the Nails' apartment. Williams knocked on the front door and was invited in by Mr. Nail. The two men went into the garage, where Williams asked Mr. Nail for another loan. After Mr. Nail refused the loan, Williams removed the lamp cord from his pocket and strangled Mr. Nail. Mr. Nail fell to the floor, and Williams kicked him in the head to ensure that he would not recover.
Williams then entered the kitchen where Mrs. Nail was preparing a meal. When she turned her back, Williams used the same lamp cord to strangle Mrs. Nail. As she struggled, Williams took a knife from the kitchen counter and stabbed Mrs. Nail in the throat. When she fell to the floor, Williams kicked her in the head.
Williams took Mr. Nail's wallet, Mrs. Nail's purse and a radio, and placed them in a container. He left the Nails' home with a VCR, and closed the door behind him. When he realized he had forgotten the container with the other items, Williams kicked in the Nails' front door to regain entry. He also took some jewelry boxes.
Upon leaving the Nails' home, Williams pawned the VCR, using his own name, and received $35.00. He then purchased cocaine. At some later time, he found an ATM card and personal identification codes in Mr. Nail's wallet, and withdrew as much money as the bank allowed from Mr. Nail's account.
On September 4, 1994, Williams rented a room at a Las Vegas motel, using his own name. That evening, a police officer watched Williams and two women walk out of the motel and around the corner. The officer then saw the same three people leave the parking lot in a maroon Datsun 280-Z. The officer checked the license number and was advised that the car had been reported stolen. He called for back-up and then pulled over the car. After the stop, Williams exited the car and was handcuffed. A back-up officer read Williams his Miranda rights. The arresting officer heard Williams acknowledge that he understood his rights. A cursory search of the vehicle resulted in the officers' finding numerous ATM receipts, an ATM card and other identification bearing Mr. Nail's name, and a "free-base kit" used for smoking crack cocaine.
An officer transported Williams to the Clark County Detention Center, and, en route, Williams initiated a conversation regarding the possible charges against him. 1 The officer responded by listing several possible charges, among them possession of a controlled substance.
A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed an Excedrin bottle containing a substance later identified as cocaine, two jewelry boxes, keys, an electrical cord, two rolls of tape and a pair of Fila tennis shoes. Credit cards, telephone cards, ATM cards and an automobile registration in the name of James Nail and William Nail were also found.
Two officers attempted to reach the owner of the ATM card, Mr. Nail. The officers went to the Nail residence and observed that the door had been kicked in. They entered the apartment and found Mrs. Nail's body in the kitchen and Mr. Nail's body in the garage.
A forensic pathologist determined that Mr. Nail died as a result of asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation and a fractured skull due to blunt trauma to the head. The pathologist reported that Mrs. Nail died as a result of asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, a stab wound to the neck and blunt trauma to the head.
At the Clark County Detention Center, Williams again was advised of his Miranda rights, and he voluntarily signed a waiver form. He then spoke freely with the detectives without expressing a desire to have an attorney present, and subsequently confessed to entering the Nails' residence, taking property from them, and killing them.
Suppressing the confession
Williams contends that he invoked his right to counsel at the time of his arrest, when he was first advised of his Miranda rights. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 475, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1628, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Williams argues that after being arrested and transported to the detention center, detectives unlawfully approached him and undertook a custodial interrogation despite his former request for counsel. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1884-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981) () In the course of the custodial interrogation, Williams voluntarily confessed to entering the Nails' residence, taking property, and killing them.
Both arresting officers testified that Williams was informed of his rights and that at no time did Williams indicate he wanted an attorney present. The State produced a waiver of rights form, signed by Williams prior to his confession.
Determining issues of credibility is within the province of the trier of fact. Howard v. State, 106 Nev. 713, 722, 800 P.2d 175, 180 (1990). On matters of credibility, this court will not reverse a trial court's finding absent clear error. Id. Ruling on Williams' motion to suppress, the district court stated that there were:
some inconsistencies that Mr. Williams has with the witnesses, but all things being equal the Court is going to deny the motion to suppress the confession because I feel that it was freely and voluntarily given and given properly.
The ruling implies that the court found the two officers' testimony that Williams did not request counsel more credible than Williams' testimony that he did request the presence of an attorney. Had the district court found otherwise, it could not have properly denied the motion. See Edwards, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378. We conclude that the district court acted within its discretion by finding the officers' testimony more credible than Williams', and that the court's implied finding that Williams had not invoked his right to counsel does not constitute error.
Williams argues that, even if he did not ask for an attorney, he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his rights. In Anderson v. State, 109 Nev. 1129, 1133, 865 P.2d 318, 320 (1993), this court held that the validity of a waiver must be decided on a case-by-case basis, considering...
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