Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 25 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. D-2006-338.,D-2006-338.
• Citation: 188 P.3d 208,2008 OK CR 19
• Parties: Jeremy Alan WILLIAMS, Appellant v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

188 P.3d 208

2008 OK CR 19

Jeremy Alan WILLIAMS, Appellant v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. D-2006-338.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

June 25, 2008.

An Appeal from the District Court of Tulsa County; The Honorable Tom C. Gillert, District Judge.

¶ 143 JEREMY ALAN WILLIAMS, Appellant, was tried by jury for the crimes of Murder in the First Degree, Robbery with Firearms, and two counts of Shooting with Intent to Kill n Case No. CF-2004-2805 in the District Court of Tulsa County before the Tom C. Gillert, District Judge. Williams was sentenced to death for the murder count, fifteen (15) years for robbery and life for the two shooting with intent to kill counts. He perfected an appeal to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Judgment and Sentence for all counts is AFFIRMED. Pursuant to Rule 3.15, Rules of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Title 22, Ch.18, App. (2008), the MANDATE is ORDERED issued upon the delivery and filing of this decision.

Creekmore Wallace, Carla Root, Sapulpa, OK, attorneys for defendant at trial.

Tim Harris, District Attorney, Doug Drummond, William Musseman, Assistant District Attorneys, Tulsa County, Tulsa, OK, attorneys for the State at trial.

William H. Luker, Traci J. Quick, Capital Direct Appeals Division, Indigent Defense System, Norman, OK, attorneys for appellant on appeal.

W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General of Oklahoma, Jennifer J. Dickson, Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma City, OK, attorneys for appellee on appeal.

OPINION

LEWIS, Judge.

¶ 1 Appellant, Jeremy Alan Williams, was charged on June 25, 2004, in Tulsa County District Court Case number CF-2004-2805, with, count one, First Degree Murder, with alternative theories of malice murder or felony murder, in violation of 21 O.S.2001, § 701.7(A) and (B), count two, Robbery with Firearms, in violation of 21 O.S.2001, § 801, and counts three and four, Shooting with Intent to Kill, in violation of 21 O.S.2001, § 652(A).¹ On October 29, 2004, the State filed a Bill of Particulars alleging three aggravating circumstances: (1) the defendant created a great risk of death to more than one person; (2) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution; and (3) the existence of a probability that the defendant will commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. 21 O.S.2001, § 701.12(2), (5), and (7).

¶ 2 Williams' case was severed from his codefendants for jury trial which commenced on February 21, 2006, and concluded on March 6, 2006, before the Honorable Tom C. Gillert, District Judge. The jury found Williams guilty of all four counts and assessed punishment at fifteen (15) years on count two and life imprisonment on counts three and four. At the conclusion of the second stage of trial, the jury found the existence of two aggravating circumstances, continuing threat and great risk of death to more than one person, and set punishment at death. Judge Gillert formally sentenced Williams in accordance with the jury verdict on March 20, 2006, ordering that the terms be served consecutively. Thereafter, Williams perfected his appeal to this Court.²

I. FACTS

¶ 3 On June 22, 2004, the First Fidelity Bank in Tulsa, Oklahoma was robbed by armed gunmen wearing hooded sweatshirts and stocking caps with crudely cut eyeholes. During the robbery a customer and two employees were shot. One of the employees died as a result of her gunshot wound.

¶ 4 At about 9:15 a.m. the two gunmen entered the bank. The first was a black person who was wearing a black-hooded sweat shirt, a ski mask, gloves, and black shoes. He was also carrying a silver revolver. The other gunman was wearing a white-hooded sweatshirt and a ski mask. He was carrying a black semi-automatic pistol. The white-hooded gunman went to the teller area where he told the teller to empty the cash drawers. He also told bank manager Mark Poole to open the safe, but Poole explained that they were on a time delayed system and would not open for fifteen minutes after the combination was entered.

¶ 5 The black-hooded gunman went to a back office and forced Josh Robey and Shelley Hopper down the hall to the teller area. In the mean time, a customer, Howard Smith, had entered the bank. He saw the gunman wearing the light-colored sweatshirt standing behind the counter. He was oblivious to black-hooded gunman standing behind him. As he was raising his arms, the black-hooded gunman shot him.

¶ 6 The black-hooded gunman then went behind the teller area and, as the white-hooded gunman was arguing with Poole, the black-hooded man shot Poole. Then the white-hooded man shot Poole a second time. Both Smith and Poole survived and testified at trial.

¶ 7 As the two men left the bank, they both turned around. The white-hooded man fired a shot which struck teller Amber Rogers, resulting in her death. Another bank employee, Donnie Cox, heard the commotion and saw what was going on. He was able to get to the stairway, go downstairs, and call 9-1-1.

¶ 8 At around 9:15 a.m. Sandra Simmons, who was outside in the parking lot, saw a white sports car that reminded her of a Camaro or Firebird leaving the parking lot. This car had damage to the right front fender. She could not see inside the car because it had dark tinted windows.³ This car, as well as several other pieces of evidence presented by the State, proved that Williams was involved in the robbery, and that he was possibly the gunman wearing the black-hooded sweatshirt. This evidence included (1) Williams' confession to witness Beverly Jordan that he shot some people and that they divided the money; (2) Williams' possession of a large sum of cash after the bank robbery; (3) Williams' admitted ownership of the firearms used in the robbery: (4) Williams' statement to Dyra Malone that he "jacked" a white man; (5) Williams' DNA found on a dark blue stocking cap used in the robbery; (6) a shoe print left at the scene that matched the black shoes Williams was wearing when arrested; and (6) Williams' admission that he robbed the same bank a few weeks earlier and had transacted business at the bank before that.

¶ 9 Williams and the co-defendants had discussions about this prior robbery and discussions about a future robbery. The details of the prior robbery were that on May 11, 2004, this same bank was robbed by a black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt, baseball cap, sunglasses, and a dark T-shirt pulled over his mouth. This robber carried a dark colored semi-automatic pistol. Williams was linked to this robbery because he left fingerprints on an envelope at the bank. The fingerprints were not matched until Williams was arrested for this second robbery and murder. Williams admitted he committed the first robbery, but not the robbery, shootings, and murder that serves as the basis for the case at bar. He testified that, during the first robbery, he jumped from the second floor onto the first floor so that he would not have to wait for the elevator. After this robbery, Williams told his friends that he successfully robbed the bank.

¶ 10 Phala Owens, codefendant Alvin (Tony) Jordan's girlfriend, testified that, sometime before June 14^th, Williams told Alvin Jordan and Chris Jordan about committing this earlier robbery in May while they were all at her apartment at Crystal Bay.⁴ The three gentlemen were sitting on the balcony and Owens was inside when she overheard them planning to rob a bank which was on the second floor of a building.

¶ 11 At a later date, but before June 14, Owens was with the group at a condominium Williams shared with his girlfriend, Dyra Malone. She accompanied Alvin Jordan to the condo. Alvin told her that Williams had some new pistols that he wanted to see. During a conversation between Alvin Jordan and Williams, Williams said he would kill if he had to. Owens saw two pistols, one of them was the silver revolver labeled as State's exhibit 85. She could not describe the other pistol.

¶ 12 The night before the murder, Williams, Alvin Jordan and Christopher Jordan were together at Tarina Clark's apartment.⁵ Sometime after 4:00 a.m. the three left the apartment. Williams testified that he was extremely drunk and high. After the robbery occurred, Williams was seen dropping off Alvin and Chris Jordan at Beverly Jordan's house.⁶

¶ 13 When he dropped them off, Beverly Jordan needed money for gas, so Alvin Jordan pulled out a wad of cash and gave her some money. Williams drove Beverly Jordan to the convenience store, so she could put gas in a container. On the way to the store, Williams skidded through a stop sign and hit a passing car. The passing car did not stop, but Tulsa police officer Mark Kennedy, who was driving an unmarked car, saw the accident and stopped Williams. Williams received three tickets and the officer told Beverly Jordan that she had to drive, because Williams had no valid license.

¶ 14 After they went to the convenience store, Williams told Beverly Jordan that he shot some people and that they divided the money. He got $1100, Alvin Jordan got $1100 and Chris Jordan got $700. He then took Beverly Jordan home. Williams denied making this statement to Jordan.

¶ 15 Officer Mark Kennedy, who stopped Williams that morning, testified that the stop occurred at 10:30 a.m. He conducted a pat down of Williams and felt a large bulge in his pocket. He reached inside the pocket and pulled out a wad of money. Williams explained to Mark Kennedy that he had just sold a car.

¶ 16 That afternoon, Beverly Jordan took Alvin Jordan to the store where he bought an Xbox video console with a wad of cash. Later she took him to a motel. On cross-examination she testified that the day before the robbery, Alvin Jordan told her that he planned to rob a bank. She knew that he had shot two people at Ryan's convenience store a few days earlier, and she tried to talk him out of robbing the bank.

¶ 17 Phala Owens heard a news...