Wilson v. State
| Decision Date | 22 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | CR-21-598 |
| Citation | 2022 Ark. 158,651 S.W.3d 717 |
| Parties | Justin WILSON, Appellant v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
2022 Ark. 158
651 S.W.3d 717
Justin WILSON, Appellant
v.
STATE of Arkansas, Appellee
No. CR-21-598
Supreme Court of Arkansas.
Opinion Delivered: September 22, 2022
James Law Firm, by: J. Daniel Hall and William O. "Bill" James, Jr., for appellant.
Leslie Rutledge, Att'y Gen., by: Michael Zangari, Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellee.
COURTNEY RAE HUDSON, Associate Justice
Appellant, Justin Wilson, appeals his convictions in the Miller County Circuit Court for two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated robbery, committing the attempted murder in the presence of a child and using a firearm in the commission of the other crimes. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison for each murder.1 For reversal, Wilson argues that (1) surviving victim Lajhonta Collier's testimony identifying him as the perpetrator should have been suppressed,
and (2) in the absence of Collier's testimony, the State presented insufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusion that he was the person who committed the crimes. We affirm.
On August 19, 2021, Wilson was charged by amended criminal information with two counts of murder in the first degree, one count of attempted murder in the first degree, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of aggravated robbery. Because a firearm was used, the State sought a sentencing enhancement on both murder counts, the aggravated assault count, and the aggravated-robbery count. The State also sought a sentencing enhancement on the attempted-murder count because the crime was committed in the presence of a child.
The trial was held August 23–24, 2021. According to evidence presented at trial, Cleveland Watson III, a Domino's Pizza employee, called 911 on August 28, 2019, to report three shooting victims in apartment 52 at the Shangri-La apartment complex in Texarkana. That was Lajhonta Collier's apartment. Two of the victims, Scott Weigmann and Reginald Davis, were deceased when officers arrived. Collier had been shot in the neck and was initially feared to be dead. However, when responding officers determined that Collier was alive, he was transported to a hospital. Officers at the scene found a gun, marijuana, and scattered money inside the apartment. They also located a bullet underneath Weigmann's body and another stuck in a nearby wall. Collier's eight-year-old son was found unharmed in a bedroom where he had been watching The Lion King. Outside, police found money leading from the apartment and into the courtyard. Investigators eventually recovered $2,493 from the scene.
Detective Shane Kirkland of the Texarkana Police Department investigated the crimes. The night of the shootings, Kirkland interviewed Watson and Larozi Davis III, who was another witness at the apartment complex. Davis resided in an apartment near Collier's and heard gunshots. Like Watson, he also called 911. Both Watson and Davis reported seeing a light-skinned black man with curly hair on the top of his head running from the scene. They each said that the man was wearing a white shirt with dark pants. Davis remembered hearing someone say "Justin" as the man was running. Davis later went to the police station for an interview. He used his own phone to access Collier's Facebook account and located a photograph of Wilson, Collier, and Ethan Johnson.2 From that photograph, Davis identified Wilson as resembling the man he had seen running. After Kirkland received the statements from Watson and Davis, he made a copy of the photograph that Davis had located and went to the hospital to interview Collier. Kirkland was concerned that Collier would not survive his injury. At the hospital, Collier told Kirkland that Wilson had been the shooter. After Collier's statement, Kirkland showed Collier the photograph that Davis had selected. Collier identified Wilson in the photograph and said that he was the shooter.
Collier survived the shooting and was the State's key witness. He testified that he lived in Shangri-La, apartment 52, on August 28, 2019, that Wilson had been over to his apartment multiple times prior to the night of the shootings, and that he and Wilson had grown up together. He recalled that the day before the shootings,
he took the photograph of him, Johnson, and Wilson. Collier said that he posted that photograph on Facebook, and he identified Wilson in the photograph. Collier then recounted the events leading to the shootings. According to Collier, Wilson had arranged to come by the...
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