Title: Hogue v. State

State: arkansas

Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court

Document:

Greg HOGUE v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 95-985                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered February 19, 1996


1.   Criminal law -- accomplice testimony -- independent,
     corroborative evidence required. -- Where accomplice testimony
     is involved, Arkansas law requires that there be independent,
     corroborative evidence which tends to connect the defendant
     with the commission of the offense.   

2.   Criminal law -- defendant must either have the trial court
     declare a person an accomplice as a matter of law or submit
     the issue to the jury -- defendant need not do both to
     preserve the issue of an erroneous denial of a directed
     verdict motion. -- A defendant must either have the trial
     court declare a person an accomplice as a matter of law or
     submit the issue to the jury for determination, but the
     defendant need not do both in order to preserve the issue of
     an erroneous denial of a directed verdict motion.

3.   Criminal law -- trial court made a finding that person was an
     accomplice -- appellant preserved the issue of whether the
     trial court erred in declining to direct a verdict on
     insufficient corroborative evidence. -- Where there were 
     findings by the trial court that the witness was an accomplice
     and that there was sufficient corroborative evidence, and the
     trial court denied the motion for directed verdict, the issue
     of whether the trial court properly denied the motion did not
     depend on whether a subsequent instruction was requested
     involving the same legal point; appellant preserved the issue
     of whether the trial court erred in declining to direct a
     verdict on insufficient corroborative evidence.

4.   Evidence -- corroborative evidence must be sufficient standing
     alone to establish the commission of the offense and to
     connect the defendant with it -- circumstantial evidence
     qualifies as corroborating evidence. -- The corroboration must
     be sufficient standing alone to establish the commission of
     the offense and to connect the defendant with it; the
     corroborative evidence must be substantial evidence which is
     stronger evidence than that which merely raises a suspicion of
     guilt; circumstantial evidence qualifies as corroborating
     evidence but it, too, must be substantial, but corroboration
     need not be so substantial in and of itself to sustain a
     conviction.  

5.   Evidence -- sufficient evidence to connect appellant to the
     crime -- evidence connecting appellant to the crime was
     substantial. -- Where there was evidence which placed
     appellant in a white Oldsmobile with a red ski mask on Asher
     Avenue about the time the murder occurred, evidence that the
     occupants of the car were armed, evidence that the plan was to
     commit a robbery and that appellant participated in
     formulating that plan, a man was seen at the crime scene
     wearing a red ski mask and returning to a white car that
     looked like an Oldsmobile after a gunshot was heard, a red ski
     mask was recovered by police officers at a home where
     appellant had been, and appellant tried to escape when police
     officers announced their presence at his door, the evidence
     connecting appellant to the murder was substantial.


     Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court; Chris Piazza, Judge;
affirmed.
     William R. Simpson, Jr., Public Defender, by:  Latrece Gray,
Deputy Public Defender, for appellant.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  Clint Miller, Deputy Att'y
Gen., Sr. Appellate Advocate for appellee.

     Robert L. Brown, Justice.Associate Justice Robert L. Brown
February 19, 1996  *ADVREP9*






GREG HOGUE,
                    APPELLANT,

V.

STATE OF ARKANSAS,
                     APPELLEE,

CR 95-985




APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI COUNTY
CIRCUIT COURT,
NO. CR 94-904 C,
HON. CHRIS PIAZZA, JUDGE,




AFFIRMED.





     Appellant Greg Hogue appeals his capital murder conviction on
grounds that the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment. 
We disagree and affirm the judgment.
     On February 22, 1994, Jess Brown was working at Rocky's One
Stop, a convenience store located at the corner of John Barrow Road
and Asher Avenue in Little Rock, which he owned.  Sometime after
10:00 p.m., another employee, Marcus Hall, returned to the
convenience store to buy batteries for a remote control device.  He
warned Jess Brown that he had seen two men standing by the
laundromat near the store and that one of them was wearing a white
scarf over his face.  He said they ran off after seeing him.
     Shortly after that, two men entered the store.  One of them
fired a shot which hit Jess Brown in the mid-chest region.  The men
fled the store after the shot was fired and were seen leaving the
area in a white car with a dark roof.  Jess Brown lived long enough
to call 911 but later died from the gunshot wound.
     Greg Hogue was ultimately charged with capital felony murder
in the shooting death of Jess Brown with aggravated robbery as the
underlying felony.  A jury trial was held at which Mark Poindexter
was the principal State witness.  He testified that he hosted a
party on February 22, 1994, and that Greg Hogue, Damion Brown,
Harold Olive, and Anthony White were there, among others.  He
testified that Anthony White suggested they commit a robbery. 
Shortly after that, Poindexter left with Hogue, Damion Brown,
White, and Olive to commit the robbery.  They used his car -- a
white Delta 88 Oldsmobile -- for transportation.  Before they
reached the site for the robbery, White "chickened out," according
to Poindexter, and jumped out of the car.  When they reached their
destination, they got out of the car and took the guns, a .38
revolver and a .380 semiautomatic pistol, out of the trunk. 
Poindexter testified that Hogue put on a red ski mask, and Damion
Brown put a white rag over his face.  Hogue and Damion Brown left
and walked to the store.  Approximately five to ten minutes later,
Poindexter heard a gunshot.  Hogue and Damion Brown returned to the
car, and the group left.  Damion Brown told Poindexter that he had
dropped the gun.  Poindexter testified that Hogue got out of the
car somewhere on Barrow Road and that he, along with Damion Brown
and Olive, returned to the party.
     At the close of the State's case-in-chief, Hogue's counsel
moved for a directed verdict specifically on grounds that the only
connection between Hogue and the events of February 22, 1994, was
through the testimony of accomplices and that there was not
sufficient independent evidence to connect him to the crime.  The
trial court stated that Mark Poindexter was obviously an accomplice
but found that other evidence presented tended to connect Hogue to
the murder.  Hogue's counsel then argued that it was Hogue's
position that two corroborating witnesses were also accomplices
and, thus, their testimony could not connect Hogue to the crime. 
The court ruled otherwise and denied Hogue's motion for a directed
verdict.  The defense rested without calling any witnesses.  The
jury returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of capital felony
murder.  Following the penalty phase of the trial, Hogue was
sentenced to life in prison without parole.
     Hogue raises only one issue on appeal.  He claims that there
was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for capital
felony murder and further maintains that adequate evidence
corroborating the testimony of Mark Poindexter, the accomplice, was
lacking.  Because the sole ground given for his directed verdict
motion was the absence of sufficient corroborative proof, that is
the only ground preserved for our review.  Walker v. State, 318
Ark. 107,