Opinion ID: 1722174
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: During the week prior to October 14, 1995, the interest of the Rector Police Department in the welfare of the Flick family was aroused by telephone calls, received initially from persons in Florida who were expecting some or all of the family to arrive for a visit, and later from local persons who had been alerted by the friends in Florida. A friend of Barbara Flick first alerted the police to the fact that the Flicks had not arrived in Florida and that she was concerned for their well being. Officer Audrey Emberton testified that the police were aware that Mr. Hodge was driving Mr. Flick's pickup truck and was in Paragould. He was in Paragould attending Friday-night homecoming festivities on the evening of October 13. The Paragould Police were notified, and they located Mr. Hodge. Officer Emberton went to Paragould to interview him. When the officer arrived after 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 14, Mr. Hodge was at the Paragould police station. When asked about his family, he reported that he had heard from them, although not that day, and that they were to return later that day. The officer thanked him for the information and left. Officers Pruett and Emberton knew that Mr. Hodge had returned to the home and was up at around 3:00 a.m. They knocked on the door to a garage room or apartment at the Flick home, and Mr. Hodge invited them in. He told them that he had not heard anything further from the Flicks. When asked if he lived in the main part of the house, he replied that it was locked and that he could not get in. Officer Pruett apparently had looked in a window of the main dwelling, and he mentioned that there seemed to be some sheets on the floor. To that, Mr. Hodge responded that there was some remodeling in progress. Officers went to Mr. Flick's transmission shop to see if they could find any information that might lead to the family's whereabouts. They were accompanied by one of Mr. Flick's employees who had told them he could let them into the building for that purpose. The employee was able to enter the building by moving a metal panel at the rear. Once inside, he noticed that a tool box appeared to have been forced open and that money and the pistol that had been there were missing. Later that morning, around 10:00 a.m., Officer Glenn Leach drove past the Flick home and saw Mr. Hodge and Mr. Hodge's friend, David Gunn, standing by the front door. He pulled in the driveway and told the young men that the police needed to know something about the family, as they continued to receive calls expressing concern. Mr. Hodge replied that he would tell [him] about it at City Hall. Mr. Hodge got in the police vehicle. Officer Leach asked if he could go in the main portion of the house to check on the family, and Mr. Hodge said no. When Officer Leach and Mr. Hodge arrived at City Hall, Mr. Hodge asked to be taken to a room where they could speak privately. Officer Leach complied and reiterated that the calls were still coming in and that he had to know something about the family. Mr. Hodge replied that they were in the house. When asked if they were alright, Mr. Hodge replied, They're dead. He said he had found them in that condition earlier in the week. When asked why he had not told anyone, Mr. Hodge replied, I was waiting to hear. The officer informed Mr. Hodge that he had to go and check the house, and Mr. Hodge told him that the outer door was unlocked but that the inner door to the main house was locked. Officer Leach left Mr. Hodge with the police dispatcher and went immediately to the Flick home where he forced open the inner door, after entering through the garage-apartment area, and found the bodies in advanced stages of decomposition. There were sheets, blankets, and pillows arrayed about the floor and the couch area in the living room. He pulled back a cover on the couch and found blood. Moving through a hallway back to the bedroom area, he saw more stains that appeared to be blood. It appeared to him that a body had been dragged from the couch area back into the bedroom area. He also found one spent .38-caliber cartridge on the floor near a waste basket and four additional cartridges in an open desk drawer in a bedroom obviously occupied by Mr. Hodge. David Gunn testified that Mr. Hodge came to him and asked him to drive Mr. Hodge to Mr. Flick's transmission shop at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 1995. Keys in Mr. Hodge's possession did not unlock the door, so he broke in and broke open a tool box, finding $30, which he took. He had expected to find more money. He also took a pistol, holster, and shells from the tool box. He loaded five of the shells in the pistol. Mr. Hodge and Mr. Gunn then drove to a cemetery, and Mr. Hodge got out of the vehicle there and said he needed to think. Shortly thereafter, he returned to the car, and they returned to Mr. Gunn's home. Mr. Hodge walked to his home, carrying the pistol. The next time Mr. Gunn saw Mr. Hodge was when the latter showed up at school on the following Monday, driving Mr. Flick's truck. More than one witness testified that it was understood that Mr. Hodge did not have permission to drive the truck and that it was unusual for him to be driving it. Mr. Hodge drove the truck during the ensuing week and took his friends to the movies and rode around Rector, Paragould, and Jonesboro in the truck. The succeeding week saw a good deal of partying in the garage apartment at the Flick home with Mr. Hodge. There was testimony about smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol by a number of young people in the apartment. One young woman testified to sleeping with and having sexual relations with Mr. Hodge during that time. Testimony showed that Mr. Hodge used Mr. Flick's credit card and business checks to obtain cash and make purchases during the week. There was testimony that Mr. Hodge appeared calm and normal during that time and that he remarked it was the best week of [his] life because he had plenty of money to spend and a nice vehicle to drive about. He made more than one such remark during that week. After the corpses were found, Mr. Flick's truck, which was parked in the driveway of the Flick home, was searched. Bloody clothing was found in the truck along with a pillow that appeared to have a gunshot hole in it. A State Police investigator interviewed Mr. Hodge. He did not admit to having killed his family but equivocated about remembering what had happened and whether he could have done it. In addition to Mr. Hodge's testimony that he hated his stepfather and was out of control, in the sense that he had begun walking away from the domestic situation rather than be a part of the continuous conflict among himself, his mother, and his stepfather, there was testimony that Barbara and David Flick were afraid of Mr. Hodge. Darlene Bowlin, a friend of Barbara Flick who visited in the home, testified that David Flick had expressed to her his fear of Mr. Hodge and what was going to happen and that Barbara Flick had expressed her fear earlier. David Gunn testified that Mr. Hodge had told him some six months earlier of a plan to kill Mr. Flick by striking him on the head with a wrench and burying the body. Mr. Hodge said he would then drive the pickup truck and report later that Mr. Flick was missing. There was testimony that David Flick was right-handed. Lisa Sacevicius of the State Crime Laboratory testified that his left hand tested positive for gunshot residue and that his right hand tested negative but had some residue on it. She also found gunshot powder residue on two pillows submitted for examination. She said Mr. Flick could have fired a weapon or the residue could have been rubbed off on him if his body were dragged away by some person who had it on him. The defense theory of the case was that David Flick killed Barbara and Andria Flick and then himself. It is argued that the testimony by crime laboratory personnel about the gunshot residue found on the hands of Mr. Flick supports the suicide theory because he could have cradled the pistol in his left hand and fired it with his right after using the pillows to muffle the sound when he shot the two females. Our standard of review of an allegation that a directed verdict should have been granted is that we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee and affirm if there is substantial evidence in support of the verdict. Kemp v. State, 324 Ark. 178, 919 S.W.2d 943 (1996); Misskelley v. State, 323 Ark. 449, 915 S.W.2d 702 (1996). Circumstantial evidence may constitute sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction, [b]ut it must give rise to more than suspicion and the fact finder must not be left to speculation and conjecture in arriving at its conclusions on the question. Upton v. State, 257 Ark. 424, 516 S.W.2d 904 [1974]. It is the duty of this court to set aside a judgment based upon evidence that did not meet the required standards and left the fact finder only to speculation and conjecture in choosing between two equally reasonable conclusions, and merely gave rise to a suspicion of guilt. Jones v. State, 246 Ark. 1057, 441 S.W.2d 458 [1969]. Smith v. State, 264 Ark. 874, 880, 575 S.W.2d 677, 681 (1979). Mr. Hodge's argument is that there is no evidence of premeditation on his part and that the evidence does not exclude his hypothesis of Mr. Flick committing suicide after shooting Barbara and Andria Flick. As to Mr. Hodge's hypothesis, we agree with the State's argument that it is preposterous to consider that Mr. Hodge was so distraught over the shooting deaths of his mother and sister, of whom he purported to be very fond, that he shot Mr. Flick twice in the head after perceiving him to be dead and then, after trying to cover up the bodies and the blood, engaged in a week of partying without reporting to the authorities what had happened. We also agree with the proposition that the jury was not required to believe the testimony of Mr. Hodge but was free to find his testimony incredible. Allen v. State, 327 Ark. 350, 939 S.W.2d 270 (1997); Jones v. State, 326 Ark. 61, 931 S.W.2d 83 (1996). The definition of capital murder, as charged in this case, is found in Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(4) (Repl.1997). It provides that one is guilty of capital murder if, [w]ith the premeditated and deliberate purpose of causing the death of another person, he causes the death of any person. With respect to the evidence of premeditation and deliberation, we have held that the nature of the weapon used, and the nature, extent, and location of the wounds inflicted, may supply the required evidence. Kemp v. State, supra . Given the jury's apparent conclusion that Mr. Hodge shot the victims in their heads with a firearm, causing their deaths, the evidence of premeditation and deliberation was sufficient.