Opinion ID: 2378023
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: First-degree Murder Conviction

Text: Murder in the first degree is defined as the killing of a human being committed intentionally and with premeditation. K.S.A. 21-3401(a). The trial court instructed the jury that premeditation is to have thought the matter over beforehand, in other words, to have formed the design or intent to kill before the act. This instruction is consistent with our jurisprudence. See State v. Jones, 279 Kan. 395, 402, 109 P.3d 1158 (2005) (citing State v. Scott, 271 Kan. 103, 108, 21 P.3d 516 [2001]) (defining premeditation as the process of thinking about a proposed killing before engaging in the homicidal conduct); PIK Crim.3d 56.04(b). McCaslin does not advance any substantive arguments specific to the murder conviction; rather, he reasserts the house of cards analogy. He contends that because the murder was allegedly committed to cover up the rape and since insufficient evidence supports the rape conviction, this court must reverse the murder conviction. The State responds that McCaslin's brief does not directly challenge the murder conviction and, thus, McCaslin abandoned this challenge. In support, the State cites State v. Gardner, 10 Kan.App.2d 408, 701 P.2d 703, rev. denied 237 Kan. 888 (1985), and Brubaker v. Branine, 237 Kan. 488, 701 P.2d 929 (1985). In Gardner, the defendant questioned the validity of a jail cell search but did not discuss the issue in his brief. The court noted that [a]n issue which is not briefed is deemed abandoned. 10 Kan.App.2d at 413, 701 P.2d 703. In Brubaker, we refused to review a trial court's action regarding contractual obligations because the challenging party did not raise the action as an issue on appeal. We noted that incidentally mentioning an issue in the brief was insufficient to preserve it for appeal. McCaslin's brief accomplishes more than those in Gardner and Brubaker. An entire section is devoted to discussing the evidence produced at trial and the State's theory on the interconnectivity between these crimes. Moreover, McCaslin specifically refers to each of the three convictions within this section. While the analysis is not in depth, it is sufficient to preserve the issue for our review. We conclude that sufficient evidence existed for a rational jury to find McCaslin guilty of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. When viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a jury could reasonably infer that McCaslin had killed A.D. intentionally and with premeditation. Among other things, phone records and Aguilar's testimony place McCaslin at or near A.D.'s house when she was killed. McCaslin admitted finding A.D.'s body in the bathroom and placing his arm on her to check for signs of life. He testified that he either slipped or fell in the pool of her blood upon entering the bathroom. Nevertheless, the jury could reasonably infer that the presence of A.D.'s blood on the inside rear waistband of his jeans most likely would not have resulted from either of those innocent actions. Moreover, his testimony that he found her fully clothed on the floor of the bathroom could be characterized by a rational jury as irreconcilable with the firefighters' testimony that she had been found, essentially nude, on her bed. Similarly, his testimony that A.D. was dead when he found her in the bathroom before the fire could be characterized by a rational jury as irreconcilable with the coroner's testimony that A.D. was alive, but wounded, when the fire was set because soot was in her lungs and stomach, indicating inhalation during the fire. Additionally, after discovering A.D.'s body, McCaslin did not call 911. He instead took numerous steps to conceal his presence at the scene. He removed his bloody clothes, cleaned her blood from his body, changed into other clothes, and hid his bloody ones, plus his lighter, in a pillow sham, which he then hid in a nearby dumpster. When he got to his mother's house he removed the second set of clothes, showered, changed into clean ones, and then hid the others in a bag. He then retrieved his original bloody clothes and lighter he had hidden in the dumpster near A.D.'s house and, together with the second set of clothes hidden in the bag, hid all in a different dumpster in a different town. That same day he also got rid of his pistol, ammunition, and drugs. See State v. Sanchez-Cazares, 276 Kan. 451, 459, 78 P.3d 55 (2003) (premeditation may be inferred by a defendant's behavior before and after the killing).