Court Opinion

ID: 9672117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:49:16.677252+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:14.376244
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. In reversing this case the first time (see Ward v. State, 293 Ark. 88, 733 S.W.2d 728 (1987)), this court noted the failure of the trial court to allow the testimony of witnesses Golden and Langford that Harry Smith made statements against his interest. The opinion stated that the testimony of witnesses Golden and Langford would not be admissible “unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.” The opinion further stated that on retrial the judge should make the determination of trustworthiness before deciding if the proffered testimony would be admitted. Upon retrial, when the testimony of Golden was offered, the judge stated: “I am absolutely 100% convinced that my initial ruling three years ago when this case was tried first — that it was inadmissible hearsay — was correct.” Such a ruling hardly complies with the mandate in this case. At the first trial the judge, apparently relying on Arkansas Rules of Evidence Rule 804(b)(5), which applies in the case of unavailable witnesses, ruled that Golden’s testimony was inadmissible. Smith, so they said, was unavailable. In fact, the general tone of the state’s testimony and presentation was that no such person existed. The court and local authorities evidently considered Smith to be a figment of Golden’s imagination. However, at the second trial, after the appellant’s attorneys brought up information concerning the missing witness, the court remarked that the local police had located Smith within fifteen minutes after starting to search for him. Thus, a man who was only a figment of the imagination of a witness at the first trial appeared at the instance of the state within fifteen minutes after information was revealed by the defense attorneys regarding his present location and his previous statements against interest. The question of the testimony concerning statements of Harrison Smith (a/k/a Harry Smith, a/k/a Rick Smith, and a/ k/a James Brown), figured in the first reversal and should require a second reversal. After long and laborious efforts to get the alleged statement of witness Smith introduced into evidence at the appellant’s second trial, the trial court ended the matter by stating: Gentlemen, here’s my ruling, and I don’t want to hear anymore about this. I am absolutely 100% convinced that my initial ruling three years ago when this case was first tried — that it was inadmissible hearsay — was correct. I am even more convinced after hearing and observing the demeanor of the so-called Harrison Smith that my ruling was correct. It’s inadmissible hearsay. ... I am going to — let me tell you a few things that are incredible to me, and I am getting tired of this charade. It’s incredible to me that in fifteen minutes of effort the police produced the witness that you claimed to have been trying to find. . . . My ruling stands. Let’s get on with it. , The discussion at the first trial concerning the attempt to locate Smith and to have him served with a subpoena, culminated with the court’s statement: “Well, it doesn’t prove he existed, it just proves he attempted to serve a summons on somebody given at that address. Whether they existed or not, I don’t know and he doesn’t either.” The court ruled at the first trial that the testimony of Golden and Langford was inadmissible under A.R.E. 804(b)(5), which applies when the declarant is unavailable. It is quite obvious to me that the appellant in the first instance offered the hearsay statement of Harry Smith as a statement against interest pursuant to A.R.E. Rule 804(b)(3). Certainly that is essentially the argument which the appellant presents at both trials. A.R.E. Rule 803(24) and A.R.E. Rule 804(b)(5) are identical and read as follows: Other exceptions. A statement not specifically covered by any of the foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of truth worthiness, if the court determines that (i) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact; (ii) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and (iii) the general purposes of these rulés and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. However, a statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party sufficiently in advance to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, his intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant. The rationale for allowing statements of this kind to be introduced is predicated upon the fact that the declarant has admitted to the commission of an act which would hold him up to public ridicule and contempt or expose him to civil or criminal actions in court. See A.R.E. Rule 804(b)(3). The trustworthiness of the statement of Smith is the matter the trial court should have considered. However, it appears the court decided the trustworthiness of the testimony of Golden and Langford. Without any citation of authority, the majority of this court makes exactly the same mistake. Rule 803(24) allows into evidence “a statement. . .having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness . . .’’as an exception to the hearsay rule. The very words of the rule indicate that the key to the question is governed by the circumstances surrounding the making of the hearsay statement — in this case, the circumstances surrounding Smith’s statements to Golden. The majority opinion, without expressly saying so, suggests that the decision is governed by the circumstances surrounding the mental stability of witness Golden, in effect reducing the question to one of Golden’s credibility. I submit that the truthworthiness of the testimony of Golden and Langford was a matter of credibility to be considered by the jury. In support of the reliability of both the proffered testimony of Golden and Langford and the statements against the interest of Smith, certain facts are not disputed. Golden and Langford stated that Harry Smith paid them twenty dollars on April 11, 1985, to drive him from West Memphis, Arkansas to an apartment and to a mobile home (in which he claimed to reside) just south of Memphis, Tennessee. Golden informed the police about carrying Smith to Mississippi, and told them that Smith claimed to have helped rob some white people of a large amount of money and drugs and that Smith bragged that he was going back that night to finish the job. Smith boasted that they would read about it in the paper. Later, Golden stated that Smith had told him that Smith and some other people were going to rob and murder some white people and lay it off on a boy named Ward. It was disputed whether the name Ronald Ward was mentioned to the police before or after Golden learned that Ward was being investigated. The evidence indicates that Golden went to the police on the 12th of April to try to tell them what Smith had told him. The police were very,busy investigating a triple murder at the time. They were too busy to talk to Golden and told him to come back on Monday, the 15th. Golden asserts that when he went back, he mentioned Ward’s name or, at the very least, that he told the police that Harry Smith had informed him that Smith was involved in a crime which would fit the facts of the present case. Ronald Ward was not picked up until April 16 or 17 and them only for identification and fingerprinting. Golden told the police that Smith had also carried some drugs to Mississippi. The proffer included testimony that Harrison Smith was overheard talking with a white man about plans to kill three white people, rob them of cocaine, and pin the crime on a fifteen-year-old boy named Ward. The testimony of local officials was that Golden was something of a schizophrenic, that he could not be trusted to furnish reliable information, and that he lived in a world of his own. (See the majority opinion for all his blemishes.) However, it should be noted that the police put Golden in the car with them and retraced the steps from West Memphis to Mississippi; Golden took them to the apartment, where the people failed to identify Smith, and then to the mobile home where Smith lived. Smith’s mother was located at that address, and some drugs were found, just as Golden had indicated they might be. It seems to me that, as far as the state was concerned, Golden was reliable when he was furnishing information favorable to the state’s case, but unreliable when he was furnishing information which would be helpful to the defense. Golden furnished additional information which caused the police in Waukegan, Illinois, to arrest and detain Smith. In my opinion, the reliability of the testimony of Langford and Golden was established when the officer located the residence where Smith lived (and where his mother still resided), and further when they found the illegal drugs at that location. After Smith was located by the police and brought in, he testified that some people took him to Mississippi after he had left his job on April 11,1985. He stated that he then left Mississippi and went to Waukegan, Illinois. His mother stated that she carried him to the bus station at 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. on April 12, 1985. The bodies of the three victims were discovered on April 12, but they may have been killed before midnight on April 11. The other point on which I disagree with the majority is its conclusion that the first counsel appointed to represent the appellant was not ineffective. It would serve no purpose to cite cases in this instance because it is purely a fact question. In my opinion, no effective defense attorney should have his first interview with his client in the presence of a police officer who, with the attorney’s knowledge, is recording the statement. This grossly ineffective assistance by itself should have rendered the statement recorded by the policeman inadmissible. Some of the decisions of this court dealing with the test of trustworthiness under Rules 803 and 804 are Hill v. Brown, 283 Ark. 185, 672 S.W.2d 330 (1984); Tillman v. State, 275 Ark. 275, 6 S.W.2d 5 (1982); Doles v. State, 275 Ark. 448, 631 S.W.2d 281 (1982); and David v. State, 269 Ark. 498, 601 S.W.2d 864 (1980). This court noted in Hill that all the common-law exceptions to the hearsay rule are based upon necessity or some compelling reason for attaching more than average credibility to the hearsay. “Consequently any new exception must have, in the language of the Rule, circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to those supporting the common-law exceptions.” Hill at 190.1 submit that Smith’s statement meets this requirement. I have no doubt that the proffered testimony of Golden and Langford should have been allowed in evidence because of the very nature of Smith’s statements. The trustworthiness of the proffered testimony was clearly established by the extremely incriminating character of these statements. Moreover, the statement: (1) concerned a material fact, (2) was more probative for the purpose offered than any other evidence, and (3) the interests of justice would have best been served by admission of the statements into evidence. The proffered testimony should have been admitted as a clear exception to the rule against hearsay as defined in A.R.E. Rules 803 and 804. It is the responsibility of the jury, not the court, to decide the credibility of this testimony.