Baxter v. State

682 S.W.3d 722

2024 Ark. App. 9

Jason BAXTER, Appellant

v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee

No. CR-22-701

Court of Appeals of Arkansas, DIVISION IV.

Opinion Delivered January 10, 2024

APPEAL FROM THE WHITE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 73CR-20-357], HONORABLE MARK PATE, JUDGE

Short Law Firm, by: Lee D. Short, for appellant.

Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Joseph Karl Luebke, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.

WENDY SCHOLTENS WOOD, Judge

₁Jason Baxter entered a conditional plea of guilty to first-degree murder in the White County Circuit Court and was sentenced to forty years’ imprisonment. On appeal, he argues that the circuit court erred in denying his five motions to suppress his interrogation. We affirm.

On May 14, 2020, while conducting a welfare check on the seventy-seven-year-old victim, Julius Williams, Officer Dillon Chandler of the Kensett Police Department discovered Williams’s front door cracked open and Williams lying dead on the floor just inside the door with a gunshot wound to his face. Williams’s next-door neighbor, Brandon Swain, told police that he heard a gunshot around 1:00 p.m. the day before police discovered Williams’s body and that he saw a heavy-set white male with dark hair running through Williams’s yard immediately after the gunshot in the direction of the neighboring trailer ₂park. Swain said that the man returned later with his shirt off and that he had a large scar on his back.

During the investigation, Officer Robert Parsons, chief of police of the Judsonia Police Department, went to the trailer park and took pictures of four white males who matched Swain’s description: Baxter; Baxter’s father, who was also at Baxter’s trailer when Officer Parsons arrived; and two other individuals. While taking these photos, Officer Parsons told Baxter that they were investigating "a shooting" at Williams’s home and asked if he knew anything about it. Baxter denied knowing Williams or knowing anything about a shooting. He also said he did not have a gun but admitted that he heard three shots "the other day" while he was in his home and mentioned that "if there’s a murder … you need to know something about it." When Officer Parsons returned to Swain’s home with the four photos he had taken, Swain identified Baxter as the man he saw running through Williams’s yard. Officer Parsons then returned to Baxter’s trailer, told him the neighbor had identified him, and said that the police wanted to speak to him if he was willing to go to the Kensett Police Department. Baxter agreed, and his father drove him to the police station.

When Baxter arrived, Officer Chandler read to him an Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.3 rights form, which Baxter signed, acknowledging that the police asked him there to furnish information or cooperate in an investigation but that he was not legally obligated to do either. Officer Chandler also read to him a Miranda statement-of-rights form, which Baxter executed, waiving his Miranda rights. Both Officers Chandler and Parsons; who questioned Baxter at the police department, testified that Baxter did not appear intoxicated ₃or impaired. They recorded the en- tire interview on a video that was played for the circuit court at the suppression hearing.

Officer Chandler initiated the questioning by asking if Baxter knew why he was there, to which Baxter replied, "I heard three shots, looked outside. Wouldn’t know what to do if I was around a murder. Freaked the hell out." When asked what Baxter knew about Williams, Baxter said that he, "caught him outside the other day" at Williams’s house and spoke to him about mowing his yard. Baxter said that they had not discussed a price and that he had never mowed Williams’s yard. He also said that he had walked past Williams’s house on the day of the murder on his way to get a soda, then claimed he said he had simply been "on a jog" that day. When Officer Parsons asked Baxter if he could explain "why people [had] seen you run from this guy’s house after hearing a gunshot," Baxter replied, "I was on a jog, and I cut through[.]"

Officer Parsons eventually told Baxter that someone had shot and killed Williams, and Baxter replied, "For real?" and "I heard shots." Officer Parsons informed Baxter that a neighbor had seen him running through Williams’s yard after hearing a gunshot, to which Baxter responded, "I wasn’t there." When Parsons asked Baxter whether it was self-defense, Baxter continued to deny having anything to do with the shooting, He explained that he had simply been running through Williams’s yard because he was on a jog and "cut through" Williams’s yard. He had his shirt off because he "was sweaty," but when the officers asked to see his scar, he refused to show them. He, said, "You hear a shot, you’re going to run." Baxter ₄denied actually witnessing the shooting, however, explaining that "[h]earing shots and seeing them is total[ly] different."

When Officer Parsons began asking Baxter if he was trying to protect anyone—explaining to Baxter that he wanted Baxter to "give" him something so he could "help" him—and asking Baxter the difference if a crime is committed in self-defense, Baxter replied, "Texas." Officer Parsons said he needed to know if it was self-defense because if it was not, he would have to arrest the offender and "work it like a capital murder case." Baxter said he hoped Officer Parsons "find[s] them."

Officer Parsons and Baxter then began discussing Baxter’s conversation with Williams about mowing his yard. Baxter said Williams wanted him to mow it and that they had agreed he would mow it "[w]hen it’s dried out." He then revised his account and said he had not actually been to Williams’s home to discuss the job but had spoken to him on the phone. When pressed again, Baxter said he had not actually called Williams, and he refused to consent to a search of his cell phone. When Officer Chandler asked Baxter why he had lied about calling Williams, Baxter said, "I’ve got so much anxiety from being questioned."

Chad Everetts, Baxter’s probation officer, arrived during the interview and stood in the open doorway while Baxter was being questioned. Officers Parsons and Chandler left the room midway through the interview, and the following colloquy occurred between Baxter and Everetts:

Baxter: Shut the door.

Everetts: Do what?

₅Baxter: Close the door.

Everetts: No. We’re running this. You sit there and shut up and don’t move.

Baxter: Be nice if I could leave.

Everetts: I’m sure it would be, buddy, but you’re not. I told you to sit there and be quiet.

(Detective Chandler returned to the interview room.)

Chandler: Right now is the best time to talk to us, man, ‘cause later on down the road, it’s not going to be good talk. Everything’s been good right now.

Baxter: I’ve said what I had to say.

Answered what you’ve asked.

Chandler: But you also lied to us.

Baxter: I’ve got so much anxiety.

Chandler: Why?

Baxter: Anxiety, flipping out, being questioned.

Chandler: If you didn’t do anything, you shouldn’t have anything to flip out about.

Baxter: I’ve never been questioned like this before.

Chandler: I understand that.

Baxter: Silence kills me.

Chandler: Well, what do you want to talk about?

Baxter: Say what I got to say and get out of here.

The questioning continued, and Baxter admitted that he had knocked on Williams’s door and then shot Williams in the face when he answered the door. He said he had thrown the ₆gun in some foliage behind his (Baxter’s) house, which he later showed to the police, who recovered the gun.

In an information filed on June 18, 2020, Baxter was charged with one count of capital murder. On March 16, 2021, Baxter filed five separate motions to suppress the interrogation due to (1) violation of Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure Rule 2.3; (2) violation of the Fourth Amendment; (3) violation of the Fifth Amendment; (4) violation of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure when police prevented Baxter from leaving the interrogation; and (5) the State’s failure to obtain a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of his Miranda rights.

On August 20, 2021, the circuit court held a hearing on Baxter’s suppression motions. In addition to the testimony of Officers Chandler and Parsons about their investigation and recorded interview of Baxter, Baxter’s father also testified. He said that he drove Baxter to the police station and remained in the room with him during the interview. He said that Baxter was acting peculiarly and not answering in complete sentences. He also testified that the police officers requested that he ask Baxter to tell the truth and give Baxter a hug, which he did. He said Baxter became very emotional and started crying.

Everetts testified that one of the conditions of Baxter’s probation was that he not use or possess alcohol or illegal drugs. He testified that he was at the police station for Baxter’s interview because the police had called Everetts to "maybe do a home visit" on Baxter and asked Everetts to come to the Kensett police station. After he arrived, he was told that there had been a homicide Baxter was "possibly involved in." Everetts said he could tell something ₇was wrong when he saw Baxter because he was acting much differently than he had in Everetts’s previous interactions with him. He said in his earlier meetings with Baxter, he had been "cool and collected." Everetts said Baxter did not appear intoxicated but rather "in shock" or "kind of weirded out with this situation."

Baxter presented the testimony of psychologist Dr. Benjamin Silber, a certified forensic examiner. In addition to reviewing police records and the video of the interrogation, Dr. Silber evaluated Baxter on March 23, 2021, nine months after his arrest. During Dr. Silber’s examination, Baxter told Dr. Silber that he had been hearing voices in his head for years telling him that he was gay. Dr. Silber testified that it was clear to him Baxter was hearing these voices during his interrogation with the police and that he...