Sampson v. State
Sampson v. State
Opinion of the Court
Bruce Sampson was convicted of three counts of Class D felony aggravated assault with a firearm pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-13-204(a)(2) and sentenced to a total of thirty months' imprisonment. On appeal, he argues (1) the circuit court erred in not declaring a mistrial; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions for aggravated assault; (3) the State failed to disprove his defense of justification; and (4) the third exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule found in Wicks v. State ,
On October 13, 2016, Sebastian County Sheriff deputies Mark Harris and Daniel Bazar, along with Mansfield Police Department officer Brad Schmitt, were dispatched to investigate a report of Sampson allegedly shooting his neighbor's dog because the dog had attacked his rabbits. The officers approached Sampson's residence to speak with him about the incident and to ask him not to shoot toward his neighbor's house. What occurred after the officers arrived at Sampson's house is disputed. The officers approached the house by knocking on the carport door instead of the front door. The officers testified the lights went off in the house after the first knock, but Sampson testified he turned the lights on when he heard the knock. The officers' testimony was that they shined their flashlights at the door to illuminate the area for their safety and did not turn them off when Sampson came to the door and told them to do so. Sampson's testimony was that he did not know who was at the door, even though the officers had *583identified themselves; he stated he did not know if it was an officer or a person who was lying about his identity. According to the officers, Sampson was agitated and was hiding the right side of his body behind the door frame; because the officers could not see Sampson's hands, and because there had been a report that Sampson had recently been firing a gun, the officers asked Sampson to show them his hands. The testimony of the officers was that Sampson pulled his rifle out and swung it across all three of them, placed it in his arms, and the officers then drew their firearms. Sampson's testimony was that while he did deliberately point his operable, loaded .22 rifle at the three officers, the safety was on, and he pointed his gun at them only after the officers drew their guns on him.
Sufficiency of the Evidence
Although Sampson challenges the sufficiency of the evidence in his second and third points on appeal, preservation of an appellant's right to be free from double jeopardy requires a review of the sufficiency of the evidence before a review of trial errors. Campbell v. State ,
On appeal, Sampson argues there was insufficient evidence to support his aggravated-assault convictions. A person commits aggravated assault if, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he or she purposely displays a firearm in such a manner that creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.
In a jury trial, a motion for directed verdict shall be made at the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all the evidence; the motion shall state the specific grounds on which it is being made. Ark. R. Crim. P. 33.1(a) (2017). The failure to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence in the manner required in subsection (a) constitutes a waiver of any question pertaining to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. Ark. R. Crim. P. 33.1(c).
At the close of the State's evidence, the following colloquy occurred:
APPELLANT'S ATTORNEY : Your Honor, I don't believe the State has met its burden of proof in this case. We move *584for a directed verdict based on lack of evidence. The elements of the offense in this case are that the police officers have to believe that they are in a position of imminent threat of serious physical injury or death as a result of my client pulling a firearm on them. And had that been the case, then I believe under these circumstances that they would have used deadly force against Mr. Sampson had they thought they were going to be shot.
PROSECUTOR : Just to clarify, that's not what the law says. The officers don't have to believe anything.
APPELLANT'S ATTORNEY : That they are under circumstances manifesting substantial indifference to the value of human life.
The circuit court denied Sampson's directed-verdict motion. At the close of all the evidence, Sampson's attorney renewed "all previous motions in the same verbiage in which they were made on the same factual basis in which they were made." The circuit court again denied the motion.
On appeal, Sampson argues he was in his home, he did not show his gun until ordered to do so by the officers, he did not point the gun directly at the officers until they pointed their weapons at him, and he did not aim to shoot at law enforcement and had no intention of doing so. Sampson further argues he was justified in defending himself against officers while in his own home after the officers drew their weapons, and the State failed to disprove such justification beyond a reasonable doubt. Neither of these arguments is the argument Sampson made to the circuit court in his directed-verdict motions. Arguments not raised at trial will not be addressed for the first time on appeal, and parties cannot change the grounds for an objection on appeal, but are bound by the scope and nature of the objections and arguments presented at trial. Lindsey v. State ,
Mistrial
Sampson next argues that the circuit court erred in not declaring a mistrial during the voir dire of prospective jurors when the court asked if anyone knew any witnesses listed by the State. Mrs. Laticia Spells stated she knew one of the witnesses through her husband, who was the police chief, and she "really [didn't] think [she] could be impartial with this situation given what happened last year." The circuit court dismissed Spells from serving on the jury due to the nature of her husband's employment. Sampson moved for a mistrial, arguing he could not have a fair trial given the press exposure of the "Cooper" case
A mistrial is an extreme and drastic remedy that will be resorted to only when there has been an error so prejudicial that justice cannot be served by continuing with the trial or when the fundamental fairness of the trial has been manifestly affected. McLaughlin v. State ,
In support of his argument, Sampson cites Meny v. State ,
Sampson argues to this court that in his case the reason for the request for mistrial was not based on his alleged crime, but rather on the fact that two months before to the incident at his house, a sheriff's deputy, Bill Cooper, was shot while responding to a disturbance call.
We disagree with Sampson's contention that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for mistrial. In Meny , the comment made was regarding the case being tried. In the present case, Mrs. Spells's comment did not identify the situation to which she was referring-it was a vague reference to "what happened last year," which gave other prospective jurors no indication to what she was referring. Furthermore, the circuit court dismissed Mrs. Spells for cause due to her husband's position as police chief, which eliminated her as a potential juror. And to the extent Sampson complains of the circuit court's failure to cure any prejudice by issuing an admonishment to the jury, Sampson did not ask for such an admonishment to be given, even though the circuit court offered to do so if requested. The party objecting to the statement bears the burden of requesting an admonition sufficient to cure the prejudice. McLaughlin, supra. The failure to give an admonition or cautionary instruction is not error where none is requested. Lewis,
Wicks Exception
In his last point on appeal, Sampson argues that, although he made no objection, there were three errors in his trial that should still be addressed on appeal pursuant to the third exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule enumerated in Wicks v. State, supra ,which "relates to the trial court's duty to intervene, without an objection, and correct a serious error either by an admonition to the jury or by ordering a mistrial." Wicks ,
*587Wicks presents narrow exceptions that are to be only rarely applied; our appellate courts have allowed issues to be considered under the third Wicks exception only when the error affects the very structure of the criminal trial. Jones v. State ,
Affirmed.
Abramson and Murphy, JJ., agree.
Sampson's counsel made reference to the Cooper case, not Mrs. Spells; no elaboration was made regarding the facts of that case.
In his brief, Sampson attempts to append to his mistrial argument the fact that the prosecutor told the jurors in closing arguments that they were the "conscience" and the "protectors" of the community. Although Sampson objected to those characterizations and asked that the jury be instructed to disregard those statements, and for which the circuit court allowed Sampson to address the comments in his closing argument, those statements were not made in connection with the incident for which the motion for mistrial was made-during voir dire of prospective jurors before the commencement of trial.
The details of the Cooper case were not expounded upon at trial, but Sampson discusses in some detail the events surrounding that case in his brief on appeal, and we must discuss that event in order to address his argument on appeal.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Bruce Richard SAMPSON v. STATE of Arkansas
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published