Akram v. State
Akram v. State
Opinion of the Court
Jamal Akram was convicted by a Mississippi County Circuit Court jury of first-degree murder. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to sixty years' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. On appeal, he claims that (1) the circuit court erred by denying his motion to suppress his statement, (2) the State improperly commented on his failure to deny his guilt, and (3) there was insufficient evidence to support his first-degree-murder conviction. We affirm.
A motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Steele v. State ,
When the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged on appeal from a criminal conviction, we consider only that proof that supports the conviction. Singleton-Harris v. State ,
In order to preserve a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, a defendant must make a motion for directed verdict at the close of the State's case and at the close of all the evidence and must state the specific grounds for the motion. Ark. R. Crim. P. 33.1(a) (2017). It is well settled that Rule 33.1 is strictly construed, and a defendant's failure to adhere to the requirements of Rule 33.1(a) will constitute a waiver of any question pertaining to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. Ark. R. Crim. P. 33.1(c). A general motion for directed verdict that merely asserts that the State has failed to prove its case is inadequate to preserve a sufficiency challenge for appeal. Jordan v. State ,
Akram did not comply with the requirements of Rule 33.1 ; therefore, his sufficiency argument is not preserved for this court's review. At the close of the State's evidence, Akram moved for a directed verdict because the State's evidence was "not sufficient as a matter of the law to sustain a conviction." At the close of all the evidence, Akram stated that he was "asking for a direct[ed] verdict" because the State "hadn't proven the burden of guilt." These are general motions for directed verdict, and they do not specify any missing elements. Accordingly, they are insufficient to preserve the issue for appeal. See, e.g. ,
We now turn to Akram's argument that the circuit court erred by denying his motion to suppress. Before trial, the circuit court held a hearing on the motion to suppress Akram's custodial statement. Detective Matt Huckabay of the Blytheville Police Department testified that on March 18, 2016, Linda Hatcher, Akram's live-in girlfriend, was found beaten to death. Akram was the only other person in the house, and he was taken into custody around midnight. Detective Huckabay testified that he did not interview Akram the night of the murder because an officer had told him that Akram was intoxicated. The following afternoon at 2:35 p.m., Detective Huckabay interviewed Akram. The audio recording of the interview was introduced into evidence at the suppression hearing.
At the beginning of the interview, Detective Huckabay handed Akram a copy of his Miranda rights and read the rights aloud. Akram acknowledged that he understood his rights and completed the Miranda form by providing his date of birth, address, and signature. Detective Huckabay then asked Akram a series of background *513questions that Akram was able to answer.
Akram explained that he spent most of the day on March 18, 2016, with Pauline Richardson, his other girlfriend. Akram drank gin and smoked marijuana throughout the day. Akram claimed he did not remember what time he got home or what happened to Linda. He stated that he did not "remember doing that to [Linda]" and that he could not remember what had happened or why there was blood all over the house. Akram did not affirmatively deny that he had murdered Linda.
Detective Huckabay testified that Akram was upset and crying during the interview but that he did not appear to be intoxicated. Detective Huckabay also stated that Akram did not smell of alcohol at the time of the interview. After Detective Huckabay's testimony, the State introduced certified copies of two of Akram's previous convictions-one for robbery and one for manslaughter-to show his familiarity with the criminal-justice system. Akram argued that he was intoxicated the night before the interview and that Detective Huckabay did not know whether Akram was still intoxicated at the time of the interview.
Akram also alleged that he did not have his reading glasses and was unable to read the Miranda -rights forms. The circuit court found that Detective Huckabay read verbatim the Miranda -rights and waiver form to Akram and that Akram voluntarily waived those rights. The circuit court stated that on the tape of the interview Akram sounded "coherent" and "articulate" and "[d]id not slur his words" and "[d]id not appear to be intoxicated." Based on these findings, the circuit court determined that Akram's waiver was voluntary and denied his motion to suppress.
On appeal, Akram claims that he had been intoxicated the day before he executed his Miranda waiver, so his waiver was therefore involuntary. "In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we conduct a de novo review based on the totality of the circumstances, reviewing findings of historical facts for clear error and determining whether those facts give rise to reasonable suspicion or probable cause, giving due weight to inferences drawn by the circuit court and proper deference to the circuit court's findings." Johnson v. State ,
*514A statement made while in custody is presumptively involuntary, and the State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant made the custodial statement voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. E.g. , Grillot ,
In this case, Detective Huckabay testified that he did not interview Akram on the night of the murder because an officer suspected that Akram was intoxicated-Akram had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and smelled of intoxicants. At 2:35 p.m. the following day-over 15 hours later-Akram showed no signs of intoxication. He was coherent and articulate and did not have slurred speech or smell of alcohol. Detective Huckabay read Akram his Miranda rights, and Akram acknowledged and signed the form, stating that he understood his rights. Akram was able to clearly answer questions about his personal history and background.
Here, the circuit court listened to Akram's recorded statement and found that he did not appear to be intoxicated. Based on Detective Huckabay's testimony, the recording of the interview, and Akram's familiarity with the criminal-justice system, the circuit court's decision to deny the motion to suppress was not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. See Harper v. State ,
On appeal, Akram also argues that the circuit court erred in allowing the prosecuting attorney to make improper remarks during closing argument. Akram claims that the State should not have been allowed to make multiple statements in its closing argument regarding his interview with police and the fact that he never denied that he had killed Linda. However, this issue is not preserved for our review. We will not review any alleged error in the State's closing argument absent a contemporaneous objection at trial. E.g. , Lard v. State ,
We agree with the State that in this case there is also no applicable exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule enunciated *515in Wicks v. State ,
Two of Akram's three appellate arguments are not preserved for our review, and we hold that the circuit court properly denied Akram's motion to suppress; accordingly, we affirm Akram's conviction of murder in the first degree.
Affirmed.
Harrison and Brown, JJ., agree.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jamal AKRAM v. STATE of Arkansas
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published