Winters v. State, 427 S.W.3d 597

Winters was convicted by Benton County jury of two counts capital murder and two counts aggravated robbery, and sentenced to life without parole and life imprisonment, respectively.
The Bishops (Christina Bishop and Louise Bishop) were Winters’ accomplice’s relatives; they were missing in 2009 and found in 2010 on the Johansen property, killed by strangulation.
Nicholas Johansen, Winters’ accomplice, is the half-brother of Winters’ girlfriend, Susan Martin; evidence tied the two to planning and executing the crimes.
Winters moved to suppress custodial statements made to police, arguing coercion during interrogations, especially the February 16, 2010 interviews.
The State sought to introduce Arron Lewis’s testimony about Johansen’s statement against Winters as a statement against interest under Rule 804(b)(3).
The circuit court denied suppression; the court later ruled Lewis’s testimony was inadmissible as a statement against penal interest in relation to Winters, which the Court of Appeals affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Winters’ custodial statements were involuntary coercions	Winters (State) argues statements were coerced due to interrogation tactics.	Winters contends police coerced him, impairing his will, given intellectual functioning concerns.	No reversible error; statements were voluntary under totality of circumstances.
Whether Arron Lewis’s testimony about Johansen’s confession was admissible as a statement against interest	Winters argues Lewis’s testimony is admissible under Rule 804(b)(3) as a statement against interest by an unavailable declarant.	Winter's position is that the statement exculpates Winters and should be admitted; the circuit court erred in excluding it.	Exclusion affirmed; the statement did not exculpate Winters and was not admissible as a statement against penal interest.

Osburn v. State, 2009 Ark. 390 (Ark. 2009) (totality-of-circumstances test for voluntariness of confessions)
Grillot v. State, 353 Ark. 294 (Ark. 2003) (preponderance standard for voluntariness; free and deliberate choice)
Cox v. State, 345 Ark. 391 (Ark. 2001) (exclusion varies when statement does not entirely exculpate co-defendant)
Williford v. State, 300 Ark. 151 (Ark. 1989) (trustworthiness in corroborating circumstances for 804(b)(3))
Roberts v. State, 352 Ark. 489 (Ark. 2003) (low IQ does not render confession involuntary)
Tillman v. State, 275 Ark. 275 (Ark. 1982) (accomplice liability limits on statements lacking complete exculpation)
Jones v. State, 336 Ark. 191 (Ark. 1999) (harmless error standard for evidentiary exclusion where guilt overwhelming)