Lead Opinion
Gary Martin was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Kimberly Burris. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. This court affirmed Martin's conviction on direct appeal. Martin v. State ,
Burris disappeared in July 1998. Her body was found in a freezer located in an abandoned house in Lonoke County in November 1998. Martin was arrested on suspicion of committing the murder in March 1999 after police secured statements from Yolanda Day (1) identifying Martin as the murderer and (2) admitting that she and two others accompanied Martin from the time of Burris's abduction until her murder. Day described the location of the abandoned house, the location of Burris's body within the house, and details about Burris's attire at the time of her death. Day also suggested that Martin's motive for the murder could have been his belief that he had contracted AIDS from Burris.
In Martin's direct appeal, we held that Day's accomplice testimony had been sufficiently corroborated by circumstantial evidence to support the jury's verdict. Martin ,
In the present action, Martin requests DNA testing pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated §§ 16-112-201 et seq., of (1) the hair ascribed via microscopic analysis to Day and (2) other evidence including the victim's clothing and the materials used to bind the victim's body. He asserts that testing this evidence will support his contentions that Day's statements were unreliable and that another suspect was the true murderer. Our standard for reviewing the denial of postconviction relief is whether the circuit court's findings were clearly erroneous. See, e.g. , King v. State ,
As we have made clear in prior interpretations of the postconviction DNA-testing statutes, the regime does not permit testing of evidence based on a mere assertion of innocence or the theoretical possibility that additional testing might alter the outcome of a trial; the statute was "not meant to do away with finality in judgments." Johnson v. State ,
From the outset, this requirement is enough to affirm the circuit court's rejection of Martin's request for DNA testing of the hair ascribed to Day. Martin seeks to demonstrate that Day was not at the crime scene to show that the jury relied on a fabricated account to reach a conviction. This argument fails for two related reasons. First, even if DNA testing proved that the hair-microscopy analysis was incorrect and that the hair did not come from Yolanda Day, this new revelation would not significantly advance Martin's claim of actual innocence. Showing that the hair in question came from a person who had been in the abandoned house at some time prior to the murder or during the several-month interlude between the crime and the discovery of the body would not undermine the other evidence that Day's testimony was credible. Second, and relatedly, this is substantially the same inquiry that this court discussed on direct appeal as outlined above. We held that the State presented sufficient evidence corroborating Day's testimony to implicate Martin in Burris's murder and to justify the jury's verdict. In our discussion of the multiple incriminating statements corroborating Day's testimony, the hair microscopy evidence in question warranted one sentence.
As for Martin's requests regarding other evidence, the circuit court's denials are justified based on the presumption against timeliness in Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-112-202(10)(B). That section states that a presumption against timeliness applies if the motion for additional testing is not made within thirty-six months of the date of conviction. The presumption can be rebutted by a showing:
(i) That the person making a motion under this section was or is incompetent and the incompetence substantially contributed to the delay in the motion for a test;
(ii) That the evidence to be tested is newly discovered evidence;
(iii) That the motion is not based solely upon the person's own assertion of innocence and a denial of the motion would result in a manifest injustice;
(iv) That a new method of technology that is substantially more probative than prior testing is available; or(v) Of good cause.
All of this evidence was available at the time of trial. The alternative suspect was known to both the State and to Martin at that time as well. As it relates to this evidence, then, we cannot say that Martin's argument is more than a bare assertion of innocence. His arguments both for clearing that hurdle and for demonstrating manifest injustice turn on the alleged weakness of the hair-microscopy evidence. He alleges that if that evidence is affirmatively discredited through testing, the remainder of the State's case falls apart. With the original theory debunked, he argues, the evidence pointing toward the alternative suspect takes on new significance. But this is, again, fundamentally the same argument as above. Martin argues that his behavior after Burris's disappearance would paint a favorable picture of his innocence if it were not put in a negative light by Day's statement and, in turn, that the statement would not have been believable to the jury but for the hair-microscopy evidence. We considered Martin's post-disappearance conduct on direct appeal and-far short of finding it favorable-held that it was corroborative of the State's case. As discussed above, we hold that DNA testing on the hair microscopy evidence would not advance Martin's case of actual innocence. In these circumstances, Martin's desire to test additional evidence based on a different theory of the crime can only be called a bare assertion of innocence. Martin relies on these same arguments to make his case for the "good cause" prong of the untimeliness showing; they fail for the same reason.
Martin's arguments under Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-112-202(10)(B)(iv) are equally unavailing. While it is uncontested that the evidence in question was not subjected to DNA testing, the fact that testing did not take place does not mean that the methods now being requested were not available. We have interpreted
Finally, Martin argues on appeal that, whatever the merits of his petition for DNA testing, the circuit court erred by denying it without holding an evidentiary hearing. Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-112-205(a) requires a hearing for DNA-testing petitions "[u]nless the petition and
Affirmed.
Kemp, C.J., and Hart, J., dissent.
Wynne, J., dissents in part.
Dissenting Opinion
I respectfully dissent. Because I am unable to say that the petition and the files and records of the proceeding conclusively show that Martin is entitled to no relief, I would reverse the circuit court's order and remand the case for an evidentiary hearing. See
Hart, J., joins.
Robin F. Wynne, Justice, dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority's decision to affirm the denial of Martin's request for DNA-testing of the hair purported at trial to be Yolanda Day's because results of testing would not significantly advance his claim of actual innocence. That is not the case, however, with other items Martin seeks to have tested: the victim's clothing; the duct tape wrapped around her head; ligatures used to bind her; and hair found in the trunk of a car linked to an earlier suspect. This record does not conclusively show that Martin is entitled to no relief, and an evidentiary hearing is therefore required. See
I respectfully dissent in part.