Page 552
APPEAL
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, OSCEOLA DISTRICT
[NO. 47OCR-15-231], HONORABLE RALPH WILSON, JR., JUDGE
Cullen
& Co., PLLC, Little Rock, by: Tim Cullen, for appellant.
Leslie
Rutledge, Atty Gen., by: Joseph Karl Luebke, Asst Atty
Gen., for appellee.
Opinion
WAYMOND
M. BROWN, Judge
Appellant Ashton Clark appeals the revocation of his
probation by the Mississippi County Circuit Court for the
underlying charge of residential burglary. He argues on
appeal that his revocation should be reversed because (1)
there was no corroboration of his codefendants testimony and
(2) the revocation should have been deferred until after the
new murder charge was adjudicated. We affirm.
On
December 18, 2015, Clark was charged with residential
burglary and theft of property. He pled guilty to residential
burglary and the theft charge was nol prossed. He was
sentenced on April 4, 2016, to five years probation and
ordered to pay fines, fees, and costs. As a condition of his
probation, he was ordered "not to commit a criminal
offense punishable by imprisonment" and not to associate
with persons "engaged in criminal activity." The
State filed a petition to revoke on June 27, 2016, alleging
that appellant had violated the terms and conditions of his
probation by committing the offense of first-degree attempted
murder. The State filed an amended petition on December 5,
2016, alleging that appellant had violated the
Page 553
terms and conditions of his probation by committing
aggravated robbery and capital murder on October 12, 2016,
and by associating with three other offenders while
committing the crimes.
Appellants revocation hearing took place on March 5, 2018.
Tresia Seaton, chief deputy coroner for Mississippi County,
testified that she was on call on October 12, 2016, and
received a call at 7:28 p.m. concerning a deceased person on
the front lawn of 102 Parkway in Osceola. She stated that she
pronounced the victim, John David Williams, deceased at 7:50
p.m.
Detective Jerry Hamilton of the Osceola Police Department
stated that he was called in to help on a large crime scene
on October 12, 2016. He said that Williams was lying face
down on a four-way lug wrench with a large sum of money in
his pocket. He testified that he helped obtain video footage
from the victims home as well as other houses. He said that
based on the videos, he was able to see that Williams was
changing wheels on his car when the suspects made contact
with him in his driveway. Williams ran, and the suspects
chased him. He stated that a muzzle blast could be seen
before the suspects ran back in the direction from which they
came. He testified that he was able to identify a car he knew
from prior traffic stops in the videos he obtained as
belonging to Mildred and Paul English. He described the
vehicle as a black Buick Rendezvous with chrome rims and a
"Vote for David Burnett" sign. He stated that in a
"10 to 15 minute timeframe, 6:55 to 7:10 p.m., [he saw]
the vehicle come in to Magnolia Drive and turns around and
comes back out the other way. The same vehicle again does the
same thing. The last time it enters, around 7:08, it stays
for several minutes. And that fits the timeframe of the
murder." Detective Hamilton stated that there was also
video footage prior to this time showing the same vehicle
going up and down Parkway in front of Williamss house. He
continued to describe the video footages and their importance
to the murder case.
Harold
Weeden testified that he came in contact with appellant on
October 12, 2016, after shooting dice on Broadway. He stated
that appellant and Zebarious Hawkins were sitting in a Hummer
planning the robbery of Williams. Williams was chosen because
of a Facebook picture showing him and another person with a
lot of money. Weeden said that he and the others smoked
marijuana. He testified that Shakur Bingham showed up when
they were discussing the robbery and their need for guns. He
stated that Shakur had a silver 9-millimeter, so he got in
the Hummer with them. He said that they all left the Hummer
and got into his vehicle.
Weeden
stated that they rode around and went to "stakeout"
Williams to see what he was doing. He stated that they went
to Binghams fathers house on Parkway and that Williams was
putting rims on his car at that time. Weeden testified that
they went to Seminole Village and parked in the last circle
between two apartment complexes to see how they "were
going to approach the situation." They got one gun from
Binghams sister, Rashida. He stated that they then went to
Dratashia Wilsons, appellants girlfriends, house to get
the camouflage suit Hawkins wore along with a Scream mask. He
stated that they subsequently went to his house for a change
of clothes. He said that by this time, the plan had changed
to where he was going to be the one to rob Williams and
appellant would be the getaway driver since ...