Summary
The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed Kenneth R. Isom’s convictions for capital murder, residential burglary, attempted capital murder, rape, and aggravated robbery, including his death sentence for capital murder. The court rejected challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence and to the trial court’s handling of voir dire, including the excusal of prospective jurors based on their views concerning the death penalty. The opinion also addressed preservation of objections to death-penalty verdict-form questioning.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether substantial evidence supported Isom's capital-murder conviction, including proof that Burton's death occurred in the course of and in furtherance of a felony.
- Whether the circuit court improperly restricted voir dire and refused to permit additional rehabilitation questioning of prospective jurors who expressed reservations about the death penalty.
- Whether jurors were properly excused for cause based on their inability or unwillingness to sign a death-penalty verdict form.
- Whether the State exercised peremptory challenges for racially discriminatory reasons in violation of Batson v. Kentucky.
- Whether alleged voir-dire irregularities involving jurors' relationships to Isom or the victims were preserved for appellate review.
- Whether the photographic lineup should have been suppressed as unduly suggestive.
- Whether prosecutorial closing arguments improperly diminished the jury's sentencing responsibility or otherwise denied Isom a fair trial.
- Whether the circuit court erred by failing to instruct on robbery as a lesser-included offense of aggravated robbery.
- Whether submission of the aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest was unconstitutional.
- Whether Arkansas's capital-murder statute was unconstitutionally vague, overlapped with first-degree murder, or violated equal protection.
Holdings
- Substantial direct and circumstantial evidence supported the finding that Isom caused Burton's death in the course of and in furtherance of rape, robbery, and burglary under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.
- The circuit court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to allow additional defense questioning designed to rehabilitate prospective jurors who said they could not consider the death penalty.
- The circuit court did not abuse its discretion by excusing Schenk for cause because his reservations about signing a death-verdict form created a substantial question whether his views would impair his performance as a juror.
- The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in denying Isom's Batson challenge because the State provided race-neutral reasons for its two peremptory strikes.
- The challenge to the photographic lineup was not preserved because Isom failed to object to Lawson's in-court identification.
- The prosecutor's comments that Isom had sealed his fate and that Burton had no right to appeal did not impermissibly diminish the jury's responsibility for imposing the death penalty.
- The circuit court was not required to instruct the jury on ordinary robbery because the evidence conclusively established aggravated robbery and provided no rational basis for finding only ordinary robbery.
- The aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest was not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad and adequately narrowed the class of persons eligible for the death penalty.
Key quotations
“When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal, this court does not reweigh the evidence but determines instead whether the evidence supporting the verdict is substantial.” (265-266)
“The extent and scope of voir dire examination is within the sound discretion of the circuit judge, and the latitude of that discretion is wide.” (268)
“The reason will be deemed race neutral unless a discriminatory intent is inherent in the proponent's explanation.” (272)
Factual background
On April 2, 2001, Kenneth Isom entered Bill Burton's trailer home, threatened Burton with broken scissors, and took money and jewelry. He sexually assaulted Dorothy Lawson, threatened to kill her and Burton, and physically assaulted both victims; Burton was later found dead from multiple sharp and blunt force injuries, while Lawson suffered serious injuries. Lawson identified Isom, and forensic testing showed that hair recovered from her rape-kit examination was microscopically similar to Isom's hair and had DNA bands consistent with his sample.
Procedural history
Isom was charged by criminal information and later amended information with capital murder, aggravated robbery, residential burglary, attempted capital murder, and rape. After a four-day jury trial, he was convicted and sentenced to death for capital murder, with additional consecutive sentences for aggravated robbery, rape, attempted capital murder, and residential burglary. The Supreme Court of Arkansas reviewed the convictions and sentence and affirmed.