{
  "id": 1886765,
  "name": "James Lee THOMAS v. STATE of Arkansas",
  "name_abbreviation": "Thomas v. State",
  "decision_date": "1989-10-02",
  "docket_number": "CR 88-150",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:14:13.062447+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "James Lee THOMAS v. STATE of Arkansas"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Darrell Hickman, Justice.\nJames Lee Thomas was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The only issue raised is whether the state failed to disclose favorable evidence to the defense. The undisclosed statement made by the victim was not exculpatory. In fact, it was incriminating.\nThomas and Huey Carnell White robbed Hamilton\u2019s AG store in Stamps, Arkansas, and brutally beat Mrs. Delores Cockerham, a store clerk. She died a few days later. Thomas admitted he hit Mrs. Cockerham twice with the pistol he used in the robbery, once in the mouth and once on the head. Lori LeMay, another clerk, testified that she saw Thomas hit Mrs. Cockerham in the face and heard her hit seven or eight more times.\nDr. Fahmy Malak, the State Medical Examiner, testified that Mrs. Cockerham received eight blows to the head, all consistent with the use of a blunt instrument which could have been either the pistol carried by Thomas or White. Five of the blows were serious and potentially fatal.\nThomas\u2019 defense was that he did not intend to kill anyone during the robbery. He said his gun did not have any bullets in it. The appellant confessed to hitting Mrs. Cockerham in the head with his pistol twice and testified at trial that he hit her and that he saw White hit her once.\nAfter Thomas\u2019 conviction, he filed a motion for a new trial based on the failure of the state to disclose a statement Mrs. Cockerham made to her husband at the hospital. She said \u201cCarnell hit me,\u201d then \u201cthey hit me.\u201d The trial judge held the statement was not exculpatory, and we agree. The failure of the prosecution to disclose evidence favorable to the accused, which has been duly requested, is a denial of a defendant\u2019s right to due process of law. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The evidence is material only if it has a reasonable probability of producing a different result. Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39 (1987).\nThomas admitted that he struck Mrs. Cockerham hard enough to knock her down, but he argues that it was White\u2019s blows that killed her. A person may be convicted of capital murder even though an accomplice commits the actual murder. See Hallman v. State, 264 Ark. 900, 575 S.W.2d 688 (1979); Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 5-10-101(a)(1) (Supp. 1987).\nNo question is raised on appeal regarding several gruesome photographs. We have reviewed them along with the testimony and conclude the trial court did not err in allowing the photographs introduced. See Walton v. State, 279 Ark. 193, 650 S.W.2d 231 (1983); Fairchild v. State, 284 Ark. 289, 681 S.W.2d 380 (1984).\nWe have considered all other possible errors and find none. Supreme Court Rule 11(f).\nAffirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Darrell Hickman, Justice."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "John W. Patton IV and William F. Magee, for appellant.",
      "Steve Clark, Att\u2019y Gen., by: /. Brent Standridge, Asst. Att\u2019y Gen., for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "James Lee THOMAS v. STATE of Arkansas\nCR 88-150\n776 S.W.2d 821\nSupreme Court of Arkansas\nOpinion delivered October 2, 1989\nJohn W. Patton IV and William F. Magee, for appellant.\nSteve Clark, Att\u2019y Gen., by: /. Brent Standridge, Asst. Att\u2019y Gen., for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0103-01",
  "first_page_order": 129,
  "last_page_order": 131
}