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McDougal v. State

The defendant robbed a convenience store and shot and killed the store clerk.

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Following a jury trial, Howard Lewis McDougal appeals his convictions for murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm,1 contending that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that, on May 7, 2000, McDougal and his accomplice, Allan Johnson, drove to a convenience store to commit a robbery. Once there, McDougal entered the store, sat at an arcade game, and observed the store while Johnson waited outside in his car. Once McDougal felt comfortable, he summoned Johnson. Upon reentering the store, McDougal forced the store clerk at gunpoint to lock the store’s door and give him the contents of the cash register. McDougal then forced the clerk to lay on the floor and shot him in the back of the head, thereby killing him. McDougal and Johnson then fled the store, locking the door behind them and turning out the lights.

Johnson testified at trial, recounting the robbery and the murder of the clerk by McDougal. In addition, the murder weapon, a gun owned by McDougal, was found in a dumpster outside of the chemical plant where McDougal was employed. Keys to the convenience store and the clerk’s car were found at Johnson’s home, and lottery tickets stolen from the store and ammunition were found at McDougal’s home. Also, witnesses testified that, around the time of the shooting, they saw a heavy-set male matching McDougal’s description at the convenience store wearing a blue and gold t-shirt with big flowers on it. This t-shirt was later discovered at McDougal’s home. In addition, witnesses also gave matching descriptions of Johnson and Johnson’s car which was parked in the convenience store’s parking lot.

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