This appeal is from Tamela V. Harvey’s convictions for the murder and armed robbery of W.C. Hunt.1 Evidence adduced at trial established that the 63-year-old Hunt, who was ill and was required to be on oxygen most of the time, was found dead in his home, near the front door. His gold necklace and video cassette recorder were missing, and a wall-mounted cabinet had been removed and was sitting on the floor, its lock pried open. Hunt had suffered a cut on his left wrist and a three to three-and-a-half inch stab wound to the left side of the chest, the latter wound being the cause of death. Harvey testified that as she was passing by Hunt’s home on that day, he invited her inside and offered to pay her for sex. Although they agreed on a price, Harvey changed her mind while undressing and said she wanted to leave. She testified that Hunt pinned her to the bed and she had to spray him with perfume in order to get him off of her. During a struggle that moved through the house, Harvey picked up a knife with which she cut Hunt’s wrist and stabbed him. She testified that she did so in self-defense, and that even after she stabbed him, he tried to choke her. The struggle continued to the front door where, according to Harvey, she had her hands on Hunt’s throat when he died. In two previous statements, but not at trial, Harvey admitted climbing on top of Hunt and choking him until he gave his last breath. Harvey never called for help or notified any authority of the situation, but instead left Hunt’s house with his keys, two 1$ bills which she took from his pockets, the knife, a screwdriver, his VCR, and his necklace. She sold the necklace later that day for two “dime rocks” of crack cocaine. Changing her story each time, Harvey provided several statements to law enforcement officers including a statement in which she falsely implicated another individual in the robbery and murder. She later admitted that statement was false when the alleged accomplice was able to produce an alibi from his employer. On appeal, she complains of the admission of statements she gave to the police and contends that the evidence was not sufficient to support her convictions.
1. At a hearing regarding the admissibility of her statements to the police, Harvey testified that she was held without food or outside contact and was threatened until she gave a statement. Because the officer who took her first statements was not present to testify, her testimony was uncontradicted as to those statements, and the trial court suppressed them as involuntary. Later statements, including one in which she admitted stabbing Hunt to death, were ruled voluntary and, therefore, admissible after the police officers who had taken them gave testimony contradicting Harvey’s. She enumerates as error the ruling that her statements were voluntary.
