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State v. Freeman

The defendant's convictions for being a party to the felony murder and for hindering the apprehension of the murderer were mutually exclusive.

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A jury convicted Roger Wayne Freeman of felony murder and hindering the apprehension of a criminal in connection with the shooting death of John Douglas Hopper. After a post-trial hearing, the trial court vacated the felony-murder conviction as illegal. We must decide whether a felony-murder conviction is void as a matter of law when a jury convicts a defendant of hindering the apprehension of a criminal as a lesser included offense of murder. Because a defendant cannot be both a party to a crime and an accessory after the crime, we affirm.

Freeman was indicted for the murder of his stepfather, James Lee Coleman, and his stepfather’s friend, John Douglas Hopper, and tried two times. In November 1996, the first jury convicted Freeman of both counts of murder, but the trial court granted a new trial. At the second trial in June 1998, the state presented evidence that Freeman owned the gun that was used in the crimes, was in the trailer when his brother Scott “snapped” and started shooting, and helped Scott clean up the trailer after the shooting.1 Roger Freeman requested a jury charge on accessory after the fact and hindering the apprehension of a criminal as a lesser included offense of murder, and the trial court gave both charges without objection from the state. The verdict form, which was approved by both the state and defendant, listed three offenses under each count: malice murder, murder, and hindering apprehension or punishment of a criminal.

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