Hoyt Franklin Clines

Case record: Hoyt Franklin Clines

Timeline

• March 25, 1981 — Hoyt Franklin Clines was executed for the March 25, 1981 murder of Don Lehman.
• January 9, 1981 — Hoyt Franklin Clines, and others, were convicted of killing a contractor, Donald Lehman, on Jan. 9, 1981, in a robbery at his home in Rogers, in northwest Arkansas.
• January 8, 1981 — Vicki Lehman stated she heard the front doorbell ring at approximately 9:45 on the evening of January 8, 1981.
• March 23, 1973 — Arkansas capital punishment laws came into force on March 23, 1973.
• August 3, 1994 — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected claims raised in last-minute appeals; Clines was executed by lethal injection, pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m.
• 7:11 p.m. (August 3, 1994) — Clines was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m.
• 9:24 p.m. (August 3, 1994) — James William Holmes was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m.
• 1990 — The death sentence for the fourth man, Michael Orndorff, was struck down in 1990.
• 1988 — A Federal judge, Henry Woods, threw out the death penalty in 1988, ruling that the men's Sixth Amendment rights to confront witnesses had been denied.
• June 8, 1992 — The United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, submitted Nos. 91-3510 and 91-3512 to 91-3514.
• July 15, 1993 — The United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, decided Nos. 91-3510 and 91-3512 to 91-3514.
• Sept. 21, 1993 — Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied in the listed cases.
• Aug. 3, 1994 — Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied in No. 91-3513.

Background

Hoyt Franklin Clines was sentenced to death and was executed by lethal injection on August 3, 1994. On August 3, 1994, Darryl V. Richley and James William Holmes were also executed for the murder of Don Lehman.

The case was a habeas corpus matter in the United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, involving Michael Ray Orndorff, James William Holmes, Hoyt Franklin Clines, and Darryl V. Richley (petitioners). The appeals were from the judgment of the district court denying their requests for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioners were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to suffer the death penalty. The district court found that at trial petitioners were denied their sixth amendment right to confront the witnesses against them. The court granted petitioners partial relief, finding that this error was harmless with respect to their convictions and affected only their death sentences.

The Court described the execution events as the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years. The executions were carried out in Arkansas by lethal injection at the Cummins Unit of the state prison system, with the executions taking place about an hour apart.

The offence

Don Lehman was murdered during a robbery at his home. Don Lehman, his wife Virginia, and their daughter Vicki Lehman were at their home when four men wearing ski masks rang the doorbell and forced their way inside.

The men shot Don Lehman three times and severely beat him with a motorcycle drive chain in front of his family. The men stole more than $1,000 and several guns, according to court documents.

After the murder, the men dragged Vicki Lehman through the house in a search for money and guns.

Vicki Lehman testified that after she heard the front doorbell ring at approximately 9:45 on the evening of January 8, 1981, she got out of bed to go to the door. She met her father in the hall and followed behind him as her father unlocked the door. Four men wearing ski masks forced their way into the house and attacked him. Vicki said she was held at gunpoint by one of the men while two or three others attempted to subdue her father. Vicki was ordered to kneel down, face the wall, and put her head in her hands.

Vicki said she could sense the fight moved down the hall and into the bedroom, after which she heard two gunshots. Moments later, one of the men grabbed her by the back of the hair and led her through the house, searching for money and other valuables. She described the attackers she later identified as petitioners: (1) Richley as the tallest man who wore wire rim glasses visible through the ski mask, (2) Holmes as the heavy or biggest man, (3) Orndorff as the short or smallest man, and (4) Clines as the medium-sized man who removed his mask during the robbery.

Vicki described the sequence after the gunshots: the tallest man demanded to know where some money was and held her at gunpoint, then she said she led him into her bedroom and produced an envelope containing some money she received for Christmas. She said she was taken back down the hall, upstairs to a loft or office area above the main room, and then back downstairs. In her parents’ bedroom, she saw her father laying motionless on the bed and her mother cowering in the corner. While there, Vicki said the medium-sized man found several hundred dollars in a drawer, removed his mask, and then he and the heavy man began tearing out drawers and throwing clothes about the room searching for more money.

Vicki testified that the smallest man suggested she be allowed to call an ambulance, but she said the medium-sized man grabbed the phone and stated she was not going to call anyone. She said the medium-sized man made demands for more money and guns in the kitchen area, and that the group demanded more money and guns. She directed them to the gun cabinet in the living room, and said the tallest man ordered two attackers to get in the car and ordered the heavy man to remove the guns from the cabinet. She said the heavy man took the guns out to the car and the tallest man followed.

The police arrested all four petitioners within several days of the murder.

After a joint trial, petitioners were convicted of armed robbery and capital murder, and the death penalty was imposed on all four.

Investigation

Vicki Lehman helped create a composite drawing of the man who removed his mask within hours after the murder.

Vicki said that within hours after the murder, she helped an investigator create a composite drawing of the man who removed his mask. Several days later she positively identified Clines in a line-up.

Trial

At trial, Vicki Lehman testified in detail about the murder-robbery. She gave the police two statements that were recorded and transcribed: one within hours after the murder and another several days later. The Court noted there were variations between her trial testimony and her two pretrial statements, but also similarities in her descriptions.

The Court described hypnosis as part of the factual and procedural background. After Vicki Lehman and her mother, Virginia, gave statements to authorities, prosecutors hired a hypnotist to help them remember the events more clearly. The prosecutors failed to tell defense lawyers that the Lehmans had been hypnotized.

Judge Henry Woods in 1988 threw out the death penalty, ruling that the men’s Sixth Amendment rights to confront witnesses had been denied. The appeals court directed Judge Woods to rule on whether there were significant differences in Vicki Lehman’s testimony before and after hypnosis. Finding no “significant variation,” the judge reinstated the death penalties. The decision was upheld on appeal in the cases of all the men except Mr. Orndorff.

The death sentence for the fourth man, Michael Orndorff, was struck down in 1990.

The case had a complicated history involving Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause error related to the inability to cross-examine Vicki Lehman about the hypnosis.

During the habeas appeal, the petitioners’ claims were tied to the constitutional error that prosecutors failed to inform defendants and the trial court about the hypnosis, thereby denying defendants the opportunity to cross-examine Vicki Lehman about it.

Sentencing

At the penalty phase of the trial, jurors were given a verdict form listing three aggravating circumstances:

1. “[Petitioner] previously committed another felony an element of which was the use or threat of violence to another person or creating a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person.” See Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-604(3) (1987).
2. “In the commission of the capital murder, [petitioner] knowingly created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim.” See id. § 5-4-604(4).
3. “The capital murder was committed for pecuniary gain.” See id. § 5-4-604(6)

The jury findings described in the Court’s decision included that the jury found that all three aggravating circumstances existed for Richley and Holmes and that no mitigating circumstances existed for them.

For Clines, the jury found all three aggravating circumstances existed and that mitigating circumstances did exist by virtue of Clines’ electrocution and his excessive drinking. The Court stated that one or more jurors found that Clines suffered from a personality change after the electrocution.

For Orndorff, the Court stated that only two of the three aggravating circumstances existed because the jury did not find that Orndorff created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim, and that one or more jurors found that two mitigating circumstances existed: that Orndorff was acting under unusual pressures or influences or under the domination of another person and that Orndorff was an accomplice and his participation was relatively minor.

Appeals

Petitioners exhausted their state remedies and filed petitions for habeas corpus relief in federal court, raising several claims. Only one claim was found to have merit.

The district court found the Confrontation Clause violation and granted partial relief: the error was harmless with respect to their convictions and affected only their death sentences. The Court affirmed the convictions, finding that “the evidence of petitioners’ guilt, even without Vicki Lehman’s testimony, is overwhelming.” The case was remanded for further consideration of harmlessness as to the death sentences.

On remand, the district court found the error harmless with respect to sentences and denied requests for habeas relief. Petitioners appealed.

Outcome

The United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, affirmed the district court’s denial of habeas relief to petitioners Richley, Holmes, and Clines.

The Court reversed the denial of habeas relief to petitioner Orndorff and remanded the case to the district court with instructions that the court’s order granting habeas relief should give the state the option of conducting a new sentencing proceeding or reducing the sentence to life without parole.

A concurring in part and dissenting in part opinion by Richard S. Arnold stated:

For the reasons given by the Court, I concur in reversing the denial of habeas corpus relief to Michael Ray Orndorff. I concur also in denying this relief to Hoyt Franklyn Clines and James William Holmes. As to the imposition of the death penalty on Darryl V. Richley, however, I respectfully dissent. I would grant Richley the requested relief because the constitutional error--the denial of the chance to cross-examine Vicki Lehman about her hypnosis--was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

Aftermath

Execution details (August 3, 1994)

Each condemned prisoner declined to make final statements.

Hoyt Franklin Clines was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m.

The Court’s execution account included last words when asked if he had any last words:

• Hoyt Franklin Clines replied, “Nope.”

Fifty-eight minutes later, Darryl V. Richley died on the same gurney. When asked if he had any last words, he said, “No.”

James William Holmes was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m. Holmes also said, “No,” when asked if he had any last words.

The Court’s execution account described the executions as the first triple execution in the country since 1962 and the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years.

Clemency and legal filings mentioned in the execution account

The Court described that lawyers for the prisoners had filed last-minute appeals arguing that the scheduled triple execution reduced the men to “hogs at a slaughter.”

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the claims of all three men. In the execution account, Richard Dieter said:

“It’s disturbing to see the state want to go into this production mode because it reflects an ordinariness about executions,”

Alandone Ables, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, said:

“Our overriding concern is that the executions are done properly, with some decorum.”

Mark Cambiano, Mr. Richley’s lawyer, said after his client’s death:

“I’m ashamed to live in the state of Arkansas, the only state in the union where they carry out mass executions,”

Other details

Arrests

A couple of days after the murder, Holmes, Richley, Clines, and Ray Orndorff were arrested.

Victims and family

The victims were Don Lehman, his wife Virginia, and their daughter Vicki Lehman.

Facts about the uncertainty of the shooter

The Court stated that it was never definitively established who pulled the trigger. Arkansas law called for all four to be tried for first-degree murder.

Prosecutors’ hypnosis disclosure issue

The Court described the prosecutor’s failure to inform defendants and the trial court that Vicki Lehman had been hypnotized prior to trial, which resulted in the Sixth Amendment confrontation issue.

Prior sentence outcome for another defendant

The Court described that the death sentence for Michael Orndorff was struck down in 1990.

References to prior federal habeas history

The Court described that in Orndorff v. Lockhart, 906 F.2d 1230 (8th Cir.1990), the Court affirmed the convictions and remanded for further consideration on whether the constitutional error was harmless with respect to the death sentences.

State clemency scheduling mentioned in the execution account

The execution account described that Bill Clinton, as Governor, had set executions three times for the three men, once in 1983 and twice in 1984.

Earlier that week, Gov. Jim Guy Tucker denied clemency requests for Mr. Richley and Mr. Clines. The execution account quoted Mr. Richley as telling the prison panel earlier that week:

“Kill me and get this comedy over,”