State v. Williams

NOTICE: NOT FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATION.
UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION IS NOT PRECEDENTIAL
AND MAY BE CITED ONLY AS AUTHORIZED BY RULE.

IN THE
ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION ONE

STATE OF ARIZONA, Appellee,

v.

MARCUS TALIAFERO WILLIAMS, Appellant.

No. 1 CA-CR 23-0137
FILED 09-03-2024

Appeal from the Superior Court in Maricopa County
No. CR2021-108279-001
The Honorable Kevin B. Wein, Judge

AFFIRMED

COUNSEL

Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Phoenix
By Alice Jones
Counsel for Appellee

Brown and Little, PLC, Chandler
By Matthew O. Brown
Counsel for Appellant

Marcos Taliafero Williams, San Luis
Appellant
 STATE v. WILLIAMS
Decision of the Court

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Presiding Judge Maria Elena Cruz delivered the decision of the Court, in
which Judge Samuel A. Thumma and Judge Andrew M. Jacobs joined.

C R U Z, Judge:

¶1 Marcus Taliafero Williams appeals his conviction and
sentence for second-degree murder. Williams’ counsel filed a brief in
accordance with Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and State v. Leon, 104 Ariz. 297 (1969), certifying that, after a diligent search of the record, he
found no arguable questions of law. Counsel asks us to search the record
for reversible error. Williams filed a supplemental brief, which this Court
has considered. After reviewing the record, we affirm Williams’ conviction
and sentence.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2 We view the facts in the light most favorable to sustaining the
conviction and resolve all reasonable inferences against Williams. See State
v. Fontes, 195 Ariz. 229, 230, ¶ 2 (App. 1998).

¶3 In February 2021, John,1 an elderly man, was walking through
the parking lot of a shopping mall on Bethany Home Road in Phoenix,
Arizona. At some point, Williams drove up, got out of his car, and began
yelling at John. Without any provocation from John, Williams punched him
in the face. John fell backward and hit his head on the ground. Williams
stood over John in a fighting stance before getting back in his car and
speeding away.

¶4 A witness called 9-1-1 and ran to help John, who was lying on
the ground. The witness told dispatch that he saw the last two numbers of
Williams’ license plate, 6-7, and described the car as a late model Nissan
Altima with faded metallic paint. A second witness, who also called 9-1-1,
followed Williams east on Bethany Home Road. The witness lost Williams
after he turned south on Central Avenue. The witness described Williams’
car as a Nissan with metallic paint and damage to the front passenger’s side.
Both witnesses described Williams as a black man with a “pudgy” or heavy

1 We use a pseudonym to protect the victim’s privacy.

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build. A third witness only heard a shout, a “thump,” and then saw
Williams speed away. She said that Williams’ car looked like a 2000 Nissan
Altima with damaged or faded metallic paint.

¶5 Police officers responded to the 9-1-1 calls and saw a late
model Nissan Altima travelling south on Central Avenue. They saw that
the car had damage to the front passenger’s side, “discolored or damaged”
metallic paint, and the license plate had the last two numbers 6-7. The
officers followed the car to a restaurant’s parking lot, where they observed
Williams and a female passenger get out of the car. Williams’ appearance
fit the general descriptions provided by witnesses. The officers detained
Williams briefly in the parking lot and brought one of the witnesses to
identify him. The witness told officers, “I didn’t see facial features of the
person because I was at a distance, but I knew based on make and model of
vehicle, color of vehicle, the body type, age, size of the person and the
clothing that they were wearing, that everything that I saw matched what I
remembered.”

¶6 Meanwhile, paramedics responded to the mall’s parking lot,
observed that John had difficulty standing and answering questions, and
transported him to the hospital. Doctors discovered that John suffered a
severe brain injury and required emergency surgery. They could not
control the bleeding in John’s brain and he died at the hospital. A medical
examiner conducting the autopsy saw that John had bruises on his face and
jaw, orbital fractures, and fractures to the back of his skull. The medical
examiner concluded that John died of complications due to blunt force head
trauma and ruled his death a homicide.

¶7 After John passed away, officers detained and interviewed
Williams. During the interview, he appeared animated and argumentative.
Williams admitted to driving a 2001 Nissan Altima, with his ex-girlfriend
as the sole passenger, on the day of the offense. Williams stated that he had
“probably” driven through the mall’s parking lot. He said that people were
harassing him during that time period, and he wanted them to leave him
alone, but he denied assaulting anyone. Officers also spoke with Williams’
ex-girlfriend who admitted that they were in the mall’s parking lot on the
day of the offense. Although she did not recall Williams getting into an
altercation, she had fallen asleep in the backseat and woke up as they were
turning south on Central Avenue. Williams told her that officers were
following them, even though the officers never engaged their sirens or
emergency lights.

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¶8 Officers gathered video surveillance from businesses in and
near the mall. Although the surveillance did not capture the moment of the
offense, it showed Williams’ car and John walking through the parking lot.
Cellular data also placed Williams and his ex-girlfriend near the mall at the
time of the offense. The State charged Williams with one count of second-
degree murder, a class 1 felony. See A.R.S. § 13-1104(A)(3) (second-degree
murder).

¶9 Before trial, the superior court denied Williams’ motion to
remand to the grand jury for a redetermination of probable cause. Williams
petitioned for special action review, this Court accepted jurisdiction, and
denied relief. Williams also moved to suppress statements he made when
officers first contacted him in the restaurant’s parking lot, arguing that they
were obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights. The court
conducted a suppression hearing and granted the motion in part,
suppressing any statements Williams made “in response to questions from
law enforcement between the time he was placed inside the police vehicle
and when he was read the Miranda advisement.” The State did not
introduce these statements at trial. The court also precluded any mention
of Williams’ drug use at the time of the offense.

¶10 At trial, the State presented eyewitness testimony, expert
testimony, video surveillance, autopsy and crime scene photos, and a
redacted recording of Williams’ interview. After the State’s case-in-chief,
the superior court denied Williams’ motion for judgment of acquittal under
Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure (“Rule”) 20(a)(1), finding the State
presented sufficient evidence for the jury to render a verdict. See Ariz. R.
Crim. P. 20(a)(1). Williams elected not to testify on his own behalf. Upon
the State’s request, the court instructed the jury on the lesser-included
offense of manslaughter. The jury, however, found Williams guilty of the
greater offense of second-degree murder. Williams stipulated to four of the
aggravating factors alleged by the State.

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¶11 The superior court conducted the sentencing hearing in
compliance with Williams’ constitutional rights and Rule 26. The court
sentenced Williams to the slightly aggravated term of 19 years’
imprisonment with 759 days of presentence incarceration credit,2 and
imposed the standard fees and assessments. See A.R.S. § 13-710(A)
(sentencing range for second-degree murder). The court also issued a
lifetime no-contact injunction, prohibiting Williams from contacting John’s
next of kin. See A.R.S. § 13-719(A)(1) (allowing lifetime injunctions for
dangerous offenses). Williams timely appealed. We have jurisdiction
under Article 6, Section 9, of the Arizona Constitution, and A.R.S. §§ 12-
120.21(A)(1), 13-4031, and -4033(A)(1).

DISCUSSION

¶12 We review the entire record for reversible error. State v.
Thompson, 229 Ariz. 43, 45, ¶ 3 (App. 2012). Counsel for Williams has
advised this Court that after a diligent search of the entire record, counsel
has found no arguable question of law.

¶13 In Williams’ supplemental brief, he first argues that the
superior court erred by denying his motion for judgment of acquittal.
Specifically, he claims that the State failed to present sufficient evidence
“directly identifying” him as the perpetrator. We review this issue de novo,
viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury’s
verdict. See State v. Burns, 237 Ariz. 1, 20, ¶ 72 (2015). In making this
determination, the relevant inquiry is whether “any rational trier of fact
could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable
doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979) (emphasis in original).
Sufficient evidence may exist even where conflicting evidence is presented,
State v. Flowers, 110 Ariz. 566, 567 (1974), and may be circumstantial or
direct, State v. Pena, 209 Ariz. 503, 505, ¶ 7 (App. 2005).

2 The superior court awarded one more day of presentence
incarceration credit than was warranted, but absent a cross-appeal by the
State, we lack the jurisdiction to correct an illegally lenient sentence. See
State v. Dawson, 164 Ariz. 278, 281–83, 286 (1990).

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¶14 To convict a person of second-degree murder, as relevant
here, the State must prove that “without premeditation,” and “[u]nder
circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, the person
recklessly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death and thereby
causes the death of another person.” A.R.S. § 13-1104(A)(3). Through video
surveillance, eyewitness testimony, and officer testimony, the State placed
Williams at the crime scene and presented sufficient evidence that he hit
John in the face. Expert witness testimony, supported by an autopsy report
and photos, proved that John had been hit in the face, he fell backward and
hit the back of his head, and the impact fractured his skull. This injury
caused bleeding in John’s brain and resulted in his death. Although the
State did not present video surveillance showing the exact moment of the
offense and eyewitnesses did not see Williams’ distinct facial features, the
evidence, even if circumstantial, established that Williams perpetrated the
assault that caused John’s death. See Pena, 209 Ariz. at 505, ¶ 7. Sufficient
evidence supports Williams’ conviction, and the superior court did not err
in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal.

¶15 Next, Williams argues that numerous instances of
prosecutorial error, both separately and cumulatively, deprived him of the
right to a fair trial and due process. See In re Martinez, 248 Ariz. 458, 470, ¶
47 (2020) (distinguishing between prosecutorial error and misconduct). He
claims that, throughout trial, the prosecutor improperly vouched for the
State’s witnesses, misrepresented the evidence, elicited precluded
testimony, expressed his personal opinion, and lied about his ability to
redact exhibits. To warrant reversal, the alleged prosecutorial error must
have “so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting
conviction a denial of due process.” State v. Hughes, 193 Ariz. 72, 79, ¶ 26
(1998) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). “[S]uch conduct is
not merely the result of legal error, negligence, mistake, or insignificant
impropriety, but, taken as a whole, amounts to intentional conduct which
the prosecutor knows to be improper and prejudicial.” Pool v. Superior Ct.
In & For Pima Cnty., 139 Ariz. 98, 108 (1984).

¶16 We have reviewed the entirety of the prosecutor’s opening
and closing remarks, as well as his examination of witnesses, and find
nothing in the record rising to the level of prosecutorial error. The
prosecutor did not engage in intentional vouching by placing the prestige
of the government behind the State’s witnesses, he did not provide personal
assurances of their credibility, and he did not present precluded or
misleading evidence. See State v. King, 180 Ariz. 268, 276–77 (1994); Pool,
139 Ariz. at 108. The prosecutor properly used opening remarks “to apprise
the jury of what the party expects to prove and prepare the jurors’ minds

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for the evidence which is to be heard,” State v. Prewitt, 104 Ariz. 326, 333
(1969), and closing argument to “summarize the evidence, make submittals
to the jury, urge the jury to draw reasonable inferences from the evidence,
and suggest ultimate conclusions,” State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 602 (1993).
All within the permissible range of conduct. Although the parties litigated
the extent of redacting particular exhibits, namely body-worn camera
footage, the State ultimately redacted the footage and Williams stipulated
to its admission. Moreover, the superior court instructed the jury that
statements by counsel do not constitute evidence, and they should not
consider or speculate on redacted portions of the exhibits. We presume the
jury followed the court’s instructions. See State v. Newell, 212 Ariz. 389, 403,
¶ 68 (2006) (citing State v. Ramirez, 178 Ariz. 116, 127 (1994)). The alleged
instances of prosecutorial error, taken separately or cumulatively, did not
result in an unfair trial or denial of due process. See Hughes, 193 Ariz. at 79,
¶ 26.

¶17 Finally, Williams argues he received ineffective assistance of
appellate counsel. Such claims may not be raised on direct appeal. State ex
rel. Thomas v. Rayes, 214 Ariz. 411, 415, ¶ 20 (2007). Instead, they must be
presented to the superior court in a post-conviction relief proceeding under
Rule 32.1. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32.1(a) (grounds for post-conviction relief
for ineffective assistance of counsel). We need not address such a claim
here.

¶18 All of the proceedings were conducted in compliance with the
Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. So far as the record reveals, counsel
represented Williams at all critical stages of the proceedings. The superior
court properly instructed the twelve-person jury on the elements of the
charged offense, the elements of the lesser-included offense, the State’s
burden of proof, the presumption of innocence, and all other applicable
laws. The record contains substantial evidence supporting the jury’s
verdict and no-contact order. The court sentenced Williams within the
statutory limits and imposed the appropriate fees and assessments. We
decline to order briefing and affirm Williams’ conviction and sentence.

¶19 Upon the filing of this decision, Williams’ counsel shall
inform him of the status of the appeal and of his future options. Counsel
has no further obligations unless, upon review, he finds an issue
appropriate for submission to the Arizona Supreme Court by petition for
review. See State v. Shattuck, 140 Ariz. 582, 584–85 (1984). Williams shall
have 30 days from the date of this decision to proceed, if he desires, with a
pro per motion for reconsideration or a petition for review.

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CONCLUSION

¶20 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Williams’ conviction and
sentence.

AMY M. WOOD • Clerk of the Court
FILED: AGFV

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