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State v. Dixon6/3/2005
n slammed on the brakes, and he and Hayes jumped out of the vehicle and tried to hit and kick each other. Later, there was a second altercation between Dixon and Hayes. Dixon again slammed on the brakes, and, when he and Hayes got out of the vehicle, Dixon fired his gun at Hayes' feet until it was empty. When they got back in the Suburban, Dixon drove by the Eastgate apartments at least four or five times.
Dixon then drove to a gas station and had Griffin pump gasoline into a bucket. Griffin left the jewelry box at the station. When they left the gas station, the bucket was in the back seat between Griffin and Hall. Griffin heard Dixon say, "I'll burn it up." Hayes, Griffin, and Hall complained about the smell of the gasoline, its sloshing out of the bucket, and that they could not smoke with it in the vehicle. Dixon told Griffin to throw it out the window, and Griffin did.
After driving around some more, Hayes convinced Dixon to go see Donnie Wishon, a friend of Hall. They took the items from Alicia's apartment into Wishon's residence. Hayes and Hall stayed there and went to sleep.
Griffin went with Dixon back to Alicia's apartment. Griffin testified that after again entering the apartment, Dixon went upstairs, threw a candle, knocked over a television, and kicked a bookshelf. Back downstairs, he tore a curtain off a front room window, rifled through the kitchen cabinets, and knocked the stove onto its side. It was full daylight when Dixon and Griffin returned to Wishon's residence to wake up Hayes and Hall and urge them to hurry so they could head back to Topeka.
Peter Lobdell, a special agent, certified explosives specialist, and certified fire investigator with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, led the team that investigated the explosion and fire. He determined from the large debris field and large sections of intact walls which had been blown out that the explosion was a fuel-air explosion. The fuel was natural gas, which combined with air to support combustion. The source of the natural gas was a leak in the pipe that supplied fuel to Alicia's stove. According to Lobdell, "the supply pipe was manually manipulated," which caused "it to fail, to leak and emit gas into the apartment." He was unable to determine what ignited the fuel-air combination.
Additional facts will be developed as we consider the numerous issues raised by Dixon on appeal.
1. DID THE JURY'S FAILURE TO REACH A VERDICT ON AGGRAVATED ARSON AFFECT DIXON'S CONVICTIONS FOR FELONY MURDER AND BURGLARY?
Questions posed by the jury about aggravated arson demonstrate its lack of understanding about whether the defendant had to intend to use fire or explosive to damage property or whether the defendant simply had to intend to damage property and happened to have done so by fire or explosive. The following response, given by the trial judge to one of the questions, is typical of all his responses: "In addition to the required intent to damage, Element number 1 of Instruction 19 requires that you find that the damage occurred by means of fire or explosion." He further advised the jurors to "review all of the instructions as you consider this matter." Among the other instructions was the following: "Ordinarily a person intends all of the usual consequences of his voluntary acts. This inference may be considered by you along with all the other evidence in the case. You may accept or reject it in determining whether the State has met its burden to prove the required criminal intent of the defendant." The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the aggravated arson count.
Because Dixon was not convicted of aggravated arson, the State tak
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