1977-10-08
George Hicks was convicted of the 1977 murder of Frank Potts, co-owner of Barney's Clothing Store in downtown Amarillo, and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged the killing was a carefully planned "inside job" carried out for financial gain.
Weeks before the murder, the appellant allegedly tried to recruit his brother-in-law, Jerry Don Gipson, to stab Potts during a staged robbery in exchange for cash, explaining that one of the store's owners would leave the victim alone in the store and that insurance proceeds would fund the payment. Gipson refused to participate.
On October 8, 1977, witnesses entered Barney's Clothing Store shortly after 1:00 p.m. and encountered a man and woman later linked to the appellant before discovering Potts' body in the back of the store.
An autopsy revealed Potts had been stabbed 23 times, primarily in the neck and chest. The crime scene was staged to resemble a robbery, with the victim's pockets turned inside out and personal belongings missing.
Fingerprint evidence placed the appellant inside the store, and witnesses identified his common-law wife, Bedale Hicks, as the woman seen there shortly before the murder. Testimony also indicated the pair later admitted they had been paid for the killing and described it as an "inside job." Although the appellant presented an alibi, a jury found him guilty, and his conviction was ultimately affirmed on appeal.
HICKS v. STATE
DOYLE, Justice.
George Hicks was convicted of murder and sentenced to 99 years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections.
The trial which was in Houston, was the second time the appellant had been tried for the offense of which he was finally convicted. The first trial was in Potter County, Texas, where the offense occurred. The court there declared a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a decision concerning the appellant's guilt. Thereafter, upon a change of venue, the trial was held in the 180th District Court of Harris County.
A summary of the testimony shows the following facts.
Jerry Don Gipson testified that, approximately three weeks preceding the murder of Frank Potts, he was approached by Hicks, the common-law husband of Gipson's sister, Bedale Hicks, and offered the enticing prospect of making "big money."
At first, Gipson assumed that Hicks was trying to get his help in moving out of his parents' house. But he soon realized that Hicks was trying to rope him into a scheme to murder a man in Barney's Clothing Store in downtown Amarillo.
Hicks' plan involved committing the murder and making it seem like a robbery gone wrong. The murder was to be carried out with a knife, the pockets of the victim were to be turned inside-out, the body was to be stripped of all jewelry and escape would be made through the rear door of the store that would be left open. A vehicle would be waiting for them outside to take them away, according to Hicks' plan.
Gipson was promised the cash and any items that could be taken from the store; followed up by a $700 cash payment from insurance company proceeds at a later date.
Gipson pretended to be interested in the plot, conversing with Hicks long enough to extract details. The conversation took place on the front lawn of his aunt's house.
Gipson's cousin, Tommy Lee Hill, was within earshot of the conversation.
The next day, Hicks approached Gipson again at his aunt's house and pitched the scheme once more. In an attempt to ease any doubts had by Gipson, Hicks informed him that the plan was an "inside job". Another invested party in the business would leave the store at lunch time to make room for the opportunity to kill the victim. Hicks assured Gipson that he would provide the knife to use and there would be a getaway car waiting after the act.
Gipson declined.
On the evening of October 8, 1977, Gipson was with his girlfriend and cousin Tommy Lee Hill and his girlfriend watching the evening news. On the news, there was a report on the murder of Frank Potts at Barney's.
Gipson and Hill, knowing that Hicks had managed to carry out the scheme, went to Gipson's mother's house where they found Bedale in the bedroom she shared with Hicks. Bedale had been cut on the leg and Hicks was bandaging her up.
Gipson asked Bedale where her injury came from, and she replied that Hicks had cut her. To that, Hicks interjected "be cool."
When Gipson tried to ask about the murder, Hicks replied that he "asked too many questions."
Gipson left the home.
One month later, Gipson saw his sister at a popular nightspot in Amarillo.
Gipson asked his sister whether she and Hicks were involved in the murder of Frank Potts. Bedale assured him that she wasn't worried about being implicated.
She told him that "[Hicks] treats her real good and that they had been paid good money for the job downtown at the clothing store, and she said this lawyer Jim Durham had paid her good, and another guy that — oh yeah, that they still had money coming, and she said that don't worry about them getting caught because it was an inside job, went too smooth."
She also told Gipson that she and Hicks would be paid for their services soon.
At Trial
Gipson testified as to the events leading up to and after the day of the murder.
Tommy Lee Hill testified to what he overheard Hicks telling Gipson: that the murder was to be an inside job, the back door would be left open, and the victim would be left alone inside the store. He also gave the detail of a $700 cash payment from insurance proceeds.
Kathryn "Jackie" Wilson testified that she had developed friendly relationship with the deceased and Kevin Francis, as she owned and operated a retail business next to Barney's. On October 8, 1977, she and the two partners were the only ones at the store. Frank Potts went to lunch first, and when he returned, Francis and Mrs. Wilson took their lunch break. The two proceeded to the Pizza Planet and returned an hour later to discover the store cordoned off by police.
Pauline Potts, the widow of the murder victim, testified that business had declined to an abysmal state by October 8, 1977. She was aware of a "key man" insurance policy contracted by the partners in the amount of $175,000. She said that her husband had scheduled a physical examination the day following the murder in connection with the policy. She recounted that her husband had arrived home for lunch shortly before 12:00 p. m. on October 8, and that he left shortly before 1:00 p. m. to return to the store. A few moments following his departure, Francis telephoned, inquiring as to whether Potts was still there; Mrs. Potts stated that her husband had left moments before.
Reverend Melvin Martin testified that at about 1:00 p. m. on October 8, he, his wife and son entered Barney's to make a payment toward a suit he had on layaway. A black man approached him from the rear of the store, greeted him and said that the store owners would return soon. He saw a black woman on her knees in a corner near a counter. When she saw Reverend Martin, the woman jumped up, pulled her coat together, walked past them and also said the owners would return soon.
Reverend Martin told the two that he was just there to browse until the store owners appeared. However, he soon realized that he and his family were completely alone in the store. Wandering towards the back of the store, he made the grisly discovery of Potts' body and directed his wife to summon the police. He then ran out the rear exit and saw the black couple he had seen in the store moments before, strolling down the alley. He then ran to the front of the store and caught the attention of a passing police patrol car.
He recounted the multiple line-ups and photographs he reviewed during the investigation. While openly acknowledging that he was never able to make a positive identification of either the man or the woman seen in the store complete certainty, he stated that there was a close resemblance of a man in one lineup to the man seen the day of the murder. The man he picked out was George Hicks.
Reverend Martin testified that Hicks "bears a strong resemblance" to man he saw in the back of the store. He failed to mention an "afro" wig and blue denim cap worn by the man and woman and explained this as due to shock at what he saw in the back of the store.
Joyce Martin testified to essentially the same events testified to by her husband, Reverend Martin. While never being able to positively identify any of the males viewed by her in numerous arrays of photographs and lineups, she pronounced that Hicks has a "strong resemblance" to the man seen in the store. In contrast to her husband, she was adamant in identifying Bedale Hicks as the woman she saw in the back of the store that day. She maintained on cross-examination that her identification of Bedale Hicks was a certainty owing to the distinguishing features of her face and complexion.
Pathologist Dr. Jose Diaz-Esquivel testified that on October 8, he performed an autopsy on Frank Potts' body. During the autopsy, he observed a total of 23 stab wounds made primarily to the neck and upper chest areas. It was noted that, while two ear-to-ear lacerations found on the neck eventually would have killed him, the primary cause of death was the collection of blood in the sac surrounding the heart and in the left lung caused by three stab wounds, caused by a knife.
Michael Crandall, an Amarillo, Texas, police officer, testified that shortly after 1:00 p. m. on October 8, he was in his patrol unit when he heard a patrol car be dispatched to Barney's. Because the call was described as a "disorderly conduct", he assumed the responding officer would likely need assistance and decided to head to Barney's as well. As he approached the store, he was summoned by the visibly shaken Reverend Martin. He described the scene encountered upon his arrival and noted that Potts' pockets were turned inside-out and that no wallet was found. Photographs of the scene were received into evidence contemporaneously with his testimony.
Amarillo police officer William Ottoson, who received the initial dispatch, arrived at Barney's within moments of Officer Crandell. He testified that coat hangers, a pocket comb, and a pair of eyeglasses were strewn about the immediate area where the body was found.
Julian Gibson, who, at the time of the murder, was an identification technician at the Amarillo Police Department, testified that he performed a series of 24 "lifts" of fingerprints, all excepting one from the display counter next to Potts' body. Of these lifts, five were determined to be of value, i.e., admitting of identification or correlation with known prints. He testified that all lifts, including those represented by State's Exhibits 11 through 15, were forwarded to the Department of Public Safety Laboratory in Austin, Texas, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Charles Hedrick, in his capacity of processing prisoners in the Potter County Jail, obtained the fingerprints of appellant on an F.B.I. card, which was received into evidence.
Claude Stephens, identified as a latent fingerprint expert employed by the Texas Department of Public Safety, obtained fingerprint and palm impressions from appellant on November 13, 1979. These prints were compared by him with the prints received into evidence as State's Exhibit 11-4 and determined to be identical.
Carolyn Edelen, a fingerprint specialist employed by the F.B.I. similarly compared State's Ex. 14 with the known print secured by Charles Hedrick. Noting that, in her judgment, 7 or 8 points of identity typically are required to conclusively attribute a latent print to an individual, she discerned at least 14 points of identity in her comparison, and testified that the latent print was appellant's.
George Hicks did not testify at trial.
Lillie Mae Moore was called to testify in support of an alibi for Hicks. She said that Hicks and Bedale were at her home on the day of the murder. She and her husband travelled to downtown Amarillo between 12:30 and 1:00pm to take Hicks' mother from a bus stop to her home. When they reached downtown, she saw a fire truck at Barney's and a passerby told her that a man had been murdered.
Moore said that they did not find Hicks' mother at the bus stop and she called home from a business at 2:00 pm to ask if Hicks' mother had tried to contact her. Bedale answered the phone and spoke with Moore. When she returned home, there was nothing unusual about Bedale or Hicks' appearance upon her return at around 5:00 pm, according to Moore.
Other evidence presented on behalf of Hicks was the testimony of Albert Lee Gipson, Jerry Don Gipson's father, Amarillo police officers Darrell Garner and A. L. Morris and former Assistant 47th District Attorney, Richard Stokes, regarding the reputation in the community for truth and veracity of State's witnesses Jerry Don Gipson and Tommy Lee Hill.