Graves v. State

489 S.W.2d 74, 1972 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 297
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 31, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 489 S.W.2d 74 (Graves v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graves v. State, 489 S.W.2d 74, 1972 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 297 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinions

OPINION

GALBREATH, Justice.

In their joint trial in the Criminal Court of Shelby County the plaintiffs in error, Delthia Ann Graves and Gilbert Lawrence Callaway, were found guilty of murder in the first degree while perpetrating the felony of burglary in the first degree and were respectively sentenced to seventy (70) years and twenty-five (25) years in the penitentiary. Both appeal alleging between them some fifty-three assignments of error, a number of which are urged jointly and some of which are reiterative of others.

Those assignments urged by the defendant Callaway challenging the sufficiency of the evidence are overruled. The jury had before it convincing and corroborated evidence from an accomplice, Mrs. Carol Robbins, describing in minute detail how she, Callaway and Graves burglariously entered the home of Mrs. Ruth Haynes in the predawn hours of October 26, 1970, with the intent to obtain money the latter two thought was concealed on the premises by the elderly widow who they believed mistrusted banks. According to Mrs. Robbins the two appellants seized Mrs. Haynes and took her into another part of the building. She heard noises, and upon investigating she saw the victim prostrate on the floor face down and tied with Mrs. Graves and Callaway holding her down. After searching for the money they came to steal, the trio fled the scene when Mrs. Haynes grandnephew came to see her about 8 A.M. In climbing over a fence in the back of the victim’s home, Mrs. Robbins lost her billfold from her purse where it was found by the investigating officers. Medical testimony indicated that death was due to manual strangulation and a blow to the head.

The defendant Callaway vigorously denied the role Mrs. Robbins described he took in the burglary and attempted robbery during which Mrs. Haynes was killed and sought to place the blame on the two women. The defendant Graves did not testify.

The conflicting testimony made out a clear issue of fact for resolvement by the jury, and we cannot say that the evidence preponderates against its verdict and in favor of the innocence of Callaway. This we would have to do in order to reverse his conviction for insufficiency of evidence. See McBee v. State, 213 Tenn. 15, 372 S.W.2d 173. There was ample proof of burglary to support the jury’s finding that the murder was committed during the perpetration of that felony even if the entry into the victim’s home was made through an unlocked door. See Goins v. State, 192 Tenn. 32, 237 S.W.2d 8.

Many of the assignments of error complain of what is termed “General Information Subpoenas” said to have been issued by the District Attorney General for witnesses to appear at the office of that official to be interviewed, and of the failure of the court to grant a motion for the issuance of such subpoenas by counsel for the defendants. Error is also assigned to the failure of the court to deny the State the right to use these various witnesses whose anticipated testimony was characterized by motion as “tainted.”

Exhibited to the motion of the defendants are copies of instruments containing the following notice:

“TO_ You are summoned to appear in the office of the Attorney General, 3rd Floor, 157 Poplar Ave. at 11:30 A.M. on Tues., April 20, 1971 to confer with Asst. Atty. Gen’l. Lt. Lafferty_ Roy M. Nixon, Sheriff Tatum D.S.”

No authority exists for the District Attorney Generals of this State to cause the issuance of subpoenas to secure [80]*80the attendance of witnesses before him or any representative of his office. The power to send for witnesses for the purpose of investigating suspected crime is by statute conferred upon the grand jury alone.

“The grand jury shall send for witnesses whenever they, or any of them, suspect that an indictable offense has been committed.”
T.C.A. § 40-1617.
“The clerk of the court, on the application of the grand jury, shall issue subpoenas, in such cases, for any witnesses the jury may require to give evidence before them; and such witnesses, being subpoenaed and failing to attend, will be liable, and may be proceeded against as other defaulting witnesses.”
T.C.A. § 40-1618.

If the grand jury is not in session the District Attorney General may cause witnesses to be subpoenaed but only for appearance before the grand jury.

“The district attorneys may call upon the clerks of their various courts for process, between the terms of their respective courts, to secure the attendance of witnesses before the grand juries on the first day of the succeeding term, whenever, in their opinion, it is necessary to secure the ends of justice and protect the interests of the state.”
T.C.A. § 40-1619.

Our Supreme Court has condemned the practice of District Attorney Generals causing subpoenas to be issued even though the witness was directed to appear before the grand jury in the absence of specific request of the grand jury and said:

“[B]y what authority does an attorney-general assume to perform the functions and exclusive duties of the grand jury? The mere fact that he is an officer of the court and may visit the grand jury, prepare and present indictments to them, and prepare instruments when directed by the grand jury, does not imply an authority to assume any of the duties assigned by law to a grand juror. If he may assume the office of grand juror for one purpose, why may he not do so for every purpose? If because he suspects a violation of law, he may of himself and of his own motion order a subpoena for witnesses to go before the grand jury to give evidence touching the same, why may not the sheriff or constable who waits upon the grand jury do so? Why may not the judge himself or any attorney for the court assume and practice the power?
“It requires a judge, attorney-general, attorneys, clerks, sheriffs, etc., to constitute a court, and each is an officer of the court, so if We construe the law directed to grand juries to include one officer of the court, we must for the same reason construe it to embrace all officers of that court.
******
“That the Legislature did not intend to confer upon attorneys-general the power to order process of subpoena, in the sort of case before us, is manifest from section 5090a [40-1619], by which he is empowered to call upon clerks between terms for process to secure the attendance of witnesses before the grand jury at the succeeding term when, in his opinion, it is necessary to secure the ends of justice and protect the interests of the State.”
Warner v. State, 81 Tenn. 52.

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Graves v. State
489 S.W.2d 74 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1972)

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Bluebook (online)
489 S.W.2d 74, 1972 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graves-v-state-tenncrimapp-1972.