Jones v. State

452 S.W.2d 365, 2 Tenn. Crim. App. 160, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 417
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee·Decided February 12, 1970·Published·Cited by 31 cases

Opinions

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

James Frederick Jones, the plaintiff in error and de[162]*162fendant below, now indigent and represented here by court-appointed counsel, was convicted of grand larceny in the Circuit Court of Marion County, where he was represented by retained counsel, and was sentenced to imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for not less than three nor more than five years. His motion for a new trial being overruled, he is in this Court upon appeal in the nature of a writ of error duly perfected.

In his first Assignment of Error, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury, insisting that it preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. In reviewing the evidence under this Assignment of Error, we are bound by the rule, stated and restated over and over by our Supreme Court, and this Court, that a jury’s verdict of guilt, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the witnesses for the State and resolves all conflicts in the evidence in favor of and establishes the State’s theory of the case. Under such a verdict, the presumption of innocence, which the law accords an accused prior to conviction, disappears and is replaced by a presumption of guilt which puts upon him the burden of showing upon appeal that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. We may review the evidence only to determine whether it preponderates against the verdict and, in doing so, we must take the verdict as having established the credibility of the State’s witnesses. The verdict will be disturbed on the facts only if the evidence clearly preponderates against it and in favor of the innocence of the accused. Gulley v. State, 219 Tenn. 114, 407 S.W.2d 186; Jamison v. State, 220 Tenn. 280, 416 S.W.2d 768; Webster [163]*163v. State (Tenn. Crim. App.), 425 S.W.2d 799; Brown v. State (Tenn. Crim. App.), 441 S.W.2d 485.

The rule that the credibility of the witnesses and conflicts in the testimony are all settled by the verdict of the jury, “makes unnecessary, indeed, inappropriate, a detailed discussion of that evidence, pro and con, * * * in stating what we conclude the material facts to be as established by that testimony.” Hargrove v. State, 199 Tenn. 25, 28, 281 S.W.2d 692, 694; Morrison v. State, 217 Tenn. 374, 397 S.W.2d 826, 400 S.W.2d 237.

The material evidence obviously accredited by the jury may be summarized briefly. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Goforth left their locked Chevrolet automobile, worth about $2500, parked in front of a church in Marion County while they went in a truck to a coal mine some distance away to get a load of coal. On their return trip, they met the defendant driving their automobile. Mr. Goforth knew the defendant and recognized him. Both he and Mrs. Goforth positively identified the defendant, who lived in Grundy County. Two days later, the Sheriff of Grundy County found their automobile, completely stripped; only the bare body remained.

The defendant did not testify. He interposed the defense of alibi, and introduced witnesses who testified that on the day of the car theft he was in Hixson, South Pitts-burg, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The defense of alibi relied upon by the defendant presented an issue of fact determinable by the jury, as the exclusive judges of the credibility of the witnesses testifying in support of the defense of alibi and of the weight to be given their testimony. Bright v. State, 191 [164]*164Tenn. 249, 232 S.W.2d 53; Palmer v. State, 187 Tenn. 527, 216 S.W.2d 25; Turner v. State, 187 Tenn. 309, 213 S.W.2d 281; Stinson v. State, 181 Tenn. 172, 180 S.W.2d 883; Warren v. State, 178 Tenn. 157, 156 S.W.2d 416. In Smith v. State, 205 Tenn. 502, 327 S.W.2d 308, former Chief Justice Burnett said for the Court:

“* * * It must be remembered that the defense of alibi, like any other fact in the trial of a criminal prosecution, must be clearly, certainly and fully established by the proof, and these fact things, that is, of an alibi, are left to the jury, with other proof in the cause. Of course the court and the jury on alibi questions look to these factual situations with great strictness and attention, to avoid being misled by them, as alibis are easily concocted and it is easy for an alibi witness to be honestly mistaken about the particular times that these things happened.
“This Court said in Cole v. State, 187 Tenn. 459, 215 S.W.2d 824, that alibi evidence and its corroboration is to be received with caution and is to be weighed and determined like any other evidence. This obviously is and must be a correct rule.”

By their verdict, the jury rejected the defense of alibi in this case and from a careful review of all the evidence we are of the opinion that it does not preponderate against the decision of the jury upon that issue. The defendant has failed to carry the burden of demonstrating here that the evidence preponderates against the verdict of the jury and in favor of his innocence.

In his second Assignment of Error, the de[165]*165fendant says, as he did in his amended motion for a new trial, that Mr. Goforth testified falsely at the trial. The amendment to the new trial motion which advanced this insistence stated that the falsity of Goforth’s trial testimony was reflected in an attached affidavit “which represents new evidence not heretofore had by the defendant.” Thus, the purpose of that amendment, signed and filed by the defendant’s retained trial counsel, was to urge newly discovered evidence as a basis for a new trial. In the defendant’s brief and argument in this Court great stress is placed upon the fact that the affidavit referred to in the amendment to the new trial motion is not in the record. In the first place, there is nothing in this record to show that the affidavit was ever filed with that amendment. In the second place, in our view, the absence of the affidavit is of no material significance.

The presiding fact is that the amendment does not meet the requirements for urging newly discovered evidence as a basis for a new trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Jones v. State, 452 S.W.2d 365, 2 Tenn. Crim. App. 160, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 417 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1970).

452 S.W.2d 365 (Jones v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of Tennessee v. Derek Morse
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2025
State of Tennessee v. Marquis Rashum McReynolds
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2024
State of Tennessee v. David Lynn Richards, Jr.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2024
State of Tennessee v. Regina Jackson
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2021
State of Tennessee v. Ahmon Watkins and Peter Dodson, IV
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2019
Christopher M. Hooten v. State of Tennessee
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2018
Tommy Nunley v. State of Tennessee
552 S.W.3d 800 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2018)
State of Tennessee v. Phillip Pack
421 S.W.3d 629 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2013)
State of Tennessee v. James Michael Watkins
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2012
State of Tennessee v. Paul Williams, aka Paul Williams El
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2011
State v. Kenneth R. Shell
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2010
Ricky HARRIS v. STATE of Tennessee
301 S.W.3d 141 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2010)
State of Tennessee v. Freddie T. Inman, Jr.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2005
State of Tennessee v. Gerald Pendleton
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2004
State of Tennessee v. Terrell Thomas
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2004
State of Tennessee v. Lee Roy Gass
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2001
State v. Robert Crisp
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1999
State v. David Palmer
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1997
State v. Caldwell
977 S.W.2d 110 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1997)
State v. Meade
942 S.W.2d 561 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)