McDonald v. State

477 S.W.2d 759, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 473
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedNovember 19, 1971
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 477 S.W.2d 759 (McDonald 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
McDonald v. State, 477 S.W.2d 759, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 473 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION

MITCHELL, Judge.

Laverne McDonald, whom we refer to as the defendant or by name, was indicted on [760]*760May 26, 1970 in the Criminal Court of Anderson County, Tennessee upon an indictment charging burglary in the first degree in the first count and in the second count charging assault and battery with intent to commit rape, on the 25th day of October, 1969.

Prior to the trial, the defendant’s mother made application for a comprehensive psychological evaluation of the defendant. The court ordered that the defendant be examined at the Oak Ridge Mental Health Clinic for a finding concerning his mental competency to advise with counsel and to stand trial in this case. This order was complied with and on July 10, 1970 the medical report was filed showing that in the opinion of the medical examiner he was mentally competent to stand trial.

The defendant Laverne McDonald was tried on January 6, 1971 and convicted of burglary in the first degree with a sentence of five years in the penitentiary and convicted of assault and battery with intent to commit 0rape and a sentence of twelve years in the penitentiary.

After the motion for a new trial was heard and overruled, the Trial Judge Honorable D. L. Hutson pronounced judgment and sentence upon the defendant for not less than five (5) nor more than five (5) years in the penitentiary for first degree burglary and for not less than ten (10) years nor more than twelve (12) years in the penitentiary for assault and battery with intent to commit rape, and ordered that he be rendered infamous and pay the costs of the prosecution. The court also ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

The defendant prayed and was granted an appeal and ninety days were allowed to file a bill of exceptions.

The defendant has assigned the following errors:

1.There is no material evidence to support the verdict.
2. The evidence preponderates against the verdict of guilty and in favor of the Defendant’s innocence.
3. The Jury’s verdict evidences that they acted out of prejudice, passion and caprice.
4. The Honorable Trial Judge erred in overruling Defendant’s motion for directed verdict, and that the prosecution had not proven venue and jurisdiction.
5. Prosecution’s evidence was so contradictory as to be too weak to support the verdict against the Defendant.

On October 25, 1969 Mrs. Vivian Sewell, wife of John Sewell, lived with her husband and her children at 108 Robin Lane, Oak Ridge, in Anderson County. Her husband worked at night and she had left the back door unlocked for him. The victim, Mrs. Sewell had retired about eleven o’clock P.M. and was asleep in her bed. She was awakened sometime in the morning before daylight by something being placed over her mouth. A man threw himself upon her and was trying to have relations with her. He was trying to hitch her gown up. To omit the details, the man committed an assault and battery upon her with intent to have unlawful carnal knowledge of her forcibly and against her will.

She struggled to free herself of his grasp and lost her breath and slumped and his hand gave way momentarily and she was able to move her head away and she screamed and yelled for the children. When she screamed the man jumped up and ran. The children got up and called the police.

After the police came they found in the bed twigs and sticks and a black glove beside the bed that did not belong there. The victim thought it was a brown leather glove or leather substitute, the lining of which was torn. Her two purses, one had been hanging on the closet door and one had been on the chest in her room, had been brought into the kitchen and opened [761]*761and the contents laid out, partly on the washer.

As a result of the attack, and her struggling to free herself, her mouth and nose were injured, and various bruises and scratches were about her face and mouth.

When the victim was questioned closely about the glove she answered that she should have said just a dark glove that she was not sure about the color.

John James Sewell, who was thirty-one years old and a son of the victim Mrs. Vivian Sewell was in the home of his mother the night of October 25, 1969. About 4 A.M. he was awakened by noise and disturbance. He got out of bed, walked down the hall and saw his mother sitting on her bed, bleeding from her nostrils and in a pretty bad state of mind. She said somebody had tried to attack her. The Oak Ridge Police were called and Officers Whittenburg and Smartt came in about five minutes.

Lieutenant Lee Whittenburg of the Oak Ridge Police Department, cruising four blocks away received a radio dispatch at 4:07 A.M. and went immediately to the home of the victim at 108 Robin Lane. He found the victim Mrs. Vivian Sewell bleeding about the mouth and nose and learned she had been attacked. He found a black leather glove on the floor at the head of the bed, and in the bed clothing he found underbrush, dead-like twigs, leaves and the type of thing which indicated someone had been in the underbrush. That he preserved the glove in an envelope. With his hand-talkie radio he relayed back to the police station the meager description given him by Mrs. Sewell.

Lieutenant Whittenburg received a radio message that a suspect had been apprehended in the area in rear of Robin Lane at 109 Iris Circle. On going to that place Officer Whittenburg found Officer Smartt who had the defendant McDonald in custody.

The defendant was taken to the Oak Ridge jail and immediately confined in the cell area. Immediately after the defendant McDonald was confined in the cell Officer Whittenburg discovered the defendant gurgling and gagging and attempting to throw up something in the commode and stuffing something back in his pocket. The officer took from the defendant’s pocket the remaining portion of a black leather glove. The defendant spit the other portion of the glove into the commode. The glove found beside the bed of the victim and the portion of the glove taken from the defendant in the cell at the jail after he had spit a portion of it into the commode were filed as exhibits and appear to be properly mated.

The left thumb and first two left fingers had been torn from the left glove that was taken from the defendant in the cell after he was arrested. The right glove was found by the head of the bed in the victim’s bedroom immediately after the attack. These gloves were shown to the jury and properly filed as exhibits in the case. That they are mates can hardly be doubted.

Officer Smartt corroborated the testimony of Lieutenant Whittenburg and testified he got from Mrs. Sewell a meager description of the assailant, then began a search of the area. In 45 minutes to an hour he discovered the defendant behind an evergreen bush at 109 Iris Circle. Officer Harpe came up and they placed him under arrest, and patted him down and took him to police headquarters. The defendant had two screw-drivers and part of another one.

The defendant did not testify nor offer any proof.

The defendant’s assignments of error 1, 2, and 5 attack the weight and sufficiency of the evidence and are considered together under the rule that the defendant is here under a presumption that he is guilty as found by the jury and approved by the trial court.

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Related

Jones v. State
533 S.W.2d 326 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
477 S.W.2d 759, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonald-v-state-tenncrimapp-1971.