Reese v. State

457 S.W.2d 877, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 97, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 379
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 22, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 457 S.W.2d 877 (Reese 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
Reese v. State, 457 S.W.2d 877, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 97, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 379 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

RUSSELL, Judge.

The plaintiff in error, Bill Reese, Jr., was indicted and tried for an assault with the intent to commit first degree murder. The charge grew out of an occurrence during [99]*99which, under the State’s proof, Reese overtook a small automobile while driving his pick-up truck, attempted to crowd it oif the highway as he passed it and slowed down, and then fired a pistol shot into the right front fender of the car as its driver whipped around his truck and passed it. George Crumley, driver of the Volkswagen automobile, identified Reese as the pick-up truck driver who fired the shot into the right front of his car. A second shot apparently hit the right rear of the auto, but Crumley could not say who fired it. An unidentified second man was said to have also been in the pick-up.

The jury found Reese guilty of an assault and battery, and left his punishment by fine to the Court. The Trial Court did not choose to invoke a fine, but set a jail sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days.

This appeal in the nature of a writ of error questions the legal sufficiency of the convicting evidence, the correctness of the Trial Court’s denial of a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, and the legality of certain “show-up” identification evidence.

The motion for a new trial averred that defendant had new proof “as shown by the attached affidavits of one Ernest King, that the prosecuting witness testified falsely in this case. That this witness had been summoned to appear but was not found by the officers , after a diligent search in order to make service of process in this cause.”

This ground has no merit upon its face. At once it is said that newly discovered evidence exists, and that the witness was summoned for the trial but not served. We must assume from a silent record that the defendant announced ready for trial, and that no continuance or [100]*100other postponement was moved for. Any right to claim prejudice was clearly waived.

We have also examined the affidavit, and do not find that its content would call for a new trial. There is no showing of due diligence. Taylor v. State, 180 Tenn. 62, 171 S.W.2d 403. See also Crittendon v. State, 157 Tenn. 403, 8 S.W.2d 371; Marable v. State, 203 Tenn. 440, 313 S.W.2d 451.

The identification evidence relied upon for reversal had its origin in the identification of Reese by Crumley at the sheriff’s office the morning of the shooting. Crumley had driven on to Johnson City after the shooting and there called the police. Apparently, up in the morning he went to the sheriff’s office, and gave the sheriff a description of a 25 year old male, crew cut, dark complexioned with a heavy dark beard and driving a red pick-up truck. Crumley testified that after he’d been there about ten minutes “they says, ‘Well, I don’t know of anybody unless it’s Bill Reese.’ I said, ‘Well, bring him in, and if it’s him, I’ll say so, and if it’s not him, I’ll say so.’ ” Crumley apparently did not previously know Reese.

Deputy Sheriff Humphreys testified that he was the officer to whom the report and detailed description were given. The record shows Humphreys testified:

“Q. From the description that he gave you, did you go get somebody?
“A. Yes, sir. I made a telephone call and had the boy come to the office, and he identified him.
“Q. In other words, did Mr. Crumley identify him when he walked in there?
[101]*101“A. Yes, sir. As soon as he came through the back door at the Ashe Street Courthouse, he said he was the boy.”

At this point, it was developed in a non-jury hearing, that no advice relative to constitutional rights was ever given the defendant. Thereupon, a motion was made to suppress “any testimony given here today either by Mr. Crumley or by this officer” because of the nature of the show-up, or fine-up. The motion was overruled, on the premise that this occurred at an investigatory, rather than accusatory, stage of the proceeding.

Later, in the cross-examination of Deputy Sheriff Humphreys, the record reflects:

“Q. Tell the Court and jury this, Mr. Humphreys, what prompted you to call this particular boy?
“A. Information I had from Carter County deputies.
“Q. Did they give a name?
“A. Yes, sir, they did.”
‡ ‡ ^ ^ ‡
“Q. Before Mr. Reese was charged, had you had any conversation with Mr. Reese at all?
“A. No more than over the telephone.
“Q. And what did you tell him in that conversation?
“A. As well as I recall, I told him that there was a gentleman in the office that would like for him to come down there to see if he could be identified.
“Q. And what else did you ask him or tell him?
[102]*102“A. I think that’s about all the conversation we had. He immediately came on to the office.”
^ ^ ‡ ‡ ^
“Q. Now, when Mr. Crumley came to you and told you who you should look for, did he identify a particular truck?
“A. He said that the Reese boy had a truck that fit the description. He didn’t pick out no particular truck.
“Q. He told you that the Reese boy had one?
“A. Yes, sir. Through this information he said he’d received.
“Q. When did he tell you that? When he first come in or after you had talked to him some time?
“A. It was just shortly after he got to the office.
“Q. And so really it was his suggestion to call Mr. Reese rather than this information you had from Carter County, wasn’t it?
“A. It was Carter County officers that I talked to and got the information from.”

The witness subsequently, without further objection, reiterated that Crumley had identified Reese on that occasion as the man who did the shooting. And the following witness, Police Lieutenant Aver of the Johnson City Police Department testified without objection that Crumley identified Reese on this occasion.

The defendant himself testified on direct as follows:

“Q. Now, when you came to the Sheriff’s Department, [103]*103you come there, I believe, at the request of Mr. Humphreys?
“A. Yes, I did.
“Q. Did he tell you what for?
“A. No, he did not. He called me shortly after 9 A.M. on Sunday morning. He called my mother first. She called me and wanted to know if I was there. She didn’t know where I had spent the night. And said he was to call back, and I told him to call me there. He called me back at the residence of Mrs. Freeman.

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Bluebook (online)
457 S.W.2d 877, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 97, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reese-v-state-tenncrimapp-1970.