State v. Baker

956 S.W.2d 8, 1997 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 51
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 27, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by104 cases

This text of 956 S.W.2d 8 (State v. Baker) 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
State v. Baker, 956 S.W.2d 8, 1997 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 51 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Bobby Baker, was convicted of aggravated rape, a Class A felony, and aggravated burglary, a Class C felony, by a jury of his peers. The trial court, finding that the appellant was a multiple offender in the aggravated rape case, imposed a Range II sentence consisting of confinement for thirty-five (35) years in the Department of Correction. The trial court further found that the appellant was a persistent offender in the aggravated burglary case and imposed a Range III sentence consisting of confinement for twelve (12) years in the Department of Correction. The sentences are to be served consecutively. The effective sentence imposed was confinement for forty-seven (47) years in the Department of Correction. The appellant presents eleven issues for review. After a thorough review of the record, the briefs of the parties, and the authorities which govern the issues raised by the appellant, it is the opinion of this Court that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.

On the evening of August 9, 1994, the victim, Angela Thompson, entertained friends at her residence. Her friends left the residence to visit a mutual friend at approximately 2:15 a.m. on the morning of August 10,1994. The friends were to return to Thompson’s residence to spend the night. Ms. Thompson examined the door and the windows to make sure they were locked.

*11 The victim’s two children, ages eleven months and two, and a Mend’s ten-year-old child were asleep in the residence. The victim went to bed and fell asleep.

The appellant opened a window in the back bedroom of Thompson’s residence and entered the victim’s residence between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. He disabled the telephone, entered the victim’s bedroom, and threw a lit cigarette on the floor. He used his foot to extinguish the cigarette.

The victim felt the presence of someone leaning over her and awoke. The appellant was leaning over the victim. She asked: “Who are you?” The appellant did not respond. He then placed a knife against the throat of the victim. He told her to cooperate with him or he would kill her. The appellant fondled the victim, performed cunnilingus upon her, and vaginally penetrated her with his sexual organ. Once the appellant ejaculated, he “jumped up and [ran] out of the room.” He exited the residence through the back door.

The investigating officers found a footprint in the rear bedroom. Two officers went to the rear of the residence and discovered a path of footprints leading to the -window and from the rear door. The officers could see the tracks due to a heavy dew that was on the ground. The footprints leading to the back window revealed that the appellant was walking at a slow gait, while the footprints leading away from the window established that the appellant was running away from the residence. One of the officers was a certified tracking instructor. The officers began tracking the footprints. They tracked the footprints to a residence occupied by the appellant’s aunt and uncle.

An independent witness, who knew the appellant, saw him in the neighborhood on the morning in question. A Mend of the victim saw the appellant running from the Thompson residence. The appellant was not wearing a shirt. A witness also saw the appellant “knocking on the window trying to tell somebody to let him in” at a relative’s residence. The appellant’s second cousin came to the door and permitted him to enter. The appellant left before his relatives arose later that morning.

The investigating officers obtained a search warrant to obtain blood samples from the appellant and to obtain additional evidence from his person. Before the officers took the appellant to the hospital, they gave him the Miranda warnings. The appellant told one of the officers: “I’m not denying having sex with the girl, but [s]he consented to it.”

The vaginal swabs tested positive for spermatozoa!. DNA testing connected the appellant to the crimes in question. The known blood sample of the appellant matched the fluids taken from the victim’s vagina. The expert stated the chance of a non-family member matching the appellant’s blood traits was one in 236,000,000.

The appellant testified in support of his defense. He claimed he had made arrangements with the victim to have sexual relations with her for $40. He returned to the residence, gave the victim $40, and they engaged in numerous sexual activities. When he was leaving, he took the $40. He claimed the victim became angry because he took the money and claimed she was raped.

I.

The appellant contends the evidence is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support a finding that he was guilty of aggravated rape and aggravated burglary beyond a reasonable doubt. He argues the state failed to prove there was a “forced entry” into the residence and he possessed a knife when he committed the offenses.

When an accused challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, this Court must review the record to determine if the evidence adduced at trial is sufficient “to support the finding by the trier of fact of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Tenn. R-App.P. 13(e). This rule is applicable to findings of guilt based upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence. State v. Dykes, 803 S.W.2d 250, 253 (Tenn.Crim.App.), per. app. denied (Tenn.1990).

In determining the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, this Court does not re *12 weigh or reevaluate the evidence, State v. Matthews, 805 S.W.2d 776, 779 (Tenn.Crim.App.), per. dpp. denied (Tenn.1990). Nor may this Court substitute its inferences for those drawn by the trier of fact from circumstantial evidence. Liakas v. State, 199 Tenn. 298, 305, 286 S.W.2d 856, 859, cert. denied, 352 U.S. 845, 77 S.Ct. 39, 1 L.Ed.2d 49 (1956). To the contrary, this Court is required to afford the State of Tennessee the strongest legitimate view of the evidence contained in the record as well as all reasonable and legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tenn.1978).

Questions concerning the credibility of the witnesses, the weight and value to be given the evidence, as well as all factual issues raised by the evidence are resolved by the trier of fact, not this Court. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d at 835. In State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn.1973), our Supreme Court said: “A guilty verdict by the jury, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the witnesses for the State and resolves all conflicts in favor of the theory of the State.”

Since a verdict of guilt removes the presumption of innocence and replaces it with a presumption of guilt, the accused has the burden of illustrating to this Court why the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict returned by the trier of fact. State v. Tuggle,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
956 S.W.2d 8, 1997 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-baker-tenncrimapp-1997.