State v. Bell

690 S.W.2d 879, 1985 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 8, 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by73 cases

This text of 690 S.W.2d 879 (State v. Bell) 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. Bell, 690 S.W.2d 879, 1985 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

BYERS, Judge.

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life *881 imprisonment. He was also convicted of assault with intent to commit murder in the first degree and sentenced to serve twenty years. The record does not show how the two sentences were to be served, and they are therefore to be served concurrently.

The defendant says the trial judge erred in refusing to reopen the proof on a motion to suppress evidence, says the trial court erred in not suppressing statements which he made and a Winchester rifle which he revealed to the state, says the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdicts because of lack of premeditation, says the exclusion of jurors who were unalterably opposed to the death penalty was erroneous, and says the court erred in ordering the defendant to obtain a psychiatric report when none had been prepared by the psychiatrist who testified for him.

The judgments are affirmed.

The undisputed proof shows that the defendant, who had lived with the woman who was the victim of the assault in this case, became angry over their separation and litigation in which some of his property was awarded to her. On August 4, 1982, the defendant went to the woman’s home armed with a .30-30 Winchester rifle and attempted to shoot the woman. He shot through a door of a bedroom in which the woman was hiding, and she was struck by debris on the head and leg. A visitor in the home returned fire with a shotgun through the door, superficially wounding the defendant on the arm.

The daughter and granddaughter fled from the house and called the police who, along with paramedics, responded to the call. When the officers arrived, they started to set up a procedure to enter the home. One of the officers was shot and killed by the defendant.

Upon being arrested, the defendant made statements to the officers implicating himself in these crimes and directed the officers to the place where he had hidden the weapon used in the crimes.

The defendant filed a motion to suppress the statements he made and to suppress the introduction of the weapon on the basis that he was so intoxicated that he could neither understand his right not to make statements nor knowingly and voluntarily waive his rights.

An evidentiary hearing was had on the motion, at which time the state presented evidence by way of officers involved in the investigation of the case. The defendant testified about the events surrounding his making of statements.

The officers testified that when arrested the defendant appeared to them to be coherent and not intoxicated and that he understood his rights and voluntarily waived them. The evidence showed that two hours after the defendant’s arrest his blood alcohol content was .17 percent.

The defendant testified he had been drinking for several hours before the crime and did not remember being advised of his rights or having waived his rights or having signed a waiver-of-rights form.

We are impressed, as was the trial judge, with the actions of the defendant after his arrest which indicated the defendant was alert and aware of what was taking place, and knowingly waived his Miranda rights.

After the arrest, the officers, after giving Miranda warnings, asked the defendant what he had done with the gun. The defendant told them he had hidden the gun in a tree located along an alley near the scene of the crime. The defendant was placed in a patrol car and gave directions to the officers on how to reach the alley. This route required traveling over different streets and changing directions en route. When they arrived at the alley, the defendant directed the officers to drive down the alley, told them to stop, indicated a tree, and told them to look inside and they would find the gun. The officers did so and found the gun exactly where the defendant said it would be.

*882 The trial judge found that if the defendant had been too intoxicated to understand his rights, he could not have directed the officers to the location of the gun. He therefore found the defendant understood his rights and knowingly waived them.

Where there is material evidence to support the finding of the trial judge on the factual determination of compliance with Miranda, the decision is conclusive on appeal. State v. Johnson, 661 S.W.2d 864 (Tenn.1983). There is material evidence to support the finding of the trial judge on this issue.

Further, intoxication or mental unsoundness is not alone sufficient to bar the introduction of statements made by an accused if the evidence also shows the accused was capable of understanding his rights. See State v. Green, 613 S.W.2d 229 (Tenn.Cr.App.1980).

In context of the suppression issue, the defendant further says the trial judge erroneously refused to reopen the proof to allow him to present evidence from a psychologist as to the low intelligence of the defendant and from a psychiatrist who would testify the defendant was probably not capable of knowingly and intelligently waiving his Miranda rights.

The suppression hearing was held on April 8, 1983, and the trial judge did not immediately rule upon the motion. The motion to reopen the proof was made on April 13, 1983. The trial judge denied the suppression motion on May 12, 1983, and did not rule on the motion to reopen prior to this.

It is within the discretion of the trial judge to decide whether to reopen the proof for further evidence, and the decision of the trial judge thereon will not be set aside unless there is a showing that an injustice has been done. Higgins v. Steide, 47 Tenn.App. 42, 335 S.W.2d 533 (1959).

Further, unless the evidence sought to be introduced on a motion to reopen proof is such as would show a different result would probably occur, the action of the trial judge in refusing to reopen the proof will not be set aside.

In this case, the trial court had before it the positive testimony of the state’s witnesses as to the defendant’s condition and action at the time the statements were made. The evidence which the defendant wished to introduce subsequently was that of expert witnesses whose testimony, for the most part, would be based upon hypothetical facts, and was largely speculative. Further, even if intoxication and mental deficiency of the defendant were shown, this would not bar the introduction of the statements if the criterion in Green, supra, were met, as they were in this case. We therefore conclude that the trial judge did not err in refusing to reopen the proof.

The defendant says there is no credible evidence to show the killing of the officer and the wounding of the woman was done with premeditation, and further that his intoxication at the time made him incapable of premeditation.

The jury may find premeditation from the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
690 S.W.2d 879, 1985 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bell-tenncrimapp-1985.