State v. Brock

678 S.W.2d 486, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 17, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 678 S.W.2d 486 (State v. Brock) 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. Brock, 678 S.W.2d 486, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

DWYER, Judge.

The appellant was convicted by a jury for committing the offense of murder in the first degree, with punishment fixed at life imprisonment. The issues on this appeal as of right are:

1. Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury’s guilty verdict.
2. Whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a photograph depicting a portion of the deceased’s leg.
3. Whether the district attorney general’s closing argument was improper.
4. Whether the trial court erred in denying the appellant’s motion for a new trial based upon allegations of newly discovered evidence.
5. Whether the trial court erred in permitting the State to cross-examine co-defendant Curtis Hart concerning an out-of-court statement made by co-defendant Charles Massengill.
6. Whether the trial court erred in permitting the State to cross-examine the appellant concerning an out-of-court statement made by co-defendant Curtis Hart.

The first issue: The State’s proof showed that during the late evening and early morning hours of November 22 and 23, 1982, James Beverly was murdered in his apartment located at 809 Seventh Street in Bristol, Tennessee. When police officers entered his apartment in the Avalon Townhouse Apartments, the decedent’s nude body was found bound hand and foot and lying on the floor. His head was suspended some twelve inches from the floor by a white nylon rope that was around his neck and secured to a doorknob.

A physician testified for the State that he was summoned to examine the victim at approximately 3:30 p.m. on November 23, 1982. He estimated that the decedent had been dead for twelve to fifteen hours. The victim had a stab wound on his neck, a swollen and discolored nose, and numerous scratches, abrasions and bruises on his head and face. The decedent had been beaten with such severity that fragments of bone marrow from the bony structure of his face had entered his bloodstream, lodging in his lungs. The doctor opined that the victim was unconscious from the beating when he was tied to the doorknob. The victim’s blood supply was cut off due to his head being suspended by the rope, resulting in death by ligature strangulation.

Belinda Leonard, a neighbor of the victim, testified that between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on November 22, 1982, she saw co-defendant Curtis Hart come out of the victim’s apartment, closing the door behind him. She noticed that a small red sports *488 car was parked outside the apartment at this time.

James Mark McCord, who lived next door to the victim, testified that he heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the victim’s apartment shortly after midnight on November 22, 1982. Ten minutes later, he looked outside and saw a big car leaving the apartment complex.

Mark Edward Hicks, a resident of the Avalon Townhouse Apartments, testified that at about 11:30 p.m. on the night of the murder, he saw two men walking from the opposite side of the building where the decedent lived. They got into a big Buick automobile. When shown a photograph of the appellant’s car, Hicks testified that it looked like the same type of car.

Another neighbor of the victim, Bonnie Ann Day, testified that between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on November 22, 1982, she saw co-defendant Charles Massengill driving a small red car away from the apartments. Around 6:00 p.m. she saw Massen-gill walk around from the other side of the victim’s apartment. At midnight, the witness saw the appellant and another man driving up in a car which she identified as the appellant’s. Instead of going in the front door, the men went around the apartment building. The witness then saw them return to the car carrying some “stuff”. They placed the objects in the back seat and drove around to the side of the apartments where one of the men got out of appellant’s car and got into a small dark car.

The State’s proof showed that the following items were missing from the victim’s apartment after the murder: a telephone answering device, a video cassette recorder, a microwave oven, a portable color television and a black leather jacket. The victim’s car, a black Datsun 280ZX, was also stolen and later recovered from a lake in Virginia. Appellant admitted in his testimony that these articles were in his possession on the early morning hours of November 23, 1982.

A girlfriend of the appellant, Joy Elaine Wagoner, testified that the appellant came to visit her in Georgia on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving of 1982. The State introduced a photograph which was taken of her and the appellant during that visit. It shows appellant wearing a black leather jacket comparable to the one owned by the decedent. The police contacted Wagoner on Thursday and questioned her regarding the appellant’s whereabouts. After Wagoner told the appellant that the police had called, appellant showed her a pair of gloves and a folding knife, both of which had blood on them. Appellant told her that he was going to use them to turn State’s evidence against another guy. He also said that he left Tennessee because one of his roommates was being sought in connection with a murder. Wagoner related that appellant had a black leather jacket and a pair of black leather pants in his possession.

Karen Williamson, a girlfriend of the appellant, testified for the defense that appellant was at home in his apartment on November 22, 1982, during the time period in which the murder was committed.

Co-defendant Curtis Hart testified that he and a friend robbed and killed the victim, James Beverly. Hart denied that appellant was involved in the murder although he related that appellant did purchase some of the victim’s stolen goods. The State introduced a prior statement given by Hart to a T.B.I. agent in which Hart implicated himself, Charles Massengill and the appellant in the slaying. Hart admitted making the statement but said that he incriminated the appellant in order to get back at him for kicking him out of his apartment.

The appellant testified that during November of 1982 he had allowed Curtis Hart to live with him and his girlfriend, Karen Williamson. Hart and Charles Massengill left his apartment on the evening of November 22 to get a drink. Appellant stayed in the apartment with Karen until about 3:30 a.m., when he was awakened by Hart and Massengill. They sold him a video cassette recorder, a microwave oven and a telephone answering machine for six *489 ty dollars. Massengill also gave appellant three leather coats. At Hart's request, the appellant followed the men in his car when they took the decedent’s car to dispose of it. Upon their return to the appellant’s apartment, Hart told him that they had to “snuff a queer.” Appellant ordered the pair from his apartment the following morning. After learning that the police were searching for Hart and Massengill, appellant left town and drove to Chattanooga, where he sold some of the victim’s stolen property. He then visited Joy Wagoner in Georgia. While he was there, he discovered a pair of gloves and a knife inside one of the leather jackets. He later disposed of them while in South Carolina. Appellant then returned to Georgia, where he was apprehended by the police.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
678 S.W.2d 486, 1984 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brock-tenncrimapp-1984.