State v. Chadwick

750 S.W.2d 161, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2773
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 17, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 750 S.W.2d 161 (State v. Chadwick) 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. Chadwick, 750 S.W.2d 161, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2773 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES C. BEASLEY, Special Judge.

A Hamilton County Criminal Court jury found the defendant, Bobby L. Chadwick, guilty of felonious possession in excess of thirty grams of a substance containing cocaine. The trial judge sentenced the defendant to serve twenty-five years in the Department of Corrections as a Range I standard offender.

Six issues are presented for review: (1) Defendant’s trial counsel did not render competent services nor effective representation at the trial; (2) error in allowing a witness to testify who had violated the rule of sequestration; (3) failure to grant a mistrial after a State’s witness gave erroneous hearsay testimony; (4) venue was not properly proved; (5) failure to suppress physical evidence; (6) the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction and the court erred in not granting defendant’s motion for a judgment of acquittal both at the end of the State’s proof and at the end of the trial.

We will first consider issue number six. The motion for judgment of acquittal, made at the conclusion of the State’s proof, was waived when the defendant elected to present evidence on his behalf. Mathis v. State, 590 S.W.2d 449, 453 (Tenn.1979). The motion was renewed at the conclusion of the introduction of all of the proof and again overruled. Therefore, in resolving this issue we will consider all of the evidence which the record reflects was presented to the jury.

That evidence has been summarized in the defendant’s brief as follows:

On September 26, 1985, subject Ray Gregory was arrested by Special Agent Mundy in Cleveland, Tennessee. Subject Gregory, after being read his rights decided to cooperate with law enforcement personnel in reference to setting up a meeting with the individual who he claimed had sold him the cocaine. Subject Gregory named defendant, Bobby L. Chadwick, of Rocky Face, Georgia, as that person. Gregory further advised that he was to receive a phone call from the defendant at Gregory’s place of residence in a few minutes. Gregory was transferred to that location and at approximately 4:30 p.m. on that date, a phone call was received and recorded by Special Agent Copeland. During this call the person identified as Chadwick indicated he wished to set up a meeting with Gregory. Gregory responded that he would call Chadwick back in a few few minutes to set the meeting time and place.
At approximately 4:45 p.m. on September 26, 1985, Gregory placed a phone call to Chadwick and was advised that a meeting was to take place at the third intersection of Highway 321 after turning off Highway 11 in Ooltewah, Tennessee. At this time Agent Copeland, who was recording the phone call, called in G.B.I. Agent Brad Bonnell, because there appeared to be confusion over the meeting place and whether or not it was in fact in Tennessee or in Georgia. Along with T.B.I. Agents Whitfield, King, Mun-dy, and Van Hooser, and other law enforcement officers, Agent Copeland proceeded to a massage parlor located on Highway 11 in Ooltewah, and there engaged in a conference with all law enforcement officers involved in this surveillance. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Agent Copeland advised other Agents’ Mundy and King to proceed to the Golden Gallon in Ooltewah to set up this surveillance. As Special Agents drove by the Golden Gallon located at the Intersection of Highway 11 and Highway 321, they observed defendant Chadwick in a green Dodge van on the parking lot of the Golden Gallon. After conferring with other officers, it was decided that defendant Chadwick was to be placed under arrest at this location. Agents determined that pursuant to the phone [164]*164conversation of subject Gregory and allegedly Chadwick, the defendant would have cocaine in his possession at that time. At approximately 6:05 p.m. Special Agents observed the defendant leaving the Golden Gallon parking lot. The agents pulled in front of defendant Chadwick, and testified at Court that they identified themselves as State Police and advised that he was under arrest. Other testimony and statements by counsel, were indicative of the question concerning whether proper identification was made. As a result of this confrontation the defendant accelerated his vehicle and a police vehicle was struck.
Testimony by agents at the trial indicated they observed the defendant Chadwick leaning over toward the passenger side window of his vehicle and extend his arm in a throwing motion which, in their opinion, resulted in an object being thrown out of the vehicle. A few yards from the point where the vehicles collided the defendant stopped his vehicle and was arrested and taken outside the van. A search of the defendant and the vehicle revealed no narcotics, however, in an area in the rear of the van on the side of the road a brown paper bag was found containing the broken shards of a glass fruit jar and a plastic bag containing a white powder. A toxicology analysis was later performed on the white powder, which was found to contain cocaine, the entire substance being in excess of 30 grams.

Additionally, there was testimony that the cocaine was located approximately twenty feet from the rear of the defendant’s van. Also, an employee of the Golden Gallon testified that she observed the defendant’s van being stopped by the officers but did not see anything thrown from the van.

When the defendant 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). Whether the conviction is based upon direct or circumstantial evidence, the standard for appellate review is the same, State v. Brown, 551 S.W.2d 329 (Tenn.1977). The weight of circumstantial evidence is for the jury to determine. Williams v. State, 520 S.W.2d 371 (Tenn.Crim.App.1974).

The law is firmly established in this State that to warrant a criminal conviction upon circumstantial evidence alone, the evidence must be not only consistent with the guilt of the accused but it must also be inconsistent with his innocence and must exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt, and it must establish such a certainty of guilt of the accused as to convince the mind beyond a reasonable doubt that he is the one who committed the crime. Pruitt v. State, 3 Tenn.Crim.App. 256, 267, 460 S.W.2d 385, 390 (1970). The determination of whether all other reasonable theories are excluded by the evidence presented is primarily a question of fact for the decision of the jury. State v. Coury, 697 S.W.2d 373 (Tenn.Crim.App.1985).

The State’s theory was that the defendant who was en route to a meeting with a known cocaine dealer attempted to dispose of incriminating evidence by throwing the sack containing 52.3 grams of white powder containing cocaine out the window of his van as it was being stopped by the police. This theory is fully supported by the evidence when as required by State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832

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Bluebook (online)
750 S.W.2d 161, 1987 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 2773, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chadwick-tenncrimapp-1987.