State v. Goltz

111 S.W.3d 1, 2003 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 26, 2003 WL 141060
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 15, 2003
DocketM2001-02019-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished
Cited by355 cases

This text of 111 S.W.3d 1 (State v. Goltz) 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. Goltz, 111 S.W.3d 1, 2003 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 26, 2003 WL 141060 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID G. HAYES, J„

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which JERRY L. SMITH and JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, JJ. joined.

The Appellant, Dennis R. Goltz, was convicted by a Hickman County jury of class E felony theft and sentenced to a term of two years, with sixty days to be served in confinement. On appeal, Goltz raises the following issues: (1) whether the trial court erred by removing a juror during the trial after that juror expressed concern about his ability to be fair and impartial; (2) whether he was denied a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct during the State’s closing argument; and (3) whether his sentence was excessive based upon the trial court’s failure to apply a mitigating factor. After review, we find no error with respect to issues (1) and (3). With regard to issue (2), we find that the prosecutor’s closing argument affected the verdict to the prejudice of Goltz. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed, and this case is remanded for a new trial.

Factual Background

On June 8, 2000, the Appellant, in the course of his duties as a deputy with the Hickman County Sheriffs Office, was dispatched to Highway 100 where a Center-ville police officer had detained two female suspects for burglarizing vending machines. A search of the suspects’ car yielded various burglarious instruments and a bag of coins. The Appellant and his partner, Deputy Carl Hutchinson, arrested both the driver of the vehicle, Jamie Freels, and her passenger, Sharon Duncan. The two suspects were then transported to the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office.

Duncan, who was released first, retrieved the car from the impound lot and picked up Freels after she was released on bail. The next morning Freels discovered that three rings were missing from her car and contacted several law enforcement personnel, including Detective Terry Chandler at the Hickman County Sheriff’s Department. Freels explained that she had removed the rings prior to burglarizing the machines and placed them in the console because she did not want the rings damaged. Detective Chandler asked the Appellant if he had seen the rings during his search of the suspects’ car. The Ap *4 pellant denied any knowledge of the rings. Additionally, Deputy Hutchinson was questioned about the rings, and he also advised that he had no knowledge as to their disappearance.

On June 23, 2000, an envelope addressed to Freels was delivered to the sheriffs department marked by the post office “return to sender.” On the envelope, “Terry Chandler” was shown as the sender. Inside the envelope were the three missing rings. A TBI investigation followed, during which a forensic document examiner determined that the handwriting on the address portion of the envelope was that of the Appellant. The document examiner was unable to conclude, however, that the return address on the envelope was written by the Appellant. In addition, Deputy Hutchinson recanted his prior statement and admitted he had observed the rings in the Appellant’s possession during the search of the vehicle.

On November 6, 2000, the Appellant was indicted by the Hickman County grand jury for theft of property over $500 but less than $1000. At the conclusion of the trial on May 17, 2001, a jury found the Appellant guilty of theft as charged. The Appellant was subsequently sentenced to two years in the Tennessee Department of Correction, with all but sixty days of the sentence suspended. The Appellant was also barred from serving as a law enforcement officer in Tennessee.

Analysis

I. Removal of Juror

The Appellant asserts that he should have been granted a new trial because he was prejudiced by the trial court’s removal of Juror # 50, when the juror informed the court that he had observed conduct in the courtroom which he felt was favorable to the Appellant. The juror, while seated in the jury box, overheard Sharon Duncan, a prosecution witness, who at the time was seated in the courtroom, tell Jamie Freels “I got his ass.” The following colloquy occurred between the trial judge and the juror at a hearing of the issue:

Q. [Trial Judge]: Does that incident cause you any concern that’s going to affect your ability to be fair and impartial if you stay on this jury? A. [Juror]: Yes, because I think, in my opinion, [Duncan] set him up. That’s what she was saying. And the fact that she was accused of forgery, really emphasizes that. 1

Over the objection of the defense, the juror was removed and replaced by an alternate. The Appellant contends that this removal, occurring after the State’s close of proof, was highly prejudicial to his case. Furthermore, he argues that, because the conduct was observed by the juror in the courtroom from the jury box, it was evidence which the juror was entitled to consider. This appears to be a question of first impression before the courts of this state.

Consistent with constitutional guarantees, this court has previously observed that “[b]oth the defendant and the State are entitled to a fair trial by unbiased jurors and it is the duty of the trial judge to discharge any juror who for any reason cannot or will not do his duty in this regard.” Walden v. State, 542 S.W.2d 635, 637 (Tenn.Crim.App.1976). Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 24(e)(1) clearly contemplates the replacement of a juror with an alternate if, at any time prior to the jury’s withdrawal to consider its verdict, the trial court finds the juror “to be unable or disqualified to perform [his] duties.” State v. Max, 714 S.W.2d 289, *5 298 (Tenn.Crim.App.1986) (citing Tenn. R.Crim. P. 24(e)(1)). The determination of whether a juror is unable or disqualified to perform his duties lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Forbes, 918 S.W.2d 431, 451 (Tenn.Crim.App.1995). The defendant bears the burden of demonstrating that the trial court abused its discretion and that he was prejudiced by the substitution. Max, 714 S.W.2d at 294.

If the statement was not evidence, clearly the trial judge was acting within its discretion to remove the juror because of the juror’s strong belief that the Appellant was “set up.” Evidence is defined as “any species of proof legally presented at trial through the medium of witnesses, records, documents, exhibits, and concrete objects for the purpose of inducing belief in the minds of the court or jury.” ■ 29 AmJuR. 2d Evidence § 1 (1994). Matter which was not introduced or presented as evidence at trial does not come within the commonly accepted definition of evidence. Id. at § 3. At the conclusion of a trial in this state, the trial court instructs the jury that “[e]v-idence is whatever has been admitted by the court during the course of the trial for you the jury to see, hear, or examine.” T.P.I. — CRIM. 42.01 (emphasis added). We conclude that the statement heard by the juror was not evidence, as it was not legally presented by an act of the parties or admitted by the court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 S.W.3d 1, 2003 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 26, 2003 WL 141060, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-goltz-tenncrimapp-2003.