State v. Hall

667 S.W.2d 507, 1983 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 423
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee·Decided November 17, 1983·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

OPINION

TATUM, Judge.

The defendant, Phillip Edward Hall, was convicted of armed robbery and found to be an habitual criminal. The jury fixed punishment at 10 years imprisonment for armed robbery which was enhanced to life imprisonment upon the finding that he was an habitual criminal. After considering the several issues presented for review, we conclude that the judgment must be affirmed. .

We first address the issue attacking the sufficiency of the evidence. The testimony of Cleotha Jones and her brothers, Alfred Jones and Charlie Jones, established that the defendant and Harold Eugene Farris, entered their residence on the morning of September 11,1979, and committed an armed robbery. At about 9:30 A.M., the defendant and Farris knocked on the door of Cleotha Jones. She did not answer it. About ten minutes later, after cutting the telephone wires, the two men returned. The defendant, carrying an attache case, knocked on the front door and Farris went to the back yard. Ms. Jones thought that they were telephone repairmen and let defendant in the front door. He removed a pistol from the attache case. Ms. Jones pushed the defendant’s arm and ran. The defendant chased Ms. Jones and Charlie Jones, who had entered the room, chased the defendant. Farris came in the back door and held a gun on Charlie Jones. The two men then ordered Charlie Jones and Cleotha Jones back into the living room and demanded money and jewelry.

The defendant accompanied Ms. Jones up the stairs and she gave him two diamond rings, a watch, and $250 in currency. After the defendant and Ms. Jones came back downstairs, Farris went upstairs where he was shot by Alfred Jones. Farris ran back downstairs.

The defendant then took Ms. Jones back upstairs at gunpoint and ordered whoever fired the shot to come out. Linda Cooper, Alfred’s girlfriend, came out and the defendant took both women downstairs and tied them and Charlie Jones with a sheet. In the meantime, Alfred Jones had left through a window and telephoned police from a neighbor’s house. During the robbery, the defendant’s gun was fired.

Alfred Jones saw Farris and the defendant leave the house and chased the men down the street until the police appeared and arrested them. The officers saw one of the men open the hood of a car and throw the attache case in it. The officers retrieved the attache case and found two pistols in it. The defendant had a watch, two rings and $250 in cash on his person. The watch and rings were identified as the same property given to the defendant by *509 Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones testified that the defendant and members of his family had attempted to persuade her not to testify.

The defendant and Harold Eugene Farris testified for the defense. They testified that they went to the Jones' residence to purchase illegal pills from Ms. Jones. She increased the price of the pills and an argument ensued. The defendant had $250 that he brought to the Jones’ residence with which to buy the pills. Farris and Alfred Jones discussed trading a piece of jewelry owned by Farris for some pills. Alfred Jones went upstairs for the pills and Farris followed. Alfred shot Farris. Farris went downstairs and the defendant gave him a gun from the attache case, which Farris fired up the steps. The defendant went upstairs with Ms. Jones and came down with her and Linda Cooper. Farris and the defendant then tied up both women and Charlie Jones, cut the telephone wires, and left. According to the defense’s version, no money was taken but Farris took two rings and a watch from Ms. Jones person. Farris testified that he had already pled guilty to the robbery and received a sentence of 15 years. The defendant denied that the police officers found the rings and watch on him. Contrary to the policeman’s testimony, the defendant said that he had pills on his person which were obtained from Alfred Jones. He testified that he had the money before he entered the Jones’ residence.

The jury verdict, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the State’s witnesses. State v. Hatchett, 560 S.W.2d 627 (Tenn.1978); State v. Townsend, 525 S.W.2d 842 (Tenn.1975). The State is entitled to the strongest legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 882 (Tenn.1978). The guilty verdict, approved by the trial judge, removes the defendant’s presumption of innocence and clothes him in a presumption of guilt. Anglin v. State, 553 S.W.2d 616 (Tenn.Cr.App.1977). We find that the evidence is sufficient upon which a rational jury could be convinced of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We must therefore overrule this issue. Rule 13(e), T.R. A.P.

The defendant’s criminal record is extensive. The record is clear that the prior convictions of the defendant are of sufficient number and character as to place him in the habitual criminal status. The evidence under the habitual criminal count also meets the standard required by Rule 13(e), T.R.A.P.

In the next issue, the defendant says that the trial court improperly limited the scope of his cross examination of Cleo-tha Jones. In her direct testimony, Ms. Jones testified that she knew that the phone was dead when the defendants knocked on her door the first time. Cross examination revealed that she said in her pretrial statement to the police:

“I heard a knock at the door. Okay, I went and looked out the window. There were two black guys, one carrying a briefcase. I didn’t answer the door at first because I didn’t know who the guys were, and they walked off and went down the street. By this time I discovered the phone dead.”

Further, in her cross examination, she testified that she learned the phone was dead after the men knocked on the door the first time but before they knocked on it the second time.

We see no restriction on cross examination. The inconsistency was fully developed.

The defendant also complains of the trial judge’s comment that there were no inconsistencies. As we understand the record, the trial judge was referring to the lack of inconsistencies in the witness’s testimony on direct examination and the pretrial statement that she gave to the police. The witness did not specify in the police statement when she discovered that the phone was dead; she stated only that she had discovered that it was dead at sometime prior to the time the defendant came to the door the second time. We find no merit in this issue.

*510 In the next four issues, the defendant says that the trial court erred in granting a mistrial on the habitual criminal count, that it was error and constituted double jeopardy in retrying him and that the retrial denied him a fair trial.

The jury retired to deliberate on the habitual criminal charge at 11:50 A.M. At 12:15 P.M., the jury indicated that they wished to report to the court. At 1:00 P.M., court resumed and shortly thereafter, the jury came into court and all twelve jurors agreed that the jury was “hopelessly deadlocked.”

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State v. Hall, 667 S.W.2d 507, 1983 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 423 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983).

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