State v. James Cannon

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 27, 1999
Docket03C01-9808-CR-00272
StatusPublished

This text of State v. James Cannon (State v. James Cannon) 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. James Cannon, (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE FILED AT KNOXVILLE September 27, 1999

APRIL 1999 SESSION Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate Court Clerk

STATE OF TENNESSEE, * No. 03C01-9808-CR-00272

Appellee * HAMILTON COUNTY

V. * Hon. Stephen M. Bevil, Judge

JAMES LEE CANNON * (First Degree Murder)

Appellant. *

For Appellant For Appellee

Donna Robinson Miller John Knox Walkup Assistant District Public Defender Attorney General and Reporter 701 Cherry Street, Suite 300 425 Fifth Avenue North Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402 Nashville, TN 37243-0493

Erik W. Daab Assistant Attorney General 425 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, TN 37243-0493

Barry A. Steelman Assistant District Attorney General 600 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402

OPINION FILED:

AFFIRMED

NORMA MCGEE OGLE, JUDGE OPINION

The appellant, James Lee Cannon, appeals his sentence of

imprisonment for life without possibility of parole imposed by a jury in the Hamilton

County Criminal Court on October 15, 1997. The appellant contends that (1) the

jury failed to comply with Tenn. Code. Ann. § 39-13-207(e) (1997); and (2) the jury’s

imposition of the challenged sentence was arbitrary and constituted a gross abuse

of its “considered discretion.” Tenn. Code. Ann. § 39-13-207(c), (g). Based upon

our review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual Background

On November 1, 1995, a Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted the

appellant for the first degree murder of Tonya Morris. On May 16, 1996, the State

filed a “Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty,” relying upon the appellant’s

previous conviction of attempt to commit second degree murder. Tenn. Code. Ann.

§ 39-13-204(i)(2) (1995). Shortly before the scheduled trial date, on October 2,

1997, the appellant pled guilty to first degree murder upon the understanding that a

jury would determine whether he would receive a sentence of imprisonment for life

or imprisonment for life without possibility of parole. In accordance with the plea

agreement, the trial court conducted a sentencing hearing on October 13 through

October 15, 1997.

At the sentencing hearing, the State’s proof established that the victim,

Tonya Morris, was twenty-six years old at the time of her death and had six children

under the age of twelve years. Prior to the murder, the appellant was attempting to

initiate a relationship with Ms. Morris. However, according to Dorothy Ann Morris,

Tonya Morris’ sister, the victim feared the appellant and, on one occasion, left

Chattanooga and lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for one year in order to escape the

2 appellant. She returned from Cincinnati several months before the murder,

whereupon the appellant began to stalk her and, on several occasions, threatened

her life.

Erica Batts, the victim’s cousin, recounted that several days before the

murder Ms. Morris telephoned her and asked that she immediately come to an

aunt’s home. When Ms. Batts arrived, she observed the appellant standing outside

the aunt’s home with a butcher knife, calling to the victim to come outside. The

appellant fled upon Ms. Batts’ arrival.

Annette Morris, another sister of the victim, recounted that on the

evening prior to the murder the appellant called her home, where the victim was

temporarily residing. When Ms. Morris informed the appellant that the victim was

not at home, the appellant responded, “You better have some damn death

insurance out on her because she’s going to die.”

On the day of the murder, the victim asked her brother, Lovest Morris,

and his fiancé to drive her to the food stamp office at the Eastside Community

Center in Chattanooga. While Ms. Morris was inside the office, the appellant

appeared and asked Mr. Morris where he could find the victim. When Mr. Morris

indicated that his sister was inside the food stamp office, the appellant entered the

Community Center building and quickly reemerged with Ms. Morris. While they were

conversing in the parking lot, the appellant withdrew a “nine-shot revolver” and fired

the weapon at the victim several times. When the victim collapsed onto the ground,

the appellant stood over the victim and shot her two times in the back of the head at

close range. Dr. Frank King, the Hamilton County Medical Examiner, testified that

Ms. Morris was shot a total amount of six or eight times.

3 After shooting Ms. Morris, the appellant walked calmly away. Shortly

thereafter, Robert Ford, a security guard for the Department of Human Services,

was notified of the shooting and left the food stamp office to investigate. In the

parking lot, several witnesses indicated to the officer the direction in which the

appellant had fled. Officer Ford pursued the appellant, locating him three blocks

away from the scene of the murder. When he approached the appellant, the

appellant immediately surrendered.

The appellant declined to testify at the sentencing hearing. However,

Brenda Fuller, a friend of the appellant, presented an entirely different account of

the appellant’s relationship with Ms. Morris. She testified that Ms. Morris was a

prostitute who had been addicted to illegal drugs. According to Ms. Fuller, the

appellant attempted to help Ms. Morris by providing money to her and by assisting

her in the care of her children. Ms. Fuller asserted that the appellant encouraged

the victim to abandon prostitution and stay at home with her children. Ms. Fuller

remarked that the appellant “even” bought Ms. Morris drugs in order to encourage

her to remain at home with her children. She stated that the appellant always

treated his girlfriends well, including Ms. Morris. However, Ms. Morris “was always

just messing off, taking his money and using drugs and using another man . . . .”

She concluded:

[R]ight, this girl is dead, and it’s wrong . . . but . . . I’m also looking at her lifestyle and what she did. Pig1 is just the one that ended up killing her . . . .

The appellant’s proof further established that he was born on March 2,

1948, in Moundville, Alabama, and was one of five children. His father was a

sharecropper on a small farm. The appellant was born at home, with a midwife in

1 "Pig” is the appellant’s nickname.

4 attendance. His mother was in labor for three days, and, when the appellant was

born, he fell on the floor, striking his head. Family members noted that the appellant

was a quiet, somewhat unhealthy child, but was never taken to a doctor.

When the appellant was thirteen years of age, his father died, and the

family moved to Chattanooga where they lived in poverty. The appellant maintained

a poor academic record, attending high school through the eleventh grade. The

appellant apparently did not engage in criminal activity until the age of seventeen

when he participated in the burglary of a local laundry establishment.

In 1971, at the age of twenty-three, the appellant attempted to enlist in

the United States Marine Corps. He was discharged prior to completing his training

due to “mental inaptitude” and “limited ability precluding successful completion of

recruit training.” The reviewing officer reported:

[The appellant] possess[es] a bel[l]igerent disrespectful attitude which is complicated by the fact he won’t do anything that requires a little bit of effort on his part. . . .

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Related

State v. Harris
989 S.W.2d 307 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Cribbs
967 S.W.2d 773 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1998)
State v. Jefferson
938 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
State v. Nichols
877 S.W.2d 722 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1994)
State v. Stephenson
878 S.W.2d 530 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1994)
State v. Bigbee
885 S.W.2d 797 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1994)

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State v. James Cannon, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-james-cannon-tenncrimapp-1999.