State v. Raines

882 S.W.2d 376, 1994 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 132
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 7, 1994
StatusPublished
Cited by140 cases

This text of 882 S.W.2d 376 (State v. Raines) 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. Raines, 882 S.W.2d 376, 1994 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 132 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, Judge.

The appellant, Earl Raines, was convicted of murder in the second degree, a Class A felony, by a jury of his peers. The trial court, finding the appellant to be a standard offender, imposed a Range I sentence of *379 twenty-five (25) years confinement in the Department of Correction.

Seven issues are presented for review. The appellant contends the evidence contained in the record is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support a finding by a rational trier of fact that he is guilty of murder in the second degree beyond a reasonable doubt. He further contends that the trial court committed error of prejudicial dimensions in (a) charging the jury that it must find him not guilty of the greater offense before considering the next lesser included offense, (b) refusing to set aside the jury verdict because it was against the weight of the evidence, and (c) failing to fully define the term “knowing” in the instructions given to the jury. He also contends that the trial court committed error of prejudicial dimensions when applying the enhancement factors when sentencing him, failing to consider the applicable mitigating factors, and imposing a sentence that is too harsh.

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed as modified.

The appellant and the victim, Wilma Jean Raines, were married for several years. However, this union was dissolved by divorce. Although, the divorce decree was entered on April 8, 1991, the appellant continued to live in the victim’s residence.

The victim’s insistence that the appellant move from her residence resulted in numerous arguments between the appellant and the victim. The victim told the appellant that he had to move from the residence by May 8, 1991. He did not move. She then told the appellant that if he did not move on or before May 11, 1991, she would take legal action to have him evicted.

On May 8, 1991, the appellant went on a rampage. He told one of the victim’s sisters that he was going to kill his mother-in-law and his wife. He told the victim in, the presence of their daughter that “he was going to blow her brains out.” He made his mother-in-law leave the residence. She testified that the appellant told her “there was going to be some hell raised all night if [she] didn’t get the hell out of there and get back to the home where [she] belonged.” He was holding a shotgun in his hands as she left the residence.

The appellant went next door and attempted to engage one of the victim’s sisters in a fight. She ignored him. However, when he called her grandchild vile names, the mother of the child attacked him. He pushed her away. Later, he took steps to cut the power off. The appellant’s daughter went to the home of a relative to avoid a confrontation with him.

During the early morning hours of May 9, 1991, the appellant shot the victim in the head with a shotgun. He went next door and told his mother-in-law and a sister-in-law: “I shot her.” He later told the sister-in-law it was his fault.

An investigation revealed two spent .12 gauge shotgun shells in the living room area and a live round in the kitchen. The shotgun was also recovered. An autopsy revealed that there was a massive distortion of the face and head caused by an obvious shotgun wound. The pellets entered in “front of the left ear ... and blew the right side of the head out, just totally wiped out the head, crumbled the bones, skin flaps out and brain disrupted.” The cause of death was “brain disruption from a shotgun wound to the left temple area of the head.”

The appellant told the ambulance attendants in the presence of law enforcement officers that he and the victim had struggled over the shotgun and the victim was accidentally shot during the scuffle. Later, he told a deputy sheriff:

[H]e had been drinking and that he got in an argument with his ... sister-in-law, ... Norma Smith, earlier that day over an automobile. And sometime later on in the night, the victim had woke him up to see if he was going to bed.... [He] told her “yeah, I’m going to get my damn gun and shoot the windows out of the car.” And he said that he went and got his gun, come back into the living room ... a struggle ensued between him and the victim. And he stated that they were ... pushing and pulling at each other, and they just fell apart and the gun went off striking the victim.

*380 Although the appellant stated he had consumed four or five quarts of beer before the struggle occurred, he pointed out that he could drink a case of beer and not be drunk. He specifically stated that he was not drunk when the shooting occurred. There is no indication in the record over what period of time he consumed the beer.

A test firing of the murder weapon revealed that the barrel of the shotgun was approximately four feet from the victim when it was fired. Furthermore, the drift pattern of the shot that killed the victim was between 2° and 3°, indicating essentially a level, horizontal shot straight through the head.

I.

When an accused challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, this Court must review the record to determine if the evidence adduced during the trial was sufficient “to support the finding of the trier of fact of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Tenn. R.App.P. 13(e). This rule is applicable to findings of guilt predicated upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence. State v. Matthews, 805 S.W.2d 776, 779 (Tenn.Crim.App.1990).

In determining the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court does not reweigh or reevaluate the evidence. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tenn.1978). Nor may this Court substitute its inferences for those drawn by the trier of fact from circumstantial evidence. Liakas v. State, 199 Tenn. 298, 305, 286 S.W.2d 856, 859 (1956). To the contrary, this Corn!; is required to afford the State of Tennessee the strongest legitimate view of the evidence contained in the record as well as all reasonable and legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. State v. Herrod, 754 S.W.2d 627, 632 (Tenn.Crim.App.1988).

Questions concerning the credibility of the witnesses, the weight and value to be given the evidence, as well as all factual issues raised by the evidence, are resolved by the trier of fact, not this Court. State v. Pappas, 754 S.W.2d 620, 623 (Tenn.Crim.App.1987). In State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn.1973), the Supreme Court said: “A guilty verdict by the jury, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the witnesses for the State and resolves all conflicts in favor of the theory of the State.”

A criminal offense may be established exclusively by circumstantial evidence. State v. Hailey, 658 S.W.2d 547, 552 (Tenn.Crim.App.1983).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
882 S.W.2d 376, 1994 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-raines-tenncrimapp-1994.