State v. RUTLER

900 S.W.2d 305
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 14, 1994
StatusPublished

This text of 900 S.W.2d 305 (State v. RUTLER) 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. RUTLER, 900 S.W.2d 305 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

900 S.W.2d 305 (1994)

STATE of Tennessee, Appellee,
v.
Terry W. BUTLER, Appellant.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, at Knoxville.

September 14, 1994.

*307 Charles W. Burson, Atty. Gen. and Reporter, Christina S. Shavalier, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, Alfred C. Schmutzer, Jr., Dist. Atty. Gen., Richard R. Vance, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Jim Dunn, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Sevierville, for appellee.

W. Gordon Ball, Knoxville, for appellant.

OPINION

JONES, Judge.

The appellant, Terry W. Butler, was convicted of murder in the second degree by a jury of his peers. The trial court, finding that the appellant was a standard offender, imposed a Range I sentence of confinement for twenty (20) years in the Department of Correction.

The appellant presents five issues for review. He contends that the evidence contained in the record is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support a finding by a rational *308 trier of fact that he was guilty of murder in the second degree. He asks this Court to reduce the grade of the offense to involuntary manslaughter. He also contends that the trial court committed error of prejudicial dimensions in the charge given to the jury, refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of voluntary intoxication, and imposing an excessive sentence.

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. The sentence is reduced to twelve (12) years.

The appellant was addicted to cocaine. He told a TBI agent that he was "strung out on cocaine real bad" when he committed the crime in question. On the evening of May 24, 1984, he had ingested cocaine "all night." On the morning of May 25, 1984, at approximately 8:30 a.m., the appellant went to the basement of his residence and ingested more cocaine.

The appellant noticed that "someone was standing approximately five feet" from him. The appellant was not able to determine the identity of the person due to the poor lighting conditions. He was startled and scared. He turned and fired a pistol[1] at the person, and the person fell to the floor. He subsequently discovered that he had killed his neighbor, Dorothy Murrell.

According to the appellant, he panicked. He wrapped the victim's body in a carpet that was in the basement. He left the victim's body in the basement from Friday until Monday. He then transported the body to the service station where he worked. He placed the body, still wrapped in the carpet, in a storage room. The appellant approached two people to assist him in moving and disposing of the body. Neither person would assist him. Finally, the owner of the service station told him: "[G]et it [the victim's body] out of here. And you get out of here." That night the appellant placed the victim's body in a dumpster behind the service station. He assumed that the body was taken to the land fill. The owner of the service station apparently fired the appellant for hiding the victim's body at the service station.

At the time he killed the victim, the appellant was married and living with his wife. However, he was having an affair with Myra Cheek. He told Cheek that "he had killed a man over a drug deal ... in some empty house, and had wrapped his body up in [a] carpet, and put it in the storage room at the [s]ervice [s]tation." Later, she drove to the service station and went to the storage room where the victim's body was stored to satisfy her curiosity. The smell was "unbearable." There were a "lot of flies around the door" leading to the storage room. She filled her car with gas and left the station.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation assisted the sheriff in the investigation that commenced after the victim was discovered missing. An agent talked to the appellant during a routine scouring of the neighborhood. In 1985, Cheek gave a statement to a TBI agent. The appellant was interviewed again. On both occasions he stated he did not know why the victim had disappeared.

In 1991, the appellant told his pastor that he had killed the victim. A few months later he told his wife. He subsequently gave a statement to a TBI agent. He also gave a statement to the local sheriff. He was arrested and charged with killing the victim after the latter statement.

I.

A.

When an accused 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."[2] This rule is applicable to findings of guilt based upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, *309 or a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence.[3]

In determining the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, this Court does not reweigh or reevaluate the evidence.[4] Nor may this Court substitute its inferences for those drawn by the trier of fact from circumstantial evidence.[5] To the contrary, this Court 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.[6]

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.[7] In State v. Grace,[8] our 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."[9]

Since a verdict of guilt removes the presumption of innocence and replaces it with a presumption of guilt, the accused has the burden in this Court of illustrating why the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict returned by the jury.[10] This Court will not disturb a verdict of guilt due to the sufficiency of the evidence unless the facts contained in the record and any inferences which may be drawn from the facts are insufficient, as a matter of law, for a rational trier of fact to find the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.[11]

B.

Before an accused could be convicted of murder in the second degree when the offense in question was committed,[12] the state was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused unlawfully and willfully killed the victim, and that the killing was malicious.[13] Both the state and the appellant correctly argue that malice is an essential element of murder in the second degree.[14] The appellant argues that the state failed to establish this element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The state argues that this element of the offense may be inferred from the appellant's use of a deadly weapon and his concealment of the victim's body.

Malice may be either express or implied.[15] "Express" malice is malice that is directed at the victim.[16] "Implied" malice is *310 general malice. It may be inferred "from the naked fact of the attempted killing, and the act is committed deliberately and is likely to be attended with dangerous consequences."[17] It has long been established that malice may be inferred when a deadly weapon is used to kill the victim.[18]

In his statement to the TBI agent, the appellant stated that he carried a pistol with him at all times. In addition, the appellant had ingested cocaine immediately prior to killing the victim.

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Bluebook (online)
900 S.W.2d 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rutler-tenncrimapp-1994.