State v. Spadafina

952 S.W.2d 444, 1997 WL 1239, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 803
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 31, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 952 S.W.2d 444 (State v. Spadafina) 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. Spadafina, 952 S.W.2d 444, 1997 WL 1239, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 803 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

[447]*447 OPINION

PEAY, Judge.

The defendant was indicted on February 6, 1995, for the murder of Paul Burns. After a three day trial, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder but was unable to reach a decision as to the punishment. The trial court, therefore, sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment.

In this appeal as of right, the defendant raises the following seven issues 1

1. The evidence was insufficient to justify a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. The jury’s verdict was based upon passion and prejudice against the defendant.
3. The court erred by failing to admonish the State for improper remarks made during closing argument.
4. The court erred by refusing to grant the defendant’s request for a recess following a lengthy direct examination and prior to an expected lengthy cross-examination of a key witness.
5. The court erred by admonishing the defendant in the presence of the jury.
6. The court erred by not charging the jury on the lesser included offense of facilitation of first degree murder.
7. The court erred in not finding the defendant was prejudiced when two of the sequestered jurors left the hotel where they were being sequestered and when the jurors discussed the case prior to its conclusion.

We find that the defendant’s issues are without merit and his conviction is therefore affirmed.

On December 15, 1994, a child looking out his school bus window discovered a body lying atop an embankment along Mt. Carmel Road in Benton County. Police and medical personnel arrived shortly thereafter and found a man lying face down with his arms stretched above his head. His neck had been almost completely severed. A hotel key to a room at Wismer Motel was the only item in the victim’s pockets.

Benton County Sheriff Bobby Shannon and another officer went to the motel and spoke to Brenda Bums who identified the key as belonging to her ex-husband, Paul Bums. Ms. Burns gave the officers a description of her ex-husband, and from the description, the officers determined that the unidentified body was likely Paul Burns. Ms. Bums told the officers that she had last seen the victim with the defendant and Vito Licari.

Shortly thereafter, the sheriff’s office picked up Licari who was walking along Mt. Carmel Road carrying a large suitcase. When questioned about the defendant’s whereabouts, Licari told officers that the defendant was taking an employment test in nearby Humphreys County. The defendant was located and taken into custody a few hours later. Both Licari and the defendant were then questioned about the death of the victim.

In his first statement to the police, Licari denied knowing anything about the murder. In the defendant’s first statement to the police, he said that he, Licari and the victim had been in the victim’s motel room when Licari began asking the victim for money. He further stated that Licari had then suggested that he (Licari) and the victim take a ride and that the two then left while the defendant had stayed in the room. According to the defendant, Licari returned alone a short time later and refused to say what had happened to the victim.

Upon obtaining the defendant’s initial statement, the officers placed him in the same room as Licari and asked the defendant to repeat his version of the events. After doing so, both the defendant and Licari asked to make new statements. The two were then separated and Licari then claimed that he and the defendant together had murdered the victim. The defendant’s new statement was that he had been in the car at the time the victim was killed but that he had known nothing about Licari’s intention to kill [448]*448the victim nor had he aided Licari in doing so.

The grand jury subsequently indicted the defendant and Licari for first-degree murder. Licari pléd guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for the State’s agreement to a sentence of life imprisonment.

At trial, the defendant testified that he and the victim had known each other for some years while the two lived in New York. The victim, upon being relocated under the Federal Witness Protection Program, asked the defendant to join him in Tennessee. The defendant, his girlfriend, and her children moved to Tennessee in the summer of 1994, and in August, the victim began living with them. In October, after being invited by the defendant, Licari left New York and moved in with the defendant and the others. Licari and the defendant had met while incarcerated in the New York state penitentiary.

Licari testified that some time in December he and the defendant had met with Brenda Burns to discuss killing the victim, Ms. Burns’ ex-husband. Licari alleged that Ms. Burns had hated the victim and did not want to pay him fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) she owed him as a result of their divorce settlement. According to Licari, Ms. Burns had offered to pay Licari and the defendant a total of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) if they would kill the victim. The plan was that Ms. Burns make an initial payment prior to the killing and then follow with an installment payment of eight hundred dollars ($800) per month. Licari testified that he and the defendant had agreed to murder the victim but that the defendant had wanted to collect some money owed him by the victim before committing the murder.

Licari testified that in the fall of 1994, the defendant had intentionally set fire to the victim’s house so that the victim could collect the insurance proceeds. . In exchange for committing the arson, the defendant was to receive five thousand dollars ($5000) from the victim. According to Licari, the defendant had received a portion of the money but that the victim still owed him about two thousand three hundred dollars ($2300).

Licari testified that on the day of the murder, he had driven the victim to Henry County to appear in court on charges stemming from a “check kiting” scheme in which Licari said he, the defendant and the victim were involved. While he and the victim were in court, the defendant and Ms. Burns had picked up three insurance checks that were issued to the victim as a result of the fire. Licari testified that the three men had met back in the victim’s motel room where the defendant had given the victim two of the three checks. Licari testified that the defendant had told the victim that the third check, which was for five thousand dollars ($5000), would have to be picked up the next day. Actually, the defendant and Ms. Burns already had possession of the third check.

From the two checks, the victim paid the defendant the balance owed for the alleged arson. As for the third check, Licari said the defendant and Ms. Burns had forged the victim’s signature and cashed it. From this five thousand dollars ($5000), Ms. Burns paid the defendant one thousand five hundred dollars ($1500) to be shared with Licari as a downpayment on the murder. Licari received his share later that same day. At that point, Licari testified that the defendant had decided they must kill the victim that night because if they did not, he would start asking about the third check. Licari and the defendant decided to kill , the victim while they were all in the defendant’s car after the defendant gave the signal, “Now would be a good time.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
952 S.W.2d 444, 1997 WL 1239, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 803, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-spadafina-tenncrimapp-1996.