State v. Spratt

31 S.W.3d 587, 2000 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 465, 2000 WL 763969
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 8, 2000
DocketW1999-00611-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 31 S.W.3d 587 (State v. Spratt) 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. Spratt, 31 S.W.3d 587, 2000 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 465, 2000 WL 763969 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

WOODALL, Judge.

Defendant Jimmie C. Spratt was convicted of aggravated rape by a jury in the Shelby County Criminal Court. Defendant was subsequently sentenced to a term of twenty-five years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. Defendant challenges his conviction and his sentence, raising the following issues: (1) whether the trial court erred when it ruled that he improperly struck potential jurors based on the jurors’ race; (2) whether the trial *593 court should have dismissed the charges against him because there was an unnecessarily long delay between his arrest and his appearance before a magistrate; (3) whether the trial court erred when it refused to suppress a pretrial statement that he gave to police; (4) whether the trial court erred when it refused to suppress evidence that he had been identified by the victim during a physical lineup; (5) whether the trial court erred when it admitted an out of court statement by the victim into evidence; (6) whether the trial court erred when it admitted evidence about the results of a DNA probability test; (7) whether the trial court erred when it allowed the State to call a rebuttal witness; (8) whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction; (9) whether the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on the potential range of punishment; and (10) whether the trial court imposed an excessive sentence. After a review of the record, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and we remand this matter for a new trial.

I. FACTS

S.W. (the victim will be referred to by her initials) testified that she was working for the Multiple Sclerosis Society on the morning of December 26, 1996. S.W. arrived for work at approximately 8:00 a.m, and she was the only person in the office. Shortly after she arrived, S.W. heard the door chime indicate that someone had come in the door. When S.W. went to the reception area, she saw Defendant and noticed that he was wearing dark pants and a dark jacket with a large hood and some kind of logo on the back. Defendant asked S.W. what kind of establishment he was in and he asked whether the business had any medication. These questions made S.W. nervous because she believed that they were inappropriate.

S.W. testified that Defendant also asked whether there was a Dr. McGraw in the office complex. S.W. stated that she did not know Dr. McGraw and she opened the telephone book to look up the name. At this point, the victim “blacked out” and she knew that she had been hit. The victim lost consciousness, and when she awoke she could sense that she was being dragged around the office by her hair. While the victim was drifting in and out of consciousness, Defendant asked her where the money was kept.

S.W. testified that Defendant subsequently took her to an area of the office where there were no windows. Defendant then penetrated the victim’s vagina with his finger and then with his penis. The victim attempted to resist, but she could not fend off the attack. The victim lost consciousness at this point, and when she awoke she observed that she was alone. S.W. was unable to stand after the attack, so she crawled to her desk and called the police on the telephone. The victim observed that there was a broken beer bottle on her desk and she also noticed that her keys and credit card were missing.

S.W. testified that she was subsequently taken to one medical facility, but she was transferred to another medical facility because she had previously had a kidney and pancreas transplant. S.W. stated that after the attack, she had a cut on her head, slivers of glass in her head, scratches on her neck, and two black eyes.

S.W. testified that she was initially unable to identify her attacker when she viewed a photographic lineup and a physical lineup a short time after the attack. However, when the victim subsequently attended a preliminary hearing and saw Defendant in a group of several people who were all wearing the same clothes, she immediately recognized that Defendant was her attacker.

Sergeant K.C. Mansel testified that he responded to the call from the victim’s place of employment and he arrived at 10:04 a.m. Mansel observed that the victim was injured and the victim told him that she had been raped by an African American male with gold teeth who was wearing *594 dark clothing. Mansel also observed that there was a broken beer bottle on the desk.

Officer Amos Corbitt testified that he lifted fingerprints from the broken beer bottle that was on the desk as well as other objects at the crime scene. Latent fingerprint examiner James Holder testified that he had compared the prints found at the crime scene with prints of Defendant that were already on file. Holder opined that the prints at the scene and the prints on file were made by the same person.

Sherica Hymes testified that on December 26, 1996, she was working at the same office park where S.W. was working. When Hymes walked out of the bathroom that morning, she literally bumped into Defendant. When Hymes asked Defendant whether she could help him, he made no reply. When Hymes repeated her question, Defendant asked whether a certain law firm was located in the complex. Hymes responded that she had not heard of the law firm, and she directed Defendant toward the office park directory. At this point, the phone rang, the toilet flushed, and Defendant ran out the door.

Hymes testified that on January 8,1997, she identified Defendant’s photograph from a photographic lineup. Hymes also testified that when she observed Defendant on December 26, 1996, he was wearing black pants and a black and red jacket with a hood and a “Bulls” logo on the back.

Dr. Margaret Aiken testified that while she was working for the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center on December 26, 1996, she examined S.W. for injuries and for collection of specimens. Dr. Aiken also testified that during the examination, the victim made the following statement: “[Sjtated she was at work. States an unknown black male entered her office and requested some information, struck her on the head with a beer bottle, and forced her to have vaginal sex. And that she denied oral or anal acts.”

Dr. Aiken testified that during the examination, she observed that S.W. had a scratch on her neck and an abrasion and swelling on top of her head, but she did not have any genital injuries. Dr. Aiken also collected a “rape kit” including blood, vaginal swabs, pubic hair combing, pubic hair lifter, and pubic hair standard.

Special Agent Forensic Scientist Constance Howard testified that she conducted a comparison of the DNA contained in sperm from one of the victim’s vaginal swabs with the DNA contained in a blood sample from Defendant. Howard explained the methods that were used to produce an “autorad,” or x-ray picture of the DNA samples. Howard was able to visually match the DNA from the vaginal swab with the DNA from Defendant’s blood by viewing the autorads. In particular, Howard found that four out of the five DNA probes were a match and one probe was inconclusive.

Howard testified that she fed the auto-rad results into a computer which had access to a DNA database from the FBI.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 S.W.3d 587, 2000 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 465, 2000 WL 763969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-spratt-tenncrimapp-2000.