State v. Tom Moore

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 29, 1999
DocketW1998-00579-CCA-R3-PC
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Tom Moore (State v. Tom Moore) 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. Tom Moore, (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT JACKSON FILED SEPTEMBE R SESSION, 1999 December 29, 1999

Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate Court Clerk

TOM MO ORE , III, )C.C.A. NO. W1998-00579-CCA-R3-PC ) Appe llant, ) ) SHELBY COUNTY V. ) ) ) HON. CAROLYN WADE BLACKETT STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) ) Appellee. ) (POST -CON VICTIO N)

FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE:

JOANNE M. JENKINS PAUL G. SUMMERS THE WAGERMAN LAW FIRM Attorney General & Reporter 200 Jefferson Avenue, Suite 1313 Memphis, TN 38103 J. ROSS DYER Assistant Attorney General 2nd Floor, Cordell Hull Building 425 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, TN 37243

JOH N W. P IERO TTI District Attorn ey Ge neral

PAUL GOODMAN Assistant District Attorney General Criminal Justice Center, Suite 301 201 Poplar Avenue Memphis, TN 38103

OPINION FILED ________________________

AFFIRMED; PERMISSION TO SEEK DELAYED APPEAL GRANTED

THOMAS T. WOODALL, JUDGE OPINION

On Marc h 1, 1991, the Shelby County Grand Jury indicted Petitioner Tom

Moore, III, for two counts of aggravated rape and one count of rape. Following a jury

trial on October 14–18, 1991, Petitioner was convicted of two counts of aggravated

rape. On November 21, 1991, the trial court imposed two consecutive sentences of

twenty-five years. Petitioner challenged his convictions and h is sentences on direct

appe al, and this Court affirmed the judgment of the tria l court in State v. Tom Moore,

III, No. 02C 01-920 4-CR -00073 , 1993 W L 5126 95 (Te nn. Crim . App., Aug. 18 , 1993).

Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief on October 20, 1994, an amended

petition on April 31, 1995, and a supplemental petition on May 1, 19 96. The post-

conviction-court conducted a hearing on July 17–18, 19 96. The trial court

subs eque ntly dismissed th e petition for post-con viction relief by an order dated

December 7, 1998 . Petitioner challenges the dismissal of his petition, raising the

following issues:

1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support his convictions;

2) whether the trial court erred when it instruc ted the jury on r easo nable doubt; and

3) whether he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on direct appe al.

After a review of the record, we affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the petition, but

we grant Petitioner a delayed appeal of his convictions and sentences.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts at Trial

-2- In Tom M oore, 1993 WL 512695, at *1–2, this Court gave the following

summ ary of the fa cts estab lished at trial:

It appea rs to be un disputed that the 11 -year-old vic tim in this case, S.W ., spent a lot of time at the home of [Petitioner], visiting her cousin, who is [Petitioner’s] daughte r. The victim testified quite clea rly about how [Petitioner] sexually assaulted her. She said that he touched her "bottom private" with his "private" when he had no pants on and she had no pants on. He put his "private inside her priv ate" an d this h urt her and s he crie d. [Petition er] told th e victim not to te ll. S.W .'s testimony that she was raped was supported by the testimony of Kitty Ro berts, a forens ic evalu ator with the Mem phis Sexua l Assault Cen ter, who examin ed her. She found evidence of traum a indicating penetra tion into the vaginal orifice, including a hymen which was worn away and synechial wounds, or scar tissue, at 5:00 and 8:00.

B. Post-conviction Hearing

During the post-conviction hearing, Petitioner testified that he was

represented at trial by Andre Stepter and Ron Johnson. Petitioner claimed that

neither Stepter nor Johnson ever conferred with him about his trial until the day the

trial bega n. Petitio ner als o claim ed tha t his trial c ouns el failed to interv iew an d call

two witnesses, Robin Gibbons and Thermon Thomas, who would have testified

favorably o n his beh alf.

Petitioner testified that his trial counsel failed to ask for “the rule”, an d this

failure allowed the State’s witnesses to attend portions of the trial before they

testified. Petitioner also claim ed that his trial counse l never filed any pretrial

motions.

Ron ald Johns on testified that he an d Stepte r met with Petitioner and/or

Petition er’s family members on numerous occasions. Johnson testified that he filed

a pretrial motion for discovery and a motion to instruct the jury on range of

punish ment, but he did not file any other pretrial motions because no other pretrial

motion s were n ecessa ry.

-3- Johnson testified that although he could not specifically recall whether he had

asked for “the rule” that excluded witnesses from observing the trial, he routinely

asked for “the rule” in all criminal cases. Johnson did remember that with the

exception of Kennitha W att, none of the Sta te’s witnesses ob served the trial before

they testified. W hen the State recalled Watt after she had observed some of the

trial, Johnson objected.

Johnson testified that he and Stepter investigated the case and obtained

statem ents from Thomas and Gibbons. Johnso n and Stepte r decid ed no t to call

these two witnesses because they believed that the two witnesses would harm the

defens e more than they would h elp it.

Andre Stepter testified that he discussed Petitioner’s case with him on several

occasions. Stepter a lso testified that he mad e a stra tegic d ecisio n not to call

Thomas and Gibbo ns to testify at tria l. Stepter admitted that he had a drug problem

in the p ast, bu t he de nied th at he w as using dru gs du ring Pe titioner’s trial.

II. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Petitioner contends that the evid ence was in sufficie nt to su pport h is

conviction .

When Petitioner filed his petition in 1994, Tennessee Code Annotated section

40-30-111 provided

The scope of the [pos t-conviction ] hearing shall extend to all grounds the petitioner may have, except those grounds which the court finds should be exclude d beca use the y have be en waive d or previo usly deter mined . . . .

Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-111 (1990). In addition, Tennessee Code Annotated

section 40-30-112(a) provided

-4- A ground for relief is “previously determined” if a court of competent jurisdiction h as ruled o n the m erits after a fu ll and fair hea ring.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-112(a) (1990). A full and fair hearing sufficient to sup port

a finding of previous determination occurs if a petitioner is given the opportu nity to

present proof and argument on the c laim. Hous e v. State, 911 S.W.2d 705, 711

(Tenn. 19 95).

In the direct appeal of this case, this Court specifically addressed this issue

and held that the evidence was sufficient to support Petitioner’s convictions for two

counts of aggra vated rap e. Tom M oore, 1993 WL 312695, at *1–2. B ecau se this

Court addres sed this iss ue on d irect appe al after Petitioner had been given the

opportu nity to present proof and argum ent for th e issue , this issu e is no t cogn izable

in this post-conviction proceeding. Petitioner is not entitled to relief on this issue.

III. JURY INSTRUCTION ON REASONABLE DOUBT

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Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Henley v. State
960 S.W.2d 572 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1997)
Powers v. State
942 S.W.2d 551 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
Adkins v. State
911 S.W.2d 334 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1995)
House v. State
911 S.W.2d 705 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1995)
Baxter v. Rose
523 S.W.2d 930 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1975)
Black v. State
794 S.W.2d 752 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1990)

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