State v. Toomes

191 S.W.3d 122, 2005 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1278
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 16, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 191 S.W.3d 122 (State v. Toomes) 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. Toomes, 191 S.W.3d 122, 2005 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1278 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which J.C. McLIN, J., joined. NORMA McGEE OGLE, J., concurred in results only.

A Lauderdale County jury convicted the defendant, Darrell Toomes, of aggravated rape and aggravated criminal trespass in connection with the June 23, 2002 home invasion of Mamie Milkman’s residence in Ripley, and the assault of Ms. Milliman. The trial court sentenced the defendant to 11 months and 29 days for aggravated criminal trespass and 23 years as a violent offender for the aggravated rape conviction. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his aggravated rape conviction and claims that his 23-year sentence for that conviction is excessive. We affirm.

Taken in the light most favorable to the state, see State v. Williams, 657 S.W.2d 405, 410 (Tenn.1983), the evidence at trial showed that Mamie Milliman, the victim, was 83 years old and lived alone at 226 Keller Avenue in Ripley, Tennessee. The victim testified that in the early morning hours of June 23, 2002, she was awakened by a hand being placed over her face. The intruder removed nylon hosiery from the top of her dresser and tied her hands to the bed. Ms. Milliman testified that the intruder repeatedly told her, “Be quiet, and I won’t hurt you.” The intruder also asked if she had any money.

The intruder removed the victim’s pajama bottoms, raped her, and left. The victim waited a few minutes to be certain that the intruder was gone, and she tried to use her telephone to summon help. The telephone cord was missing, so Ms. Milli-man walked to the house of her neighbors, Martha and Curtis Gause. The Gauses called the police, and they reached the victim’s brother who picked up the victim and drove her to the emergency room at Lauderdale County Baptist Memorial Hospital. Ms. Milliman was examined by a physician, and after she was discharged, she first went to her brother’s house and then later back to her own home. Ms. Milliman determined that a coin collection and a small amount of money were missing.

Ms. Milliman did not know the identity of her attacker, and she could not identify at trial the defendant as the person who assaulted and raped her.

On cross-examination, Ms. Milliman said that she only saw the attacker’s silhouette from light coming in through her bedroom window. She believed that the man was “tall,” but otherwise, she could not determine what clothing he wore or even what race he was. She recalled that at one point, the man placed a pillow over her face. Regarding her injuries, Ms. Milli-man testified that “it kindly hurt” and that she “just knew [she] burned and hurt down there.” Additionally, after her physical examination, Ms. Milliman realized that she was bleeding.

The victim’s neighbor, Martha Gause, testified about the victim coming to her house for help. Ms. Gause described the victim as “shaking and crying and real red, just real shaken up, very terrified.” Ms. Gause also noticed redness around the victim’s wrists. Ms. Gause and her husband *125 tried to calm the victim, and they sat with her until the police arrived.

When the victim was taken to the hospital, medical technologist Beverly Bullard drew blood from the victim for the police investigation. Ms. Bullard testified that she was trained to document all of her lab work and activities to establish an accurate chain of custody. On cross-examination, Ms. Bullard explained the procedure that she follows whereby an officer will hand her a police kit for drawing blood, and she will draw the blood in the officer’s presence, label the tubes, sign the police paperwork, and give the blood directly to the officer. Although Ms. Bullard had no independent memory of drawing blood from the victim, Ms. Bullard insisted that unless an officer was present, she would not have drawn blood.

The medical records custodian for Baptist Memorial Hospital, Cheryl Manns, introduced Ms. Milliman’s patient records from June 23, 2002. The state established a foundation to admit the records as “business records,” and Ms. Manns testified from the records that Ms. Milliman arrived at the hospital at 3:52 a.m. The nursing notes recorded the victim’s height as five feet and weight as 110 pounds. The physical examination part of the records showed “Pelvic: Positive bleeding, lower edge of vagina.” The victim reported to the medical staff that she had been “held down by single individual and raped.” The sexual assault examining physician noted in his records attempted anal penetration, successful vaginal penetration, and “[breeding from the lower edge of frenulum.”

Doctor Pankaj Strivastava was the victim’s examining physician. He corroborated the victim’s injuries as reported in his hospital notes, and he explained the procedure he followed to collect pubic hair combings and anal and vaginal swabs for the police investigation. The nurse who assisted Dr. Strivastava with the rape examination was Michelle Thompson. She testified and identified the rape kit used for the victim; the items and documentation inside the kit bore her handwriting, and she had given the rape kit to Officer Mitchell.

Ripley Police Officer Terrence Mitchell was the first officer dispatched to investigate the rape. He interviewed the victim and collected evidence from the victim’s bedroom. Officer Mitchell took a pillow case, mattress cover, bed linens, nylon stockings, and a telephone, and he identified these items at trial. He testified that the nylon stockings were knotted, and one of the stockings was tied to the bed rail when he found it. Officer Mitchell also confirmed later receiving the rape kit directly from hospital nurse Thompson. As part of his investigation, Officer Mitchell delivered the rape kit to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory for analysis.

On cross-examination, Officer Mitchell testified that Ms. Milliman described her attacker as “about medium build” and “real soft spoken and polite.” He thought that Ms. Milliman told him that she was unsure whether the attacker had penetrated her. Officer Mitchell agreed that the only evidence submitted for analysis was the rape kit. He was unable to lift any fingerprints from the telephone, and the other items were kept in evidence storage. He also found no evidence of a forced entry into the residence, and when he questioned Ms. Milliman, she speculated that she may have mistakenly left the door unlocked.

The defense established through Officer Mitchell that the case remained “unsolved” for approximately one year. The rape kit was not submitted for testing until almost one month after the assault. Officer Mitchell explained that the kit, containing the samples, was kept in a refrigerator in *126 the evidence room; however, he did not know how quickly refrigerated samples would begin to degrade.

On redirect examination, Officer Mitchell testified that shortly after the rape, he was reassigned as a school resource officer and no longer headed up the case. The officer said that he was familiar with the defendant and the defendant’s family because they all grew up in the same neighborhood. Officer Mitchell knew that the defendant had a twin brother.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
191 S.W.3d 122, 2005 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-toomes-tenncrimapp-2005.