State v. Cauthern

Decision Date23 March 1998
Citation967 S.W.2d 726
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
PartiesSTATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Ronnie Michael CAUTHERN, Appellant.

Hugh R. Poland, Jr., Poland & Poland, Clarksville, Robert T. Bateman, Bateman, Bateman & Darnell, P.C., Clarksville, for Appellant.

John Knox Walkup, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Solicitor, John P. Cauley, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, for Appellee.

Clayburn Peeples, District Attorney General, Trenton, John Carney, District Attorney General, Steve Garrett, Assistant District Attorney, Clarksville (at Trial), for Appellee.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Chief Justice.

This case is before the Court for automatic review of the Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance of a conviction for first-degree murder and a sentence of death imposed upon the defendant, Ronnie M. Cauthern, in a Gibson County resentencing hearing. 1 In addition to the death sentence imposed for the murder of Rosemary Smith, the jury returned a life sentence for the murder of Patrick Smith. In imposing the death sentence, the jury found that the evidence of one aggravating circumstance, "[t]he murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death," outweighed the evidence of mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(g) and (i)(5)(1991).

Although the defendant's 1988 convictions for first-degree murder were affirmed on direct appeal by this Court, the case was remanded for resentencing because the trial court failed to suppress portions of a statement given by the defendant after he rescinded his waiver of the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. State v. Cauthern, 778 S.W.2d 39 (Tenn.1989), cert. denied 495 U.S. 904, 110 S.Ct. 1922, 109 L.Ed.2d 286 (1990). In the 1988 Clarksville trial, the defendant was convicted of murdering Patrick and Rosemary Smith in the perpetration of a felony. 2 The jury imposed the death sentence for both murders after finding that the evidence of two aggravating circumstances, the murders were "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, in that [they] involved torture or depravity of mind," and the murders were committed during the perpetration of a felony, outweighed the evidence of any mitigating factors. 3 After a remand for resentencing, the Clarksville trial court granted a motion for change of venue to Gibson County, Tennessee.

The defendant alleges that a number of errors occurred in the resentencing hearing in the Gibson County trial court, including but not limited to the sufficiency of the evidence and the jury instruction as to the heinous, atrocious or cruel aggravating circumstance, the jury instruction as to the penalty of life without parole, prosecutorial misconduct, and whether the death penalty was disproportionate. After reviewing the record, the issues raised, and the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion, we have determined beyond a reasonable doubt that none of the alleged errors affected the sentence imposed by the jury; moreover, the evidence supports the jury's sentence of death and the sentence is not disproportionate or arbitrary as applied to the defendant. Accordingly, we affirm the sentence of death by electrocution.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A summary of the State's evidence offered at the resentencing hearing begins on the morning of January 9, 1987, when police responded to a "burglary in progress" at the home of Patrick and Rosemary Smith in Clarksville, Tennessee. Upon arriving at the Smiths' home, the police discovered that a back door had been kicked in, a window had been broken, and the phone lines had been severed.

Inside, police discovered the body of Patrick Smith partially lying across the bed in the master bedroom; abrasions and marks on his neck indicated that he had been strangled. The body of Rosemary Smith was discovered in another bedroom; her underclothes were next to her body and her nightgown was in the corner of the room. A scarf had been tied around her neck and knotted, with a small vase inserted between the nape of the neck and the knot, creating a tourniquet.

The master bedroom was in disarray, indicating that a violent struggle had taken place. The bedrail had splintered away from the headboard and the mattress was on the floor. Credit cards, electronic gear and a videocassette recorder appeared to be missing from the house. Police found costume jewelry in the house, but no jewelry of value. A slip of paper containing the name of the defendant, Ronnie Cauthern, was also found.

The medical examiner, Dr. Charles Harlan, concluded that the victims died of ligature strangulation. Neither victim died instantaneously and could have lived for as much as three to six minutes from the time the blood supply was cut off; however, they may have been rendered unconscious in approximately thirty seconds. There was evidence that someone had unsuccessfully attempted to strangle Rosemary Smith with the scarf, and finally accomplished the strangulation by using a vase as a tourniquet to increase pressure. The medical examiner also found evidence that Rosemary Smith had attempted to relieve the pressure on her neck when the strangulation instrument was being applied. There were abrasions on her neck and face, and the thyroid cartilage surrounding her larynx had been fractured.

In addition to the foregoing, other evidence offered at the resentencing hearing was as follows. James Phillip Andrew testified that he was with the defendant, Ronnie Cauthern, and Brett Patterson shortly after the offenses. While watching television, they all saw an account of the Smiths' murders in which a reward was offered for information. Cauthern told Andrew that he had worked for the Smiths in the past and that he broke into their home and made the woman get into the closet, while he and Patterson strangled the man. Cauthern told Andrew that he raped the woman once and that he had stolen a wedding ring, a VCR, and some credit cards. Andrew testified that Cauthern seemed proud of what he had done, and that he threatened to kill Andrew if he repeated anything about the murders.

Joe Denning, Andrew's roommate, also testified that Ronnie Cauthern admitted his role in the killings. Cauthern told Denning that he had cut the telephone lines to the house, had broken in through the back door, had shined flashlights in the victims' faces in order to wake them, and had placed Rosemary Smith in a closet. He admitted to Denning that he had raped the woman and poured wine coolers over her, 4 and then attempted to kill her. He said he tried to strangle the woman by tying a scarf around her neck, but did not have the strength to kill her, so he used the vase to create a tourniquet. Denning testified that Cauthern's demeanor was "hyper" and "excited" when he related what he and Patterson had done. He said that he was going to be famous and that he would not be caught alive. He showed Denning credit cards, a checkbook, and some stolen jewelry which he intended to give to his girlfriend.

Cauthern's former girlfriend, Jackie Pigue, testified that on Thursday night, January 8, 1987, Cauthern and Patterson were "solemn" and "quiet." The next day Cauthern gave her a watch and a wedding ring. He told her that someone owed him money and he was holding the items as collateral. When she later saw a news report regarding the murders and Cauthern's arrest, she went to the police and gave them the jewelry.

Cauthern and Patterson were arrested on January 12, 1987. Search warrants were obtained for Cauthern's car and Patterson's house. Among the items found were the victims' credit cards, identification cards, receipts, checks and two key rings containing keys which unlocked the Smiths' home and automobiles. The police also found two ski masks, several handguns, a roll of 880 military cord, and Patrick Smith's jacket.

Initially, Cauthern gave several statements to the police, all of which were admitted into evidence at the sentencing hearing. In the first statement, he denied knowing the Smiths or anything about the murders. In a later statement, which was recorded and transcribed, Cauthern admitted that he was in the Smiths' home, but denied that he had raped or murdered anyone. Claiming that he and Mrs. Smith were having an affair, he contended that she had called and invited him to come to the Smith house and enter through the back door. He said that both he and Patterson had consensual sex with Mrs. Smith, and he denied that he participated in the murders, raped the victim, or removed any items from the house.

In the mitigation portion of the resentencing hearing, Cauthern testified that he was nineteen years old at the time of the murders. He stated that he never knew his birth father and saw his birth mother approximately three times during his entire life. His birth mother died, and he was adopted by his maternal grandmother and step-grandfather who moved to Clarksville in 1973. The defendant attended Northeast High School, but dropped out to care for his grandmother who had Parkinson's disease, so that his step-grandfather could continue to work. He was married at the age of eighteen and at the time of the hearing, had an eight-year-old son. Although he had divorced his son's mother, he continued to see his son every three to five months. Since his incarceration he had remarried. His wife, who lived in Canada, was not at the hearing. He testified that he helps his parents by writing letters for them.

Cauthern also said he had completed the Graduate Equivalency Examination and a paralegal course since being incarcerated, and he serves as a teacher's aide to the unit prison teacher. He has achieved "A" status at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for privilege purposes, which is the highest status available for a prisoner. He introduced letters of appreciation from a correctional officer...

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