Broz v. State

• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: GALBREATH
• Citation: Broz v. State, 472 S.W.2d 907, 4 Tenn.Crim.App. 457 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1971)
• Decision Date: 29 April 1971
• Parties: Arthur Lawrence BROZ, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant in Error.

Page 907

472 S.W.2d 907

4 Tenn.Crim.App. 457

Arthur Lawrence BROZ, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant in Error.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee.

April 29, 1971 Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court Oct. 18, 1971.

Walter Baker Harris, Jackson, for plaintiff in error.

David M. Pack, Atty. Gen., Robert H. Roberts, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, Will Terry Abernathy, Dist. Atty. Gen., Selmer, Preston Parks, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Somerville, for defendant in error.

OPINION

GALBREATH, Judge.

From his conviction and minimum sentence of twenty years and one day in prison for murder in the first degree the plaintiff in error appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County and assigns errors summarized as follows:

1. The evidence was insufficient and preponderates against the verdict.

2. A motion for a change of venue was improperly denied.

3. Proof relating to the reputation of the deceased for violence was improperly excluded.

The evidence in the record before us is all circumstantial in nature. Whether such evidence is sufficient under the law as properly charged by the trial court in his instructions to the jury in large measure rests with the triers of fact, but in any event must be persuasive enough to satisfy them beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant by being not only consistent with his guilt but inconsistent with his innocence to such an extent that it excludes every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt. See Marie v. State, 204 Tenn. 197, 319 S.W.2d 86.

The proof in the record reveals that the defendant below, Arthur Lawrence Broz, had resided in the same general community of Lauderdale County as the deceased, Carl G. Yochum (referred to throughout the bill of exceptions as Yoachim), who operated a beer tavern and bootlegging establishment on the Walnut Grove Road. Yochum was known generally to carry with him two metal fishing tackle like boxes which contained large sums of cash estimated at about fifteen thousand dollars. He also was known to be armed for protection against those who might want his money. Yochum was last seen alive on the evening of May 19, 1968, when he brought his girl friend of some two years and sometime employee to her home in Ripley about 11 P.M. after attending a movie in Covington. The following morning, about 8 A.M., a neighbor lady came to the tavern where Yochum lived in a makeshift apartment to borrow a blank check with which to pay a cosmetic saleslady with her. Upon their failure to find the deceased and the noting of signs of foul play including blood on the ground, the sheriff's office was called and an immediate investigation launched by that official and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The investigating officers found blood and marks that indicated to them a body had been dragged from a front corner of the building to its rear where the deceased's pick-up truck was stuck in the mud and then back to the front area. Shot gun pellets were found where the first blood was observed as well as shot gun wadding. Shot pellets and blood were also found in the truck bed. The track of a motorcycle with a distinctive tread was observed close up against the side of the building. No sign of the deceased or his money boxes could be found, and the investigators concluded that someone traveling by motorcycle had ambushed and shot Yochum with both #1 buckshot and birdshot and then dragged the body to the pick-up truck and loaded it in the back to transport it away from the scene of the crime, only to be frustrated by the truck's becoming stuck in the mud. It was further evident to the trained officers that the body had then been dragged back to a point near the front of the tavern leaving the telltale blood and pellets in the pick-up and the blood and heel drag marks in the soft ground. It was evident that the officers then theorized that the murderer had left the scene and returned with other transportation to transport the body away for concealment. It was found a week later floating in the Forked Deer River. The physical evidence is such that there appears to be no dispute that the crime was committed as described. The only dispute is as to the identity of the person or persons who killed Mr. Yochum for his money and threw his body in the river. The following evidence points unerringly toward one person, the defendant.

The defendant owned a motorcycle such as could have made the track observed near the tavern wall. He denied taking the cycle to the Dyersburg dealer where he had purchased it for the purpose of having the rear tire taken off and another of a different tread put on, saying that the only reason he took it there was because its clutch ws burned out. The dealer denied that there was anything wrong with the clutch but said the defendant insisted on changing tires and having a new one put on after inquiring if anyone had been there checking on his motorcycle. The defendant claimed he disposed of the tire the police suspected was a match for the print left at the murder scene by selling it to some hippie-type cyclist he had chanced upon. He also denied ever purchasing any #1 shot shells for his shotgun, as a sporting goods store operator in Ripley...