Hines v. State, No. M2004-01610-CCA-RM-PD (TN 7/14/2004)
| Decision Date | 14 July 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. M2004-01610-CCA-RM-PD.,M2004-01610-CCA-RM-PD. |
| Parties | ANTHONY DARRELL HINES v. STATE OF TENNESSEE. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Cheatham County, No. 9852, Robert E. Burch, Judge.
Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed.
Donald E. Dawson, Post-Conviction Defender; and Jon Joseph Tucci, Assistant Post-Conviction Defender, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Anthony Darrell Hines.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Angele M. Gregory, Assistant Attorney General; Dan M. Alsobrooks, District Attorney General; and B. Dent Morriss, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Alan E. Glenn, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Joe G. Riley and Thomas T. Woodall, JJ., joined.
The opinion of the court in this matter was released on January 23, 2004, and the petitioner filed an application for permission to appeal. On June 28, 2004, our supreme court granted the application and remanded to this court, directing that we reconsider our previous conclusion that "the trial court charged the incorrect version of the aggravating circumstance in Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-2-203(i)(5) (1982)." We have reconsidered this issue and conclude that the trial court utilized the correct version of this statute when instructing the jury at the resentencing hearing as to aggravating circumstances. Additionally, as explained in this opinion on remand, we erred in the original opinion by stating that our supreme court had addressed, in the direct appeal of the resentencing hearing, whether "instructing an inapplicable version of aggravating circumstance (i)(5) was harmless error." In fact, the court did not do so. In our opinion on remand, we again affirm the post-conviction court's denial of relief, and refile our opinion which has been altered only to reflect our consideration of those matters, as previously explained, set out in the remand order.
The petitioner, Anthony Darrell Hines, was originally tried in 1986 in the Cheatham County Circuit Court for the murder of Katherine Jean Jenkins. The jury found him guilty of first degree felony murder and sentenced him to death. Although the petitioner's 1986 conviction for first degree felony murder was affirmed on direct appeal by the Tennessee Supreme Court, the case was remanded for resentencing because of erroneous jury instructions. State v. Hines, 758 S.W.2d 515 (Tenn. 1988).
On remand, the Cheatham County jury again sentenced the petitioner to death, finding three aggravating circumstances: "[t]he [petitioner] was previously convicted of one or more felonies, other than the present charge, which involve the use or threat of violence to the person," Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(2) (1982); "[t]he murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind," id. § 39-2-203(i)(5) (1982); and "[t]he murder was committed while the [petitioner] was engaged in committing, or was an accomplice in the commission of, or was attempting to commit, or was fleeing after committing or attempting to commit, any first degree murder, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, kidnapping, aircraft piracy, or unlawful throwing, placing or discharging of a destructive device or bomb," id. § 39-2-203(i)(7) (1982). Subsequently, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the petitioner's conviction and death sentence, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. State v. Hines, 919 S.W.2d 573 (Tenn. 1995), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 847, 117 S. Ct. 133, 136 L. Ed. 2d 82 (1996).
The petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief on March 4, 1997, which was twice amended. On May 9, 2002, after evidentiary hearings, the post-conviction court filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law and entered an order denying the petition.
The following proof, introduced at the petitioner's original trial in 1986, was set out by our supreme court in affirming the petitioner's conviction:
Between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. on 3 March 1985 the body of Katherine Jean Jenkins was discovered wrapped in a sheet in Room 21 of the CeBon Motel off Interstate 40 at Kingston Springs. The victim was a maid at the motel and had been in the process of cleaning the room when she was killed. Her outer clothing had been pulled up to her breasts. Her panties had been cut or torn in two pieces and were found in another area of the room. A $20 bill had been placed under the wrist band [sic] of her watch.
The cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest. Four deep, penetrating wounds, ranging from 2.5 inches to 6.4 inches in depth, had been inflicted about the victim's chest with a knife similar to a butcher knife or a hunting knife. Other superficial cuts were found in the area of the neck and clavicle. There was also a knife wound which penetrated through the upper portion of the vagina into the mesentery in the lower part of the abdominal cavity. Dr. Charles Harlan who performed the autopsy on the victim's body testified that in view of the small amount of blood in the vaginal vault it was his opinion the wound occurred at or about the time of death. The victim also had what he described as "defensive wounds" on her hands and arms.
Jenkins had been left in charge of the motel at about 9:30 a.m. At that time the occupants of Rooms 9, 21 and 24 had not yet checked out. When the manager left her in charge she was given a Cheatham County State Bank bag containing $100 in small bills to make change for motel guests as they paid. The bank bag, bloody and empty, was discovered in the room with her body. It was her established habit to lock her automobile at all times and to keep her keys and billfold on her person when she worked. Her car keys, billfold and her 1980 silver-colored Volvo were missing.
On 1 March 1985 defendant had departed by bus from Raleigh, North Carolina. He had been given a non-refundable ticket to Bowling Green, Kentucky and $20 in spending money. The traveling time from Raleigh, North Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee was approximately 17 hours. Prior to his departure he was observed by a witness to be carrying a hunting knife in a sheath which was concealed beneath his shirt. The witness admonished him that he could not carry a knife like that on the bus to which he responded "I never go anywhere naked." "I always have my blade." Sometime in the early morning hours of 3 March 1985 he checked in and was assigned to Room 9 at the CeBon Motel. He was wearing a green army-type fatigue jacket, fatigue pants and boots. He was next seen at approximately 9:30 a.m. walking in a direction from his room toward a drink machine. At that time he told the manager he was not yet ready to check out. He was also seen sometime prior to 9:30 purchasing a sandwich at a deli-restaurant across the street from the motel. The same witness who saw defendant also saw another stranger there somewhere between 1:30 and 2:30 who she described as taller than defendant with dark hair, kinky looking and wild-eyed. He departed the restaurant in the general direction of the CeBon Motel. The Cheatham County Sheriff testified that he responded to a call to the CeBon Motel at 2:37 p.m. When he arrived on the scene blood spots in the room were beginning to dry and the body was beginning to stiffen. Defendant was seen between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m. walking from the direction of the Interstate toward the CeBon Motel. At 12:40 p.m. a witness saw the victim's Volvo automobile pulling out from the CeBon Motel driveway. It was being operated by a person who appeared to be a man with very short, light colored hair. The vehicle crossed over the Interstate and turned east on Interstate 40. She followed behind and endeavored to catch up but it sped off toward Nashville at a high rate of speed. Defendant was next identified in possession of the car a few miles past Gallatin on Interstate 65, heading in the direction of Bowling Green, Kentucky. A group of young people first endeavored to help him start the stalled automobile and then gave him a ride to Bowling Green. During the trip to Bowling Green one of these witnesses observed some dried blood on the right shoulder of his shirt. He carried a jacket which he kept folded. After he arrived at his sister's home in Bowling Green[,] defendant told her he had endeavored to pay another day's rent at a motel when he was attacked by the motel operator. He demonstrated to her how he had stabbed the man. He also related to her he had a sum of money. She could not remember whether he said $35,000 or $3,500. Defendant also told his sister's husband he had earned approximately $7,000 working as a mechanic in North Carolina. He displayed a set of keys to a Volvo automobile and explained that a man who had given him a ride attempted to rob him. Defendant purportedly grabbed the steering wheel and when the car ran off the road he grabbed the keys and ran. According to the witness he was wearing an army fatigue jacket which had something large, heavy and bulky in the pocket. The witness had previously seen defendant with a survival knife with a 6½ to 7 inch blade hanging from his belt. When defendant was taken into custody he volunteered the statement that he had taken the woman's car but had not killed her. According to the arresting officer he had not advised the defendant that a woman had been killed prior to the volunteered statement. There was evidence however that defendant was aware he had been charged in Tennessee on a murder warrant. The victim's wallet was found wrapped in a thermal underwear shirt a short distance from where her car was found abandoned. The key to Room 9 of the CeBon Motel was found at the site where defendant had been camping out near ...
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