Morelock v. State

• Citation: 460 S.W.2d 861,3 Tenn.Crim.App. 292
• Parties: Harold MORELOCK, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant in Error.
• Decision Date: 03 September 1970
• Court: Court of Appeals of Tennessee. Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee

Page 861

460 S.W.2d 861

3 Tenn.Crim.App. 292

Harold MORELOCK, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant in Error.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee.

Sept. 3, 1970.

Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court Nov. 16, 1970.

Henry R. Price, Rogersville, for plaintiff in error.

David M. Pack, Atty. Gen., Lance D. Evans, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, Heiskell H. Winstead, Dist. Atty. Gen., Rogersville, for defendant in error.

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

Harold Morelock, the defendant below, indigent and represented by court-appointed counsel, was convicted in the Criminal Court of Hawkins County of (1) first degree murder, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for 50 years, and (2) assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter, for which he was sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years to be served concurrently with the murder sentence. Unsuccessful in his motion for a new trial, the defendant is now before this Court upon his appeal in the nature of a writ of error duly perfected.

The murder indictment charged the defendant with the pistol killing of Sue Compton Davidson. In the other indictment he was charged with feloniously assaulting Highway Patrolmen J. J. Light and David Buck, with a pistol with the intent to commit first degree murder. The two cases were tried together without defense objection.

In his first Assignment of Error here the defendant urges the usual contention that the evidence preponderates against the verdicts of the jury and in favor of his innocence. The law is well settled in this State, and has been reiterated in numerous cases, that a guilty verdict by the jury, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the witnesses for the State and resolves all conflicts in favor of the theory of the State. Such a verdict removes the presumption of the innocence of the accused which stands as a witness for him until he is convicted, and raises a presumption of his guilt upon appeal, and he has the burden upon appeal of showing that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. Gulley v. State, 219 Tenn. 114, 407 S.W.2d 186; Jamison v. State, 220 Tenn. 280, 416 S.W.2d 768; Webster v. State, Tenn.Cr.App., 425 S.W.2d 799; Brown v. State, Tenn.Cr.App., 441 S.W.2d 485.

The rule that the credibility of the witnesses and conflicts in the testimony are all settled by the verdict of the jury, 'makes unnecessary and, indeed, inappropriate, a detailed discussion of that evidence, pro and con, * * * in stating what we conclude the material facts to be as established by that testimony.' Hargrove v. State, 199 Tenn. 25, 28, 281 S.W.2d 692, 694; Morrison v. State, 217 Tenn. 374, 397 S.W.2d 826, 400 S.W.2d 237.

We summarize briefly the material evidence obviously accredited by the jury. On Sunday, April 27, 1969 about 7:00 p.m., the defendant and the deceased, 17-year-old Barbara Sue Compton Davidson, were proceeding along a Hawkins County highway in an automobile. She was driving and he was sitting beside her. Following them, Patrolmen Light and Buck observed the defendant drinking a can of beer and intently talking to the deceased and shaking his finger in her face. When he threw the partially-empty beer can out of the car, Light signaled the driver to pull over and stop and the deceased did so, giving a proper signal with her left hand. As the officers were getting out of the patrol car, and while the deceased still had her left arm extended from the vehicle, a shot was heard, she screamed and the defendant was pointing a revolver at her head; he then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her over toward him and continued shooting. He shot her four times, once in the base of the neck on the right side and three times in the chest, and she died in a hospital shortly thereafter. After being told repeatedly that he was under arrest and to throw out his gun and get out with his hands up, the defendant emerged from the car and started across a small field or vacant area adjoining the highway, pinning the officers down by shooting at them as he ran. After an exchange of ineffective fire, the defendant stopped a short distance away. Uncertain as to whether he had emptied his revolver, the officers did not approach him but implored him to throw down his gun. Instead, keeping the officers covered with his gun, the defendant returned to his car, raised the deceased's head up by her hair and looked at her and then fired one shot into his own chest. Asked immediately why he shot the girl, he said it was because he loved her.

Thus ended a sordid relationship which began in July of 1968 when the deceased, separated from her husband whom she married when she was only 15, went to Indianapolis to live with her uncle and aunt, the latter being the defendant's sister. He and his family lived in Indianapolis. He and she soon became immersed in an illicit love affair, as a result of which his wife left him. They then cohabited continuously until she returned to her mother's home in Hawkins County one week before this tragic occurrence for the trial of her divorce case, in which she was granted a divorce three days before her death. She had the initials H.M. tattooed above her right breast and the name Harold on one arm. The defendant followed her to Tennessee in her uncle's car, arriving at her mother's home on Saturday night. She had told her mother they wanted to get married, but when they left Sunday morning to return to Indianapolis she told her mother that she didn't want to go and 'I'll be back.' Her overnight case was found in the car.

Patrolman Light testified that he was assigned to guard the defendant at the hospital and arrived there about 1:00 a.m. the same night. Upon objection by defense counsel, the court excused the jury and conducted a preliminary inquiry with respect to any statements made by the defendant. Light testified that a nurse was present in the room; that he read the 'Miranda warning' to the defendant, telling him that he had the right to remain silent, that anything he said could be used against him in a court of law, that he had the right to consult with a lawyer and to have him present during the questioning, that if he could not afford a lawyer one would be appointed for him, and that he could stop answering questions anytime that he wished to do so; that after the defendant's rights were thus explained to him he was asked if he wanted to make a statement and replied affirmatively; that he was then asked why he shot the deceased and replied that he loved her and that he didn't know why he had shot her; that she had planned to go back to Indiana with him and had packed her clothes and had them in the car, and then decided not to go and said that she was going back home and shoot and kill herself; that they were still arguing when the patrol car came up behind them; that a pistol was on the seat between them and when the patrol car's blue light was turned on signaling them to stop, he grabbed the pistol and was going to hide it under the seat and she grabbed the gun and it was discharged and she was shot. Asked why, if the first shot was accidental, he continued to shoot the deceased, he said that he didn't know what happened to him or what made him do it. He said he intended to kill the two patrolmen, that he aimed at his heart but missed his aim when he shot himself and did so because he didn't want to live and 'just wanted to die.' Officer Light testified that during this interrogation the defendant was in the intensive care unit at the hospital and was receiving glucose and a blood transfusion because of the gunshot wound near his heart. The court ruled that Officer Light's testimony was competent. In the presence of the jury he gave substantially the same testimony just related, over defense objections.

James Keesling, an agent of the Tennessee Bureau of Identification, testified that he was called and went to the hospital about 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock p.m. on April 27th and talked with the defendant after advising him concerning his rights. Again, upon objection by defense counsel, the court excused the jury. This officer then testified in detail about his advice to the defendant concerning his rights, which constituted a full and complete explanation relative to his Fifth Amendment rights; that the defendant said he understood those rights; that he was in the emergency room of the hospital at that time, was fully conscious and was talking to the doctor and to the nurses and talked freely to this officer and inquired several times about the deceased and wanted to see her; that the defendant was being given glucose or a blood transfusion at that time. The court held that Officer Keesling's testimony was competent. In the presence of the jury, he reiterated substantially the same testimony. He further testified that the defendant told him that he and the deceased had been dating for approximately eight months and were planning to get married as soon as he could get a divorce; that he said his wife Geraldine Morelock and their two small children were living in Baltimore; that he was attempting to get a divorce; that he arrived in Tennessee about 2:00 a.m. on April 26, 1969; that he bought the gun in Indiana and brought it with him; that he was trying to hide the gun from the troopers and that she grabbed the gun and was shot; that he didn't know whether he had killed her or not and shot himself because he wanted to die; that he did not know how many shots he had fired and did not recall shooting at the patrolmen; and that the defendant asked several times to see the deceased and to talk with her.

Patrolman Light also testified as a rebuttal witness for the State, over defense objections, that when he served warrants upon the defendant at the hospital on Wednesday after the shooting on Sunday he did not again advise him of his constitutional rights; that the...