State v. Baker

• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: JERRY L. SMITH
• Decision Date: 17 July 2013
• Docket Number: No. M2012-00155-CCA-R3-CD,M2012-00155-CCA-R3-CD
• Citation: State v. Baker, No. M2012-00155-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App. Jul 17, 2013)
• Parties: STATE OF TENNESSEE v. STEPHEN BAKER

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. STEPHEN BAKER

No. M2012-00155-CCA-R3-CD

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE

Assigned on Briefs November 6, 2012

Filed July 17, 2013

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Putnam County

No. 10-0017

Leon Burns, Judge

Appellant, Stephen Dewayne Baker, was indicted by the Putnam County Grand Jury in January of 2010 for one count of first degree murder, one count of felony murder, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of arson, and one count of tampering with evidence. Appellant was convicted by a jury of all offenses as charged in the indictment. At a sentencing hearing, the trial court merged the first degree murder conviction with the felony murder conviction and imposed a life sentence. Appellant was also ordered to serve twelve years for the aggravated robbery conviction, six years for the arson conviction, and six years for the tampering with evidence conviction. The trial court ordered the arson and tampering with the evidence convictions to be served concurrently with each other but consecutively to the life sentence and sentence for aggravated robbery, for a total effective sentence of life imprisonment plus eighteen years. After the denial of a motion for new trial, Appellant initiated this appeal. On appeal, Appellant contends: (1) the trial court erred by denying a change of venue; (2) the trial court erred by denying Appellant's motion to suppress; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions; (4) the trial court erred by admitting evidence of Appellant's prior bad acts; (5) the trial court erred in admitting the dying declarations of the victim; (6) the trial court erred in admitting testimony of Harold Harp about Appellant's behavior; and (7) the trial court erred in admitting a photograph of the victim's body. After a review of the record, we conclude that the trial court: (1) did not err in denying a change of venue where there was no proof that the jury pool was tainted from exposure to information about the incident; (2) did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress where consent for the search was valid and the search warrant was properly procured; (3) properly admitted evidence of Appellant's drug use and past violent behavior; (4) properly admitted the dying declaration and excited utterances of the victim; (5) properly admitted the testimony of Mr. Harp; and (6) properly admitted photographs of the victim's body. Additionally, we determine that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions. Accordingly, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court are

Affirmed.

JERRY L. SMITH, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS and ALAN E. GLENN, JJ., joined.

Randy Chaffin, Cookeville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Stephen Baker.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Clark B. Thornton, Assistant Attorney General; William E. Gibson, District Attorney General; and Anthony Craighead, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

Factual Background

On January 9, 2010, authorities responded to a report of a trailer fire on Buck Mountain Road in Putnam County, Tennessee. The trailer was a total loss. In the ashes, authorities located the body of Jennifer Smith, the victim.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation ("TBI") agent Steve Huntley was called to the scene of the fire. As part of the investigation, he was interested in speaking with the neighbors of the victim to ascertain if anyone had any information about the fire. Appellant and Kari Speck lived in a nearby trailer. Agent Huntley knocked on the door but "no one would come to the door." Special Agent Billy Miller tried to call and text the occupants to gain access. "Finally, . . . Ms. Speck [came] to the door and allowed [Agent Huntley and others] to come into the house."

Ms. Speck informed authorities that she and Appellant lived in the trailer. Shortly after the officers entered the residence, Ms. Speck signed a consent-to-search form. Appellant was found and arrested on an unrelated warrant and taken to jail. Ms. Speck spoke with authorities.

The next day, Special Agent Miller asked Appellant for consent to search the home. Appellant denied that there would be anything "involved" with the victim at his home but signed the consent form. The consent form also included "any clothing or evidence pertaining to the death of Jennifer Smith."

Ms. Speck was also arrested on unrelated warrants. On January 11, she signed another consent form. She was asked if there was anything at the home that would be "involved"with the death of the victim. Ms. Speck again spoke with authorities, admitting that she had lied in her first meeting because she was afraid of Appellant and fearful for her son.

After consent was obtained from both Appellant and Ms. Speck, Special Agent Miller procured a search warrant for the residence. He utilized statements from Ms. Speck in his affidavits for the search warrants but acknowledged that she had been both truthful and untruthful during the investigation. A "pretty thorough search" of the home was completed.

On January 26, Special Agent Miller obtained a search warrant to seize Appellant's clothing, including his boots, from the booking area at the jail.

The results of the search warrants and investigation led to the indictment of Appellant and Ms. Speck in March of 2010 by the Putnam County Grand Jury for first degree murder, felony murder, aggravated robbery, arson, and tampering with the evidence.¹

Prior to trial, Appellant filed multiple motions in limine, specifically filing several to suppress the results of the search warrant and seizure of his clothing and boots. The trial court denied the motions to suppress.

The case proceeded to trial. Harold Harp testified that two days prior to the fire, Appellant came to his door and asked to use his phone to call "his girlfriend, or wife, or whatever." Mr. Harp lived next door to Appellant and Ms. Speck and two doors down from the victim's trailer. Mr. Harp described Appellant's actions as "weird," explaining that he dialed a number, "stood a minute" and then exclaimed, "she must be mad at me . . . [s]he ain't going to answer the phone." When Appellant got off the phone, he stood there for a minute before turning around and leaving from the trailer.

Debra Schreck, a co-worker of the victim, testified that they were both private-duty nurses for a home healthcare company. She last spoke to the victim at around noon on January 8.

In the afternoon on January 8, 2010, Clinton Staggs, the owner and manager of Bud's Quick Cash Pawn in Cookeville, Tennessee, gave Appellant $70 for a television. Appellant signed the pawn ticket and the entire transaction was captured on the store security cameras.

The victim's ATM card was used at 5:51 p.m. on January 8. A balance inquiry was made, showing that the account had a balance of a little over $160. Then a withdrawal was made for $160. The security tape showed Ms. Speck driving the car at the bank and using the ATM card to inquire about the balance and make the withdrawal from the account.

On the evening of January 8, Jack Huffman, Jr., was visited by Appellant and Ms. Speck. Mr. Huffman sold "synthetic heroin, Dilaudid."² Mr. Huffman often sold pills to Ms. Speck and occasionally sold them to Appellant. Appellant and Ms. Speck arrived in a reddish, burgundy-looking station wagon and wanted to trade the car and a television for pills. Mr. Huffman explained to them that he was "in the business of selling drugs, not taking stolen property" and that he did not want to fool with the car or television. Appellant told him that he got the car from the "old lady next door." Appellant told them he was going to say that the car was stolen at the mall or something but Mr. Huffman told Appellant and Ms. Speck that he did not need the car.

Testimony from the victim's son, Christopher J. Smith, confirmed that the victim drove a red Subaru station wagon and that this was the station wagon shown in both the videotape from the pawn shop and on the bank's ATM camera. Additionally, footage from Wal-Mart showed the victim buying a television that contained the same serial number as the television that Appellant took to the pawn shop for money on January 8. Mr. Smith also identified a "double-headed ax" that his dad used to own. He was fairly certain that he had seen the ax at his mother's house prior to her death.

Early on the morning on January 9, 2010, Mr. Harp went outside and saw that the victim's trailer was on fire. The fire department and other authorities were already on the scene. Mr. Harp walked toward the fire. There, he saw Appellant, who walked up and "acted like he was concerned." Appellant "went missing" shortly after this brief conversation. Mr. Harp just assumed that Appellant went back to his trailer.

The victim's body was found amidst the ashes in the fire. The body was lying face-down. A portion of the back of the victim's skull was missing and there were puncture wounds on the front of the body. A canine alerted to the presence of accelerant in the fire debris around the victim's body and on the body itself.

Ms. Speck was the State's star witness. She testified that she pled guilty to second degree murder and aggravated robbery in exchange for a sentence of thirty years, to be served at 100 percent. Ms. Speck testified that she met Appellant in 2008 when she bought Dilaudid from him to support her drug addiction. Soon thereafter, they became a couple and Ms.Speck left her husband and moved in with Appellant. The couple were able to support their drug habit with a combination of money earned from Appellant's drug sales and from stealing merchandise from retail stores. The pair would steal items and return them in exchange for gift cards. Then they would pawn the gift cards for pennies on the dollar. Ms. Speck explained that...