State v. Booker
| Decision Date | 08 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. E2018-01439-CCA-R3-CD,E2018-01439-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TYSHON BOOKER |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County
During a botched robbery, sixteen-year-old Tyshon Booker, the Defendant-Appellant, shot and killed the victim, G'Metrick Caldwell. Following extensive hearings in juvenile court, the Defendant was transferred to criminal court to be tried as an adult.1 At trial, the Defendant admitted that he shot the victim several times in the back while seated in the backseat of the victim's car; however, he claimed self-defense. A Knox County jury convicted the Defendant of two counts of first-degree felony murder and two counts of especially aggravated robbery, for which he received an effective sentence of life imprisonment. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant raises the following issues for our review: (1) whether the process of transferring a juvenile to criminal court after a finding of three statutory factors by the juvenile court judge violates the Defendant's rights under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000); (2) whether the State's suppression of alleged eyewitness identifications prior to the juvenile transfer hearing constitutes a Brady violation, requiring remand for a new juvenile transfer hearing; (3) whether the juvenile court erred in transferring the Defendant to criminal court given defense expert testimony that the Defendant suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was amenable to treatment; (4) whether the trial court erred in finding that the Defendant was engaged in unlawful activity at the time of the offense and in instructing the jury that the Defendant had a duty to retreat before engaging in self-defense; (5) whether an improper argument by the State in closing arguments constitutes prosecutorial misconduct requiring a new trial; (6) whether evidence of juror misconduct warrants a new trial and whether the trial court erred in refusing to subpoena an additional juror; and(7) whether a sentence of life imprisonment for a Tennessee juvenile violates the United States and Tennessee Constitutions.2 Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.
CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., and TIMOTHY L. EASTER, JJ., joined.
Mark E. Stevens, District Public Defender, and Jonathan Harwell (at trial and on appeal) and Chloe Akers (at trial), Assistant Public Defenders, for the Defendant-Appellant, Tyshon Booker.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Jeffrey D. Zentner, Assistant Attorney General; Charme Allen, District Attorney General; and Takisha M. Fitzgerald and Phillip Morton, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINIONTwo days after the offense, November 17, 2015, the Knox County Juvenile Court ordered the Defendant's "fingerprint card" to be released to the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) for use in the investigation of the victim's death. On the same day, the juvenile court signed an order for attachment after finding probable cause that the Defendant committed the delinquent and unruly offense of first-degree murder. On November 18, 2015, a juvenile court magistrate signed an attachment for the Defendant. On November 23, 2015, a probable cause hearing was conducted in Knox County Juvenile Court. Based on the testimony of Detective Clayton Madison of the KPD Violent Crimes Unit, the juvenile court determined there was probable cause as to the Defendant and the co defendant. On November 19, 2015, the State filed a motion to transfer the Defendant to Knox County Criminal Court to be tried as an adult. The Defendant filed a motion in opposition to this motion on January 4, 2016, arguing that "[t]ransfer would expose him, upon conviction, to an automatic life sentence of at least fifty-one years[,]" which he asserted was unconstitutional.
The Defendant's transfer hearing occurred on February 26, 2016, and June 9-10, 2016. Linda M. Hatch testified that she lived next door to the Defendant and that he went to school with her daughters. Sometime prior to the offense, Hatch picked up theDefendant as he was "walking up the road and needed a ride." From that point on, the Defendant came over to her house "almost daily." She called the Defendant "son" and treated him like "one of [her] kids." She was aware that the Defendant had a Facebook account. At some point during "the week of November the 6th," Hatch observed the Defendant in possession of his brother's pistol, and she admonished him. Although the Defendant returned his brother's gun, the Defendant had another gun, a nine millimeter, "[w]ithin days." Hatch observed the Defendant shooting the gun on her back porch "several times," and she believed the Defendant had only a few bullets left. Prior to the offense, Hatch had set up a camera on her kitchen table to record the Defendant and his friends because she had become suspicious that they were stealing money from her daughter. The camera captured the Defendant with a nine millimeter gun as well as codefendant Robinson, whom Hatch knew as "Savvy," with a .32 caliber gun. The State played the video recording for the juvenile court, which was admitted as an exhibit to the hearing.
On the day of the offense, the Defendant texted Hatch at 3 p.m., and again at 6:11 p.m., stating, "Hey, please come get me right now from where you dropped us off." She understood this to be the place where she dropped off the Defendant and the codefendant the previous Friday. By the time Hatch responded to the Defendant, he was no longer at the location. The next morning, the Defendant came to her house "very upset, very nervous." Hatch said the Defendant wanted to talk to her, and she asked, "Ty, what's wrong?" The Defendant replied, "Mom, I f----- up[,]" and "Mom, I killed a man." The Defendant told Hatch he "shot him with that gun." The Defendant also told her that they were going to get him for "overkill," and he "shot him a lot." The Defendant said, "when the [victim] was fighting to try to get away from [the codefendant]," [the codefendant] told him to shoot, and he "just kept shooting." The Defendant told Hatch that he shot the victim four or five times, and he saw the victim "laying there dead." The Defendant also told her that he threw the gun away.
Hatch testified that the Defendant came back to her house the following morning, and he "wasn't so upset." She said the Defendant told her, She said the Defendant was "back to kind of being his cool, sweet, charming self."
On cross-examination, Hatch testified that the first time she met the Defendant, he was walking down the street with a ripped trash bag, and she stopped and asked him if he needed a ride. She said the Defendant was upset because he had just gotten in a fight with his mother, and she had told him to get out of the car. Hatch told the Defendant that he could text her anytime, and she would give him a ride or bring him food. She primarilycommunicated with the Defendant through Facebook Messenger because he could use it through Wi-Fi. She described the Defendant as "very intelligent and so, so sweet," and she said that the Defendant wanted to be a rapper. She described her love for the Defendant as that of a mother to a child. She lectured the Defendant "many a times" on staying away from "doing drugs or robbing people or being involved in any of that behavior[.]" Hatch testified that "it all went downhill" when the Defendant started hanging out with the codefendant, who was on the run for a violation of probation. Hatch also described the day that the Defendant was arrested in her home. After the police arrested the Defendant and left Hatch's house, she left to pick up the codefendant and informed the police, who showed up to arrest him. A few days later, Hatch went to the police station to give her statement.
A series of Facebook messages between the Defendant and Hatch were also admitted into evidence. Several of these messages included references to the Defendant selling drugs, but Hatch testified that she was trying to figure out what the Defendant had so she could tell her husband. She said that she did not report this to the police. Hatch also sent the Defendant pictures of marijuana and wrote "Yummy" under one of the pictures. In another set of messages, the Defendant wrote, "I need some weed[,]" to which Hatch responded, "You want to go in half?" She explained that she was asking this on behalf of the codefendant. She also messaged the Defendant, "Flower man just called taking orders[,]" which she explained was the man down the street asking if anyone wanted to buy marijuana. In another message, Hatch sent the Defendant a link to a picture of breasts, which she said was in reference to an exotic cake that she made. She denied a sexual relationship with the Defendant. Hatch admitted taking several "sexy pictures" of the Defendant but explained that the Defendant asked her to take those pictures. Hatch testified that she did not get paid for her testimony.
KPD Officer James Wilson testified that he was working patrol on the day of the offense when he received a call of a shooting on Linden Avenue. Upon arrival, he observed the victim, "laying partially in the car and partially out of the car." Officer Wilson noticed that the victim had been shot and called for medical attention. Officer Wilson then secured the area where he observed shell casings and canvassed the neighborhood. The State introduced several photographs of the victim's car, one of which depicted a handgun in the...
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