State v. Brown
| Decision Date | 08 April 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. M2017-00904-CCA-R3-CD,M2017-00904-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TIMOTHY LERON BROWN |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County
The Defendant, Timothy Leron Brown, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder, unlawful possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted first degree murder, especially aggravated robbery, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony while having prior felony convictions, theft of property valued less than $500, and failure to appear. The Defendant received an effective sentence of life plus thirty-one years. On appeal, the Defendant challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence of his convictions for first degree premeditated murder and theft, (2) the trial court's denial of his motion to sever the offenses for trial, (3) the admission of bad act evidence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b), (4) the admission of evidence that the murder victim was a police informant, (5) the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress his cell phone records obtained pursuant to a judicial subpoena, (6) the trial court's denial of his motion to exclude cell tower evidence as unreliable expert proof, (7) the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained from the search of his cell phone, (8) the admission of text messages from the Defendant's cell phone, (9) the admission of photographs from the Defendant's cell phone, and (10) the trial court's imposition of partial consecutive sentences. We conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support the Defendant's theft conviction, and we, therefore, reverse and dismiss the theft conviction. We also conclude that the trial court erred in failing to sever the offenses and that the error was not harmless as to the Defendant's conviction for first degree premeditated murder. Accordingly, we reverse the Defendant's conviction for first degree premeditated murder and remand the case to the trial court for a new trial. We otherwise affirm the trial court's judgments.
Aisha McWeay, Deputy Public Defender; and Jeffrey A. DeVasher (on appeal) and Jonathan Wing and Kathryn Hansel (at trial), Assistant Public Defenders, for the appellant, Timothy Leron Brown.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Jeffrey D. Zentner, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Pamela Anderson, J. Wesley King, and Ana Escobar, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINIONThe evidence presented at trial established that on August 9, 2012, Mr. Chijoke Ike was shot multiple times, and police officers found Mr. Ike's body in a wooded area five days later on August 14. The Defendant and his co-defendant, Aaron Eugene Hall, Jr., were charged with the first degree premeditated murder of Mr. Ike.
On August 9, shortly after Mr. Ike was shot, the Defendant contacted Mr. Alan Beverly and arranged to purchase drugs from him. When Mr. Beverly arrived at the agreed-upon location, the Defendant and Mr. Keandre March abducted him at gunpoint and drove away in Mr. Beverly's car. As the Defendant was driving, Mr. Beverly offered the Defendant and Mr. March $30,000 in exchange for his freedom. Mr. Beverly contacted his brother, whom the Defendant instructed to meet them at a bowling alley. While en route, Mr. Beverly and Mr. March fought over the guns; all three men were shot during the struggle; and Mr. March died as a result of his gunshot wounds. The Defendant wrecked the car, fled the scene, and later was found by police officers hiding in a nearby dumpster. A gun found in the car was determined to be the gun used to shoot Mr. Ike. The gun had been taken from Mrs. Brenda McGinnis's apartment during a burglary in April 2011. The Defendant was due to appear in court on unrelated charges on August 9 but failed to appear.
In addition to the first degree premeditated murder of Mr. Ike, the Defendant was charged under the same indictment with unlawful possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, especially aggravated kidnapping of Mr. Beverly resulting in serious bodily injury, especially aggravated kidnapping of Mr. Beverly in order to hold Mr. Beverly for ransom or reward, especially aggravated kidnapping of Mr. Beverly accomplished with a deadlyweapon, attempted first degree murder of Mr. Beverly, especially aggravated robbery of Mr. Beverly, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony while having prior felony convictions, theft of property of Mrs. McGinnis valued less than $500, and failure to appear on a felony charge. Prior to trial, the trial court severed Mr. Hall's trial from the Defendant's trial but denied the Defendant's motion to sever the offenses. On the morning of trial, the defense announced that the Defendant waived a jury determination of the existence of his prior felony convictions for the purposes of the firearm charges and allowed the trial court to make that decision at a later time.
The State's theory at trial was that the Defendant committed the offenses against Mr. Ike because Mr. Ike was a confidential informant for the police. The State also maintained that the Defendant committed the offenses against Mr. Beverly because the Defendant mistakenly believed that Mr. Beverly was also a confidential informant for the police. The State argued that the Defendant utilized a stolen firearm during the commission of the offenses and that he failed to attend a court appearance on a separate charge in order to commit the offenses.
Ms. Uloma Ike, Mr. Ike's sister, testified that Mr. Ike was twenty-eight years old when he died and drove a blue four-door Chevrolet Impala. He had been shot a few years prior to his death, and the bullet remained in his hip. Mr. Ike's family members last saw him approximately one week before his body was found. When Mr. Ike's family was unable to contact him, they filed a missing person's report on Monday, August 13, and Mr. Ike's body was located the following day.
Ms. Shatoya Cartwright was visiting her grandparents' home located near Mr. Hall's home in Nashville during the evening hours of August 9, 2012. Ms. Cartwright testified that as she and her grandmother were sitting on her grandparents' porch, she saw a navy car, which was later identified as Mr. Ike's car, park near Mr. Hall's home. Mr. Hall came out of his house and entered the car on the passenger side. A few minutes later, Ms. Cartwright saw a man running down the street and toward the car while holding a gun. Ms. Cartwright did not recall what the gun looked like and was unable to offer a description of the gunman or determine his race. She did not recall seeing Mr. Hall exit the car.
Ms. Cartwright helped her grandmother inside the home as quickly as she could. Once inside, Ms. Cartwright heard gunshots. She was unable to recall the number of gunshots fired but stated that she heard more than one. She then saw a silver sports utility vehicle ("SUV") quickly drive away from the scene and toward the general direction from which the gunman came.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. on August 9, Metropolitan Nashville Police Officer Dustin Chester responded to a report of shots fired in the area of 33rd Avenue and Felicia Street. Upon arriving, he observed a blue Chevrolet Impala parked on the street. After Officer Chester spoke to a woman at the scene, he and other officers began searching the area for a possible suspect or victim. Sergeant John Robinson saw someone running into a nearby wooded area, and officers began to search the area. The wooded area was thick and difficult to walk through, and the officers were unable to locate anyone in the area. During the search, neither Officer Chester nor Sergeant Robinson observed any projectiles on the ground, and Officer Chester did not observe any evidence indicating that a shooting had occurred.
During the early morning hours of August 14, 2012, Sergeant John Pepper went to the scene of the shooting while investigating a report of a missing person. He was unable to locate Mr. Ike, the missing person, but Mr. Ike's car was still in the area. Sergeant Pepper had the car towed. He did not search the wooded area at that time because it was dark, the wooded area was thick, and he did not want to risk destroying any evidence. Rather, officers waited until daylight to conduct an additional search.
Detective James Arendall and Detective Daniel Sadderfield assisted in searching the area for Mr. Ike later that day. While they were driving down 33rd Avenue and toward Felicia Street with their windows down, Detective Arendall smelled a foul odor and decided to check a wooded area. Detective Arendall found a deceased man, who was later identified as Mr. Ike, lying face down in some bushes in the wooded area. Mr. Ike was not wearing a shirt but was wearing shorts and tennis shoes. Detective Arendall and other officers sealed off the area and contacted the crime scene investigation unit.
Detective Arendall saw a spent round in the street and notified a crime scene investigator to collect it. Crime scene investigator Charles Linville collected the projectile from the road and acknowledged on cross-examination that the projectile could have been moved by water from a recent storm. He also collected a white iPhone that was underneath Mr. Ike's body and noted that Mr. Ike had money clutched in his right hand.
Crime scene investigator Lynn Mace processed Mr. Ike's Chevrolet Impala and collected a package of cigarettes, a Cricket Samsung cell phone, a Sprite bottle, and...
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