State v. Dotson
| Decision Date | 25 June 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. W2011-00815-CCA-R3-DD,W2011-00815-CCA-R3-DD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JESSIE DOTSON |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Jessie Dotson, of six counts of premeditated first degree murder and three counts of attempted first degree murder. The jury sentenced the defendant to death for each conviction of first degree murder. Following a separate sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range II, multiple offender to forty years for each conviction for attempted first degree murder, to be served consecutively to each other and to the first degree murder sentences. On appeal, the defendant contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions; (2) testimony regarding one of the victims' statement to police was hearsay and its admission violated the United States and Tennessee Constitutions; (3) the admission of the defendant's custodial statements violated his rights under the United States and Tennessee Constitutions; (4) the admission of testimony that the defendant invoked his right to counsel violated his due process rights; (5) the admission of testimony regarding the defendant's history of imprisonment violated his right to a fair trial; (6) the trial court's treatment of defense counsel in the jury's presence violated his right to a fair trial; (7) the admission of the pathologist's testimony regarding autopsies that she did not perform violated the defendant's confrontation rights; (8) the trial court erred in admitting photographs of the victims; (9) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to provide DNA analysis of all those who came in contact with the crime scene; (10) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for production of the statements of those not to be called as witnesses for the State; (11) the trial court improperly defined "reasonable doubt" in instructing the jury; (12) the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on facilitation of first degree murder as a lesser included offense; (13) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to strike aggravating circumstances; (14) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for a probable cause finding regarding the aggravating circumstances; (15) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for disclosure of information regarding the proportionality review; (16) the admission of victim impact evidence was improper; (17) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to argue last during the penalty phase; (18) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during its argument to the jury; (19) the trial court erredin allowing the death verdicts to stand; (20) the defendant's sentences for his three convictions for attempted first degree murder were excessive; and (21) cumulative error requires reversal. Based upon our review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Kathleen Morris, Nashville, Tennessee, and Marty Brett McAfee, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jessie Dotson.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Jeffrey Dean Zentner, Assistant Attorney General; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Damon Griffin, Reginald Henderson, and Raymond Lepone, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINIONThe defendant was convicted of six counts of premeditated first degree murder for the deaths of his brother, Cecil Dotson, Sr. ("Cecil");1 Cecil's fiancée, Marissa Williams; Hollis Seals; Shindri Roberson; and two of Cecil's sons. The defendant also was convicted of three counts of attempted first degree murder of two of Cecil's sons and his daughter. The evidence presented at trial established that during the early morning hours of March 2, 2008, while at Cecil's home on Lester Street in Memphis, the defendant shot Cecil, Williams, Seals, and Roberson multiple times, killing them. He then repeatedly stabbed and beat Cecil's four sons, C.D.1, age nine; C.D.2, age five; C.D.3, age four; and C.D.4, age two, and Cecil's daughter, C.D.5, age two months.2 C.D.3 and C.D.4 were killed, and C.D.1, C.D.2, and C.D.5 were severely injured but survived.
The victims were discovered during the evening hours of March 3, 2008, when Officer Randall Davis of the Memphis Police Department responded to a call to check on the welfare of the residents at the Lester Street address. Officer Davis testified that when he and another officer arrived and approached the house, he saw that the front door was open. Upon entering the house, Officer Davis saw the body of an adult male lying beside a television. As he rounded the corner, he saw three more adult bodies beside a couch. All four adults were deceased.
Officer Davis testified that he and two other officers cleared the house while one officer secured the door. Officer Davis said he entered a bathroom, saw someone in the bathtub, and pulled back the shower curtain to find a male child, later identified as C.D.1, with a knife stuck in his head. Officer Davis testified that he initially believed that C.D.1 was dead but then saw his eyes twitch. He alerted other officers and continued clearing the house.
Officer Davis testified he next walked down a hallway to a bedroom on the left where he saw a small child who was deceased. He then entered another bedroom where he saw two children but found no signs of life in either child. Meanwhile, another officer had located an infant, later identified as C.D.5.
Officer Davis testified that there was blood throughout the house but that none of the blood appeared to be fresh. The firefighters arrived as Officer Davis was returning from the back bedroom, and he alerted them to C.D.1 in the bathtub and continued to secure the area.
On cross-examination, Officer Davis testified that when he approached the house, he detected the odor of deceased bodies. He looked into the house through the front door, saw someone's foot on the floor, and entered the house. Officer Davis did not check the adult victims for vital signs because it was obvious to him that they were deceased. However, he touched the children to see if any were still alive.
Herbert Henley, a firefighter with the Memphis Fire Department, testified that he entered the house and saw the body of a male adult kneeling facedown on the couch. He also saw two adult female bodies, one sitting on the floor against the sofa and the other propped up on the sofa leaning toward the first female. After an officer informed him that someone was in there, he entered the bathroom, pulled back the shower curtain, and saw C.D.1 in the bathtub. He realized C.D.1 was alive after seeing him move his hand, told his fellow firefighters that the child was alive, and obtained the assistance of Daniel Moore and Jason Vosburgh in transporting C.D.1 to an ambulance. Henley observed cuts on C.D.1's face anda "sawzall blade" sticking out of the top of his head. He described the bathroom as "a mess" with "blood everywhere."
Daniel Moore, a firefighter/EMT with the Memphis Fire Department, testified that he was instructed to check on the adults in the front room. It was obvious, however, that the adults were dead, so he did not physically check each adult victim. He said that the victim lying by the television appeared to have been there for some time, explaining, "Just by looking at them and just the horrific scene that was there with all the blood and everything, it was obvious that they had been down for a while." The blood was "definitely old."
Moore testified that he and Vosburgh next entered the bloody bathroom where Henley had discovered C.D.1. As they looked in the bathtub, they saw C.D.1 turn his head and look at them, exposing a knife stuck in his head. Moore described the horrific scene: In addition to the knife embedded in C.D.1's skull, Moore observed puncture wounds on the child's abdomen and multiple superficial cuts to his neck.
Jason Vosburgh, a firefighter with the Memphis Fire Department, testified he responded to a call of possibly seven dead individuals at a residence on Lester Street. Based upon the call, Vosburgh initially believed that the deaths could have been the result of carbon monoxide poisoning, so he put on his protective gear. However, upon arriving at the house, he knew immediately that he did not need the protective equipment, explaining,
Vosburgh testified that when he approached the porch, he saw an officer to the right of the door holding C.D.5. He walked inside and saw the bodies of the four adult victims to his right. He and a paramedic then entered the back bedroom, where they saw the bodies of two children. One of them was dead, while the other, C.D.2, was alive. Vosburgh stated that as he and the paramedic were carrying C.D.2 down the hallway, someone informed him that another deceased victim, whose throat had been cut, was in the front bedroom.
Vosburgh testified that as he and the paramedic were placing C.D.2 onto a stretcher, someone told Henley that another deceased victim was in the bathroom. Henley checked on that victim, C.D.1, and reported that he was alive. Vosburgh and Moore then entered the bathroom and saw C.D.1, who had a knife embedded in the right side of...
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