State v. Eads, No. E2006-02290-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App. 6/26/2008)
| Decision Date | 26 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. E2006-02290-CCA-R3-CD.,E2006-02290-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MITCHELL EADS. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Wesley D. Stone, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, Mitchell Eads.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; William Paul Phillips, District Attorney General; and Jared R. Effler and Amanda Cox, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Alan E. Glenn, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Jerry L. Smith and Robert W. Wedemeyer, JJ., joined.
In an eight-count indictment, the defendant, Mitchell Eads, was charged by the Claiborne County Grand Jury with two counts of theft of property over $10,000, three counts of burglary, one count of vandalism over $500, one count of theft of property over $1000, and one count of vandalism over $1000. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to sever the first five counts of the indictment, and the defendant was subsequently convicted in separate jury trials of three counts of burglary, two counts of theft of property over $1000, and one count of vandalism over $1000, all Class D felonies, for which he received an effective sentence of twenty-four years as a career offender. In a timely appeal to this court, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence in support of his convictions and argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement, in denying his request for disclosure of the identity of a confidential informant, in refusing to issue a jury instruction on absent material witness, in imposing the fines fixed by the jury, and in imposing an excessive sentence. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court and remand for entry of corrected judgments in Counts 6, 7, and 8 to reflect the $5000 fine imposed in each count.
This case arises out of a burglary, vandalism, and theft perpetrated at Midway School on September 12-13, 2001, and burglaries and thefts perpetrated at Annie's Auto Sales on September 7-8, 2001. Information from a confidential informant led a Claiborne County Sheriff's Department investigator to the defendant, who was arrested at the home of Doris Halford, his girlfriend's mother, and later gave a statement admitting his involvement in the crimes. The defendant was charged in a single eight-count indictment for the crimes committed at both locations, with the trial court later granting his motion to sever counts one through five, which involved the offenses at Annie's Auto Sales, from counts six through eight, which involved the offenses at Midway School.
Prior to trial, the defendant filed a motion to suppress his statement on the basis that it was involuntary. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Captain David Honeycutt of the Claiborne County Sheriff's Department testified he arrested the defendant on September 18, 2001, and brought him to his office in the Claiborne County Criminal Investigation Division ("CID") for an interview. He began by reading the admonition and waiver of rights form to the defendant, who signed it at 3:28 p.m., indicating that he understood his rights and wished to make a statement. He then questioned the defendant about the offenses, condensing his answers into a written statement that he read aloud to the defendant at the conclusion of the interview. The defendant agreed that the statement contained an accurate account of the crimes, initialed the beginning and end of each page, and signed the statement at 4:20 p.m. Captain Honeycutt identified the waiver of rights form and the defendant's statement, which were admitted as exhibits to the hearing. He said that he and Detective Charlene Green signed the statement as witnesses. The defendant appeared to understand everything that was read to him and to know what he was doing in signing the statement.
On cross-examination, Captain Honeycutt testified that an individual to whom he had been directed by Officer Jackie Nicely of the Union County Sheriff's Department provided information that led him to the residence where he arrested the defendant. He believed that the home belonged to the mother of the defendant's girlfriend, Jerri Lynn Widener, who lived in a trailer next door. He said he was taking statements from Widener's mother and her family when the defendant, who was carrying groceries, walked into the residence with Widener. At that point, he arrested the defendant and transported him to the Claiborne County CID Office for the interview. The arrest occurred at about 1:00 p.m, the trip to the CID Office took approximately an hour and a half, and the interview lasted approximately an hour and a half.
Captain Honeycutt acknowledged that John Thomas, who had already plead guilty in connection with the case, was also arrested for the crimes. He denied, however, that he made any promises to the defendant in exchange for his help in building the case against Thomas or threatened to charge Widener if the defendant refused to cooperate with his investigation. Instead, he told the defendant that he could not promise him anything but would relay any information he provided to the district attorney's office. He said that Detective Green was present when he read the statement to the defendant but was in and out of the room during the interview itself. On redirect examination, he testified that the defendant did not appear to be under the influence of any intoxicants and exhibited no difficulty in carrying groceries into the house at the time of his arrest.
The defendant testified that on September 18, 2001, he went with Widener to the grocery store, the drugstore, the post office, and a McDonald's restaurant before returning to Widener's mother's home. He said that Captain Honeycutt arrested him when he walked into the home, transported him to the CID Office in Claiborne County, and interrogated him by asking leading questions about the crimes. As an example, he recalled that before he had said anything to Captain Honeycutt about the Midway School burglary, Captain Honeycutt asked him how he had broken out the window in a door at the school. He said that Captain Honeycutt and Union County Sheriff's Department Officer Nicely told him while he was still in Union County that if he did not cooperate Widener "would be brought into this," which made him "fe[el] somewhat pressured into giving a statement." In addition, Captain Honeycutt told him at the CID Office that if he helped with the case against Thomas, he could probably arrange for the defendant to serve his time at the Claiborne County Jail and would talk to the district attorney about the possibility of concurrent sentences.
The defendant stated that he consumed five to seven Valium pills, which made him "[v]ery passive," at approximately 11:30 a.m. or 12:00 p.m. while sitting with Widener in their vehicle in the parking lot of the IGA grocery store in Union County. He said that he might have given his statement even were it not for Captain Honeycutt's threats and promises because he was still under the effect of the Valium at the time of his interrogation. He acknowledged on cross-examination, however, that the Valium did not prevent him from walking into the post office and Halford's house or from remembering in detail the events that transpired before and after his arrest. He further acknowledged that he had twenty-four prior felony convictions, including multiple convictions for burglary and theft.
Sabrina Cosby, a friend of the defendant's who was working at the Union County IGA grocery store on September 18, 2001, testified that she was talking to the defendant in the parking lot of the store when she saw him take a bottle of pills from his dash, pour some into his hand, and put them in his mouth. She said the episode occurred before her lunch break, at about 10:00 a.m. On cross-examination, she acknowledged that she had no idea how many or what kind of pills the defendant took. She further testified that the defendant did not appear to be under the influence of any intoxicants during the time she saw him at the store.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress, finding that the defendant was neither coerced nor threatened and was capable of understanding what he was doing when giving the statement. Among other things, the trial court noted the defendant's ability to recall with accuracy events that occurred before, during, and after the statement was given.
On April 18, 2002, the defendant proceeded to trial on counts six through eight of the indictment, which charged him with burglary, theft over $1000, and vandalism over $1000 at Midway School.
Birchel Miracle, a maintenance worker at the school, testified that he arrived at work at approximately 5:30 a.m. on September 13, 2001, to find glass on the floor outside the secretary's office, the door to the secretary's office cracked, and the door to the principal's office "jimmied" or "busted." After telephoning the principal and the police, he searched for the point of entry and discovered that a window had been broken out of the boys' bathroom located between the secretary's office and a third grade classroom.
Roy Norris, Director of Claiborne County Schools, testified that Midway School was owned by the Claiborne County Board of Education. He said it was the Board's policy that after hours use of the school property had to be authorized by the school's principal.
Daniel Lee Redmond, principal of Midway School, testified that Miracle telephoned him at 5:45 a.m. on September 13, 2001, to...
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