State v. Gaston, No. E2004-01450-CCA-R3-CD (TN 1/13/2006)
| Decision Date | 13 January 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. E2004-01450-CCA-R3-CD.,E2004-01450-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. EDDIE ELVETON ROBINSON GASTON. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Bruce E. Poston, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Eddie Elveton Robinson Gaston.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; John E. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Leslie Nassios and Paula Ham, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINION
The Defendant, Eddie Gaston, was convicted of premeditated first degree murder, two counts of attempted first degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, and especially aggravated robbery. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to life in prison for the first degree murder conviction and to twenty-five years for each of the other convictions, and it ordered that all the sentences be served consecutively. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to sustain any of his convictions; (2) the trial court erred when it ruled on several different evidentiary issues; and (3) the trial court committed sentencing errors. Finding that there exists no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
These cases arise from the Defendant's convictions for the murder, the attempted murder, and the kidnapping and robbery of three victims during two separate incidents. For the first incident, which involved the robbery of a Pilot gas station and the shooting of Joshua Reynolds, the Defendant was indicted by a Knox County Grand Jury, in case number 73803, for attempted first degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, and especially aggravated robbery. For the second incident, the same grand jury indicted the Defendant for the premeditated first degree murder of Christopher Burton and the attempted first degree murder of Darian Sparks and Daniel Tims. The Defendant moved to consolidate these indictments for trial based on the defense theory that he intended to present. He asserted that it was necessary and imperative to his defense to have the trials together, and the trial court granted the Defendant's motion.
The following evidence was presented at the Defendant's trial on both of these indictments: James Wycoff testified that, on October 8, 2001, at 4:30 a.m., he pulled into a Pilot station to deliver biscuits, and he saw a new store clerk and what he thought was a small child, noting that the child was wearing a black hood. Wycoff attempted to enter the station, but the door was locked. Wycoff said that the clerk used a microphone that could be heard from the parking lot to tell Wycoff that there had been a chemical spill so the clerk could not let Wycoff in the station. At first, Wycoff believed the cashier, and he started to leave, but, after thinking more about it, Wycoff determined that the clerk could not be right, and he went back up to the window. There, the clerk told him to go around to the back, side door, and the clerk would let him in. Wycoff went to the door and waited for a few minutes, and then the clerk came around the corner of the store followed by a black man. The black man indicated that the clerk would be right back. Wycoff said that the clerk and the man walked across the street and around a building, and then Wycoff heard what he thought was a gunshot. Wycoff testified that, at that time, he got in his car and drove to where he had previously seen a police officer, and Wycoff and the officer returned to the Pilot station.
Wycoff said that, later that evening, he went to the Sheriff's Department to view a photographic lineup of suspects. He remembered that, at first, the police showed him black and white pictures of a "bunch" of suspects, and he picked out two pictures that looked similar to the man he saw at the Pilot station. The police then showed him eight to ten color photographs of suspects, and Wycoff positively identified the Defendant's picture as being of the man who committed this crime. Wycoff said that he also identified the Defendant in a lineup.
On cross-examination, Wycoff testified that, on the night of this incident, he never saw the clerk and the Defendant exit the station, and he saw them when he was on the side of the building where it was a "little darker." When Wycoff saw the Defendant outside the building the Defendant was no longer wearing a hood, but he was carrying a bag that had something glowing on it. Wycoff described the Defendant as having very short hair and being clean shaven on the night of this incident, and he said that he only saw him clearly for three or four seconds. Wycoff never saw a car leave the gas station, and he did not see anything sticking out of the bag. The Defendant's counsel showed Wycoff a videotape of the lineup, and Wycoff admitted that, in the lineup, the Defendant did not look clean shaven. Wycoff said that the Defendant spoke to him, and they made eye contact, and, because of this, he remembered what the Defendant looked like. Wycoff conceded that, at the preliminary hearing, he testified that the Defendant had a hood on the entire time.
Frank Carraher, a police officer for the Knoxville Police Department, testified that, in the early morning hours of October 8, 2001, he received a call about a robbery at a Pilot station on Northshore Drive. He said that, as he pulled into the Pilot's parking lot, he was met by a delivery man, who told him that he saw a black man walk with the store clerk across the street. The officer said that he secured the crime scene and then went across the street where he found the store clerk lying in a puddle of blood. The officer got assistance from another officer, and he called an ambulance for the victim. On cross-examination, the officer conceded that it was dark where he found the victim.
Russell Whitfield, an officer with the Knoxville Police Department, testified that he was called to investigate the crime scene in this case. He said that, when he responded to this call, he saw three or four police cars at the crime scene, along with other officers. He took general crime scene photographs of the Pilot station, and then he took photographs of the scene across the street on Bearden Road, where the clerk was found, and he saw a pool of blood, a couple of shirts, a shell casing, and some eyeglasses. Officer Whitfield said that, at the Bearden crime scene, there was an office complex. The officer identified the .380 shell casing that he collected and some cash register receipts that showed that the cash register was opened at 4:19 a.m., 4:29 a.m., and 4:30 a.m. The officer testified that he retrieved the bullet that doctors recovered from the victim's head. The officer said that none of the fingerprints that he collected from the crime scene matched the Defendant. On cross-examination he stated that the VCR and videotape missing from the Pilot station had not been recovered.
Mike Jennings testified that he is the store manager for a Pilot station, and, on October 8, 2001, he determined that $366 had been stolen from his Pilot station during a robbery. On cross-examination, he said that $235 in rolled change was stolen and $131 from the cash drawer. He also said a VCR was stolen along with a security tape.
Joshua Richard Reynolds testified that, on October 8, 2001, he was working his third graveyard shirt, which was from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., as a clerk at a Pilot station. Reynolds said that both the inside and outside of the Pilot station were brightly lit. Reynolds testified that, on October 8, 2001, at some point before 4:30 a.m., a man, whom he identified as the Defendant, came in and walked around for a little bit. The Defendant picked up a few items after which Reynolds rang him up as he would have any other customer. Reynolds said that, when he went to give the Defendant his change, the Defendant pointed a gun at him, told him not to press the alarm button, and motioned to where the button was located. Reynolds said that the Defendant came to the back of the counter and told Reynolds to lock the store door and empty the cash registers. Next, the Defendant requested that Reynolds open the safe, and Reynolds complied with this request, but he could only open the lower portion where the change was located. Reynolds said that the Defendant gave him a bag, and Reynolds put the money in the bag. Reynolds had to tell multiple customers to leave and not pump gas, and he told the customers that there had been a toxic spill inside the store. During this time, the Defendant was crouched behind the register with a gun pointed at Reynolds.
Reynolds said that, next, the Defendant told him to get the security tape, and Reynolds told the Defendant that he could not get the tape without the key, which he did not have. The Defendant told Reynolds to get the key or he would shoot Reynolds. Reynolds panicked, and he "ripped the whole VCR down and started unplugging all the wires." Reynolds said that the Defendant put the VCR in the bag and some of the VCR was sticking out of the bag. Reynolds testified that the biscuit delivery man came to deliver the biscuits, and Reynolds tried to get him to leave by telling him there was a toxic spill. The delivery man would not leave, so Reynolds told him to go to the back door, thinking that the Defendant could leave from the front door. Reynolds said that, after the delivery man went to the back, the Defendant stood up from behind the counter, saw that no one was there, and then he pulled Reynolds toward the front door. As the two were walking out...
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