State v. Gilley
| Decision Date | 13 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. M2006-02600-CCA-R3-CD.,M2006-02600-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee v. David Kyle GILLEY. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
James O. Martin, III, and Richard McGee, Nashville, Tennessee (on appeal); and Roger May and Ed Ryan, Nashville, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, David Kyle Gilley.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Preston Shipp, Assistant Attorney General; William Whitesell, District Attorney General; and J. Paul Newman, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
The defendant, David Kyle Gilley, appeals from his Rutherford County Criminal Court conviction of premeditated first degree murder. On appeal, the defendant claims (1) that he experienced an unreasonable pre-indictment delay, (2) that the trial court erred in admitting testimony pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b), (3) that the conviction is unsupported by sufficient evidence, (4) the trial court erred in allowing hearsay testimony from two witnesses, (5) that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial, (6) that the trial court erred in allowing the State to question a defense witness regarding a letter the witness had written that contained a disparaging remark about a prosecutor in this case, and (7) that the trial court erred by denying a defense request for a jury instruction regarding the State's destruction of evidence. Following our review, in which we address, among the other issues, the standard of review of hearsay rulings, we affirm the conviction.
On March 4, 2002, the Rutherford County Grand Jury charged the defendant with the premeditated first degree murder of Laura Salmon, see T.C.A. § 39-2-202(a) (1982), a crime which occurred on May 31, 1984.
The trial began on July 26, 2006. Lourene Mackey, the victim's mother, testified that the victim was a student at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and worked at Kroger. At the time of her death, the victim had recently moved out of an MTSU dormitory and into the house of her father, John Salmon. Ms. Mackey testified that the defendant and the victim met in 1982 and continued a relationship until the victim's death. Ms. Mackey did not approve of the relationship because the victim would often cry and scream during phone conversations with the defendant. Ms. Mackey did not allow the defendant inside her house.
Mr. Salmon testified that the victim had moved into his house just a few days prior to her death. He last saw her in the early morning hours of May 31, 1984. Mr. Salmon testified that on the evening of the murder, he was "almost certain [the defendant] came over to the house that night" with Kim Roberts, another friend of the victim. Mr. Salmon later went to the crime scene after the police had concluded their search and found the victim's necklace as well as several bloodstained rocks. He turned these items in to the police department.
On cross examination, Mr. Salmon testified that he did not know of relationship problems between the defendant and his daughter and that he was not aware of her seeing any other men besides the defendant.
Brenda Salmon, the victim's stepmother, testified that she last saw the victim the morning of May 31, 1984, when the victim was asleep with her friend Trina in the den of the house. Ms. Salmon became aware of the victim's death when assistant district attorney Guy Dotson came to the house and told her on the evening of May 31, 1984. She testified that the defendant called the house a short time later, and that both she and Mr. Dotson spoke with the defendant. The defendant came to the Salmon residence that evening and went through the victim's belongings without asking permission. Ms. Salmon testified that the defendant left with some letters. She stated that the defendant showed no emotion, did not appear upset or grieving, and never asked any questions about what happened to the victim.
Trina Quisenberry Daniel was a childhood friend of the victim and also worked with her at Kroger. On May 30, 1984, the victim picked her up from work around 11:00 p.m., and the two of them went to a nightclub in Nashville. They returned at approximately 3:30 a.m., and Ms. Daniel spent the night at the Salmon residence. Ms. Daniel went to Kroger with the victim the following morning before the victim's shift began at 9:00 a.m. Ms. Daniel testified that she knew the victim was dating other men besides the defendant, but that the victim asked her to keep the other relationships secret "because she was very scared of what would happen if it was found out."
On cross examination, Ms. Daniel testified that she returned to Kroger for her shift on the day of the murder at approximately 2:00 p.m. She knew the victim's shift ended at 1:00 p.m., and the victim's car was not in the parking lot when Ms. Daniel arrived. When Ms. Daniel was taking groceries out to the parking lot some time between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m., she noticed that the victim's car was back in the parking lot, but in a different place than in the morning.
Sybil Waite testified that she was the victim's supervisor at Kroger on the morning of her murder. The victim's time card showed she worked from 8:55 a.m. until 1:09 p.m. Ms. Waite testified that she had asked her to stay and work late, but the victim declined because she wanted to go to her grandmother's house to swim.
Sharyn Faulk testified that she worked with the victim at Kroger for six months and that they worked together on the morning of her murder. They left Kroger together when their shifts ended, and the victim changed clothes from her work outfit to "just some jeans and a top [and] her brown work shoes." Ms. Faulk testified that the victim told her she was going to her grandmother's house to swim, and she watched the victim get in her car and leave the Kroger parking lot. She knew the defendant was the victim's boyfriend, and she recalled seeing the victim "black and blue" on occasion. Ms. Faulk testified that she told the victim physical abuse should not happen in a relationship, and that she should talk to someone and tell them what was going on.
Billy Daniels testified that he was the manufacturing superintendent at the Heatcraft division of Lennox industries in May 1984 and that Gladys Mears was an employee of Heatcraft at that time. Mr. Daniels recalled that after Ms. Mears learned that a murder had occurred near the route she traveled on the afternoon of May 31, 1984, she told him she had seen someone drive out of the intersection at Twin Oaks and Hall's Pike on the afternoon of May 31, 1984. Ms. Mears told Mr. Daniels that the young man she observed at the intersection looked like the one featured on television and in the newspapers in connection with this murder case. On cross examination, Mr. Daniels testified that Heatcraft was about five to seven minutes in driving time from the intersection in question, and that, based on the time clock cards, Ms. Mears would have been at the intersection at approximately 4:40 or 4:45 p.m. on May 31, 1984.
Ms. Mears testified that on the afternoon of the murder, she was returning from her job at Heatcraft when she saw a two-toned beige Oldsmobile Cutlass with tinted windows at the intersection of Twin Oaks and Hall's Pike. The car was pointed towards Hall's Pike and was sitting on the same side of the road as, and in the proximity of, the rock quarry where the victim's body was recovered. Ms. Mears recalled that she waited for the car to move, but after a while she finally proceeded through the intersection. Ms. Mears testified that when she learned about the murder the next day, she told her co-workers about the car in the intersection. Several months later, officers interviewed her at work regarding the car she had seen in the intersection. Ms. Mears stated that after relating the story to her coworkers, she saw a photograph of the driver of the Cutlass in a newspaper article. Ms. Mears identified the defendant as the driver from a photographic lineup. She told investigators that there was just one person in the car she saw, and that the person was a slender-built male with dark, shoulder-length hair. Based on the position of the man's car seat, she thought he was tall.
Audrey Shaw testified that she worked for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) from January 1982 until March 1993 as a forensic scientist in the trace evidence section. Ms. Shaw testified that she examined numerous items in this case, including the 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon interior and exterior. She sent hair and soil samples to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for analysis. The analysis showed that the soil found on the driver's side of the Oldsmobile matched the mud sample from the road where the victim's body was recovered.
Ronald Rawalt testified that in 1984 he was an analyst for the FBI crime laboratory in the mineralology unit. Mr. Rawalt confirmed that the analysis he performed indicated that the soil found on the driver's side of the Oldsmobile matched the mud sample from the road where the victim's body was recovered. In his opinion, this evidence indicated that the Oldsmobile was at the crime scene.
Robert Asbury testified that in 1984 he was a detective for the Rutherford County Police Department. He investigated the murder of the victim on May 31, 1984, after Johnnie Muckle came to the sheriff's department and reported finding a body on his farm. Detective Asbury personally videotaped the crime scene, and he and other officers checked the body, photographed the crime scene, and collected evidence. They found an area "consistent with a scuffle [w]here the gravel was matted...
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