State v. Hawkins
| Decision Date | 16 February 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. W2010-01687-CCA-R3-CD,W2010-01687-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LEDARREN S. HAWKINS |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Assigned on Briefs August 2, 2011
Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Madison County
No. 09-253 Roy B. Morgan, Jr., Judge
A Madison County jury convicted the Defendant, LeDarren S. Hawkins, of first degree murder and tampering with evidence, and the trial court sentenced him to serve an effective life sentence in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court refused to instruct the jury regarding the defense of a third person as an affirmative defense. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court's judgments.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Circuit Court Affirmed
ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JERRY L. SMITH and CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, JJ., joined.
Joseph McClusky, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, LeDarren S. Hawkins.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Sophia S. Lee, Assistant Attorney General; James G. Woodall, District Attorney General; Jody S. Pickens, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
This case arises from the Defendant shooting and killing the victim, Jerome Ellington, and, thereafter, disposing of the shotgun he used in the commission of this offense. Based on this conduct, a Madison County grand jury indicted the Defendant forfirst degree premeditated murder and tampering with evidence. The parties presented the following evidence at the Defendant's trial: Clifton Ellington, the victim's father, testified that the victim was nineteen years old and enrolled as a student at Lane College at the time of his death. Mr. Ellington recalled that, on January 28, 2009, he was called to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital where he identified his son's body.
Rusty Ballentine, a Jackson Police Department officer, testified that, at approximately 10:20 p.m. on the night of January 28, 2009, he responded to a "shots fired" call at the Jackson Family Fun Center. Officer Ballentine said that, when he arrived at the scene, he observed people running and jumping the fence toward an area on the property where patrons could play "putt-putt" golf. After parking his car and approaching the building, a man wearing a brown coat told the officer that his friend was dying. Officer Ballentine followed the man into the bowling center to the karaoke bar area, where he observed the victim lying in a pool of blood on the ground behind the bar. The victim was unconscious and not breathing, so the officer performed CPR on the victim until paramedics arrived.
Steven Story, a Jackson Police Department crime scene technician, testified that he reported to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital to photograph the victim and recover any personal effects. The items collected included: one pair of black socks, one pair of black Nike running shoes, one pair of Fruit of the Loom underwear, one pair of black shorts, one pair of blue jeans with a belt, one gray pullover shirt, one bloody white t-shirt, one black t-shirt, a wristband from the bowling center, an AT&T cellphone, a container of Carmex lip balm, a set of keys, $5.09 in cash, a condom, and a wallet. Officer Story testified that he did not recover anything on the victim's body to indicate the victim was in possession of a handgun or any other weapon that night.
Dr. Staci Turner testified that in January 2009 she worked as an assistant medical examiner for Forensic Medical, which served as the Davidson County Medical Examiner. Based upon her education and experience, Dr. Turner testified as an expert in the field of forensic medicine. Dr. Turner testified that, during the course of her employment with Forensic Medical, she performed an autopsy on the victim. Upon examination, Dr. Turner determined that the victim was six feet tall and weighed 217 pounds. The most notable injury was a large gunshot entrance wound, from a shotgun, located on the victim's right upper chest area. Dr. Turner testified that it was "unlikely" that a person would survive after sustaining a wound of this nature. A toxicology report indicated the presence of a small amount of alcohol, which could be attributed to either the equivalent of one beer or alcohol generated as part of the decomposition process of the body. Dr. Turner testified that the cause of death in this case was a shotgun wound to the chest.
Andy Kim, the general manager of the Jackson Family Fun Center, testified that the Jackson Family Fun Center was equipped with security cameras. Kim said that heprovided the State with the video footage for the date and time relevant to this case. On a map of the Jackson Family Fun Center, Kim identified a karaoke bar located inside the main building with an adjacent patio. Outside the building was a "putt-putt" golf area lined by a four-foot tall black metal fence. Kim said that he was present at the Jackson Family Fun Center at the time of this incident but did not see anything related to this incident firsthand. When Kim first learned of the incident, he went outside and observed "a lot of people running away from [a] silver car." Initially, he was told to look for an older model blue Bronco. He found a vehicle matching this description, stopped the vehicle, but he allowed the vehicle to leave the parking lot because he could not determine the occupants' involvement.
Hayley Brown testified that on, January 28, 2009, she worked at the Jackson Family Fun Center. Her husband, Luke, was not employed at the Jackson Family Fun Center but would "help out from time to time." Brown recalled that she covered the bar for the bartender while he stepped out to take a smoke break. Brown then covered for her husband who checked patrons' identifications that night. While doing so, she became aware of "a problem," so she notified other employees and then went outside to check on "the problem." When she went outside, she observed a group of fifteen to twenty people "hovering around." She watched as a man was punched in the face, kicked in the back, and dragged to the ground. She described the man as between 5'8" and 6'1," "a little husky," and wearing a navy blue shirt. Although Brown never saw a weapon, she heard a gunshot. The bartender instructed her to go inside and turn off the music, and she complied. Once inside, Brown observed the same man that she had seen punched, kicked, and dragged to the ground lying behind the bar bleeding.
Clint Collins testified that on January 28, 2009, he worked as a bartender at the Jackson Family Fun Center. At about 10:22 p.m. a fight broke out in the parking lot, so Collins went outside to try to break up the fight. Collins said that there was a large group of people straight out in front of the door to the karaoke bar. He yelled for the parties to stop, but he said the fight "was way more than what any one person could take care of." Collins heard gun fire and then saw a black man with dreadlocks. The man wore a red jacket and a red hat, and he held a "cut off" shotgun. Collins described the jacket as "maybe a Dale Earnhardt or a Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the Budweiser jacket." Collins watched as this man fled toward "45."1 Collins went inside the karaoke bar and called 911. While inside, he saw a man lying on the ground behind the bar with blood coming from his chest. Collins testified that the only weapon he saw that night was the shotgun.
Collins testified that, earlier that same evening, the man with the shotgun had been asked to leave the karaoke bar twice because he was underage. Collins testified that the sawed-off shotgun police recovered near the "putt-putt" golf course was "consistent withwhat [he] saw" that night.
Collins narrated the events, which were consistent with his testimony, as the State played the security video recording for the jury. The video depicted Collins entering the karaoke bar and showed that, soon thereafter, a man entered the karaoke bar and fell behind the bar. The video depicted Collins on the phone calling 911 while others attempted to aid the injured man. Officer Ballentine arrived and performed CPR on the injured man and then paramedics arrived.
Kyan King testified that on January 28, 2009, he worked at the Jackson Family Fun Center as the night manager. King said that, at some point that night, he learned of "a problem" out in the parking lot, so he went outside and saw two groups arguing with each other. He attempted to "settle them down," but the argument turned physical. King said that he saw the Defendant get out of a blue Chevrolet Blazer holding a sawed-off shotgun at his side. The Defendant walked through the crowd "look[ing] for one guy and shot him." After seeing the Defendant fire the shotgun, King ran inside the Jackson Family Fun Center to radio that shots were fired and to call police. King said that the Defendant's hair was in dreadlocks, and he wore blue jeans, a red Budweiser jacket, a red shirt, a red hat with a white "C" on it, and a gold chain. The State played the security video recording for the jury, during which King narrated and identified himself in the footage.
On cross-examination, King identified the victim in the case on the security video recording. King agreed that, on the footage, the victim punched another man, but King explained that he did not see the punch at the time of these events.
Darrell King, a Jackson Family Fun Center employee, testified that he worked the night of January 28, 2009, and witnessed portions of the altercation. Darrell King went outside and saw a large group of people and noticed the Defendant wearing a red Budweiser coat, a red hat, and carrying a sawed-off shotgun as he exited a truck. Darrell King agreed that the weapon police officers later retrieved appeared...
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