State v. Huskey

• Decision Date: 31 October 2005
• Docket Number: No. E2002-02317-CCA-R3-CD.,E2002-02317-CCA-R3-CD.
• Citation: 177 S.W.3d 868
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee v. Thomas Dee HUSKEY.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 868

177 S.W.3d 868

STATE of Tennessee v. Thomas Dee HUSKEY.

No. E2002-02317-CCA-R3-CD.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, at Knoxville.

July 22, 2003 Session.

June 1, 2005.

Application for Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court October 31, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Gill R. Geldreich and Joseph F. Whalen, Assistant Attorneys General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General, for the appellant, State of Tennessee.

Herbert S. Moncier and Gregory P. Isaacs, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Thomas D. Huskey.

OPINION

JOSEPH M. TIPTON, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which GARY R. WADE, P.J., and NORMA McGEE OGLE, J., joined.

The state has appealed the Knox County Criminal Court's suppression of statements made to police by the defendant, Thomas Dee Huskey, and of items found and seized from his home. The state contends that (1) the trial court erred as a matter of law in suppressing the statements and (2) the trial court erred in suppressing the items found at the home (a) because the police arrested the defendant in good faith reliance upon a capias which subsequently was declared void and (b) because the defendant's father consented to a search of the defendant's room. The defendant asserts that if the state's appeal is successful, then he contends that the trial court erred in prior rulings denying suppression of his statements and the items seized from his home on other myriad grounds raised by the defendant. We affirm the trial court.

The defendant is charged with four counts of first degree murder. His first trial ended in a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Pending the retrial, this court entered an opinion in the defendant's consolidated appeal of multiple convictions including rapes, aggravated rapes, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, robbery, and aggravated robbery. See State v. Thomas Dee Huskey, No. E1999-00438-CCA-R3-CD, Knox County, 2002 WL 1400059 (Tenn.Crim.App. June 28, 2002), reh'g denied, (Oct. 11, 2002) (the rape cases). This court affirmed the defendant's convictions for offenses versus two victims but reversed the convictions regarding a third victim and remanded those charges for retrial. Some of the evidence reviewed and issues analyzed in that appeal are relevant to the resolution of this case.

In the rape cases, the defendant contended that the trial court erred by not suppressing statements he gave to law enforcement officers on November 9, 10, and 11, 1992. This court did not reach the merits of the suppression issues because it concluded that the trial court did not make adequate findings of fact for appellate review under the circumstances then existing. This court stated:

For example, the trial court has made no findings regarding members of law enforcement having contact with the defendant on November 4 and 5, 1992, in relation to Lieutenant Larry Johnson's testimony that the defendant initiated contact with him and TBI Agent David Davenport on November 9, 1992. For instance, meetings with the defendant on November 4 and 5 may cast doubt upon the credibility of Lt. Johnson's testimony regarding the questioning of the defendant. If the suppression of the statements is raised upon the retrial of [the victim's] case, the trial court should make complete findings, and take proof if appropriate, with regard to the issues surrounding the suppression of the statements.

Id. 2002 WL 1400059, at * 53, slip op. at 56-57.

Also in the rape cases, the defendant contended that the trial court erred by not suppressing as evidence the items seized during a search of his home. This court held that the search warrant obtained in Sevier County was invalid because it failed to list the name of the executing officer. Huskey, 2002 WL 1400059, at *40, slip op. at 54. This court also held that the capias issued by the Knoxville City Court upon which officers claimed the authority to arrest the defendant was void and invalid, thereby making the defendant's arrest illegal. Relative to a remand of the case, this court stated:

In the present case, the trial court's application of both the search incident to an arrest and the plain view exceptions require that the defendant's arrest be valid. Our holding that the capias upon which the defendant was arrested is void calls the trial court's reliance on these exceptions into question. Upon a retrial of [the victim's] case, the trial court must reexamine the propriety of the warrantless search. In this regard, we note that although the trial court found that the defendant's father consented to the search of his home, it did not determine whether the defendant's father's consent to search removed the need for a warrant. The trial court noted that the defendant's parents had the right to enter the defendant's bedroom as revealed by the defendant's mother entering the room to turn down the radio or to leave laundry in the room but stated that it "just include[d] that as [the court's] recollection of the facts in this case." We do not foreclose the state from showing upon remand that the search was valid.

Id. 2002 WL 1400059, at *52, slip op. at 55. Upon remand of the rape case, the parties addressed the suppression issues relative to this murder case. We note, though, that despite this court's suggestion regarding the taking of additional proof, both the state and the defendant considered further proof unnecessary and requested the trial court to make its findings based upon the existing record. In separate orders, the trial court granted the defendant's motions to suppress his statements and the physical evidence seized from his home. With each issue being separate and distinct, we will state the facts relevant to each issue as the issue is discussed.

I. DEFENDANT'S STATEMENTS

The state contends the trial court erred in ruling that the investigating officers did not "scrupulously honor" the defendant's invocation of his right to remain silent under the rule announced in Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 96 S.Ct. 321, 46 L.Ed.2d 313 (1975). It also contends that the officers did not reinitiate interrogation of the defendant on November 9, 1992, in violation of Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981). The defendant argues that the investigating officers did not "scrupulously honor" his invocation of his right to remain silent on October 21, 1992, and that the officers' reinitiation of contact with him after he invoked his right to counsel on October 30, 1992, constitutes a violation of Edwards. The defendant maintains that these violations more than support the trial court's finding that the state failed to carry its burden to prove the defendant's right to remain silent was scrupulously honored, and he asserts that the record also supports a finding that the officers violated his right to counsel by reinitiating contact with him on November 4, 5, and 9, 1992. We conclude that under the totality of the circumstances, the record does not preponderate against the trial court's finding that the state failed to carry its burden of showing the defendant validly waived his Fifth Amendment rights by a preponderance of the evidence because the investigating officers did not "scrupulously honor" the defendant's right to remain silent and because they reinitiated contacts and communications with him on November 4, 5, and 9, 1992, after he invoked his right to counsel.

The primary evidence relating to the defendant's statements came from Lieutenant Larry Johnson of the Knox County Sheriff's Department. Johnson testified at two pretrial hearings and at the trial relative to the statements. Initially, though, we note that Knox County Sheriff's Detective Michael Upchurch testified that he was involved in the defendant's arrest on October 21, 1992, pursuant to a capias issued by the Knoxville City Court Clerk. He said that the defendant said he did not wish to answer any questions until they got a warrant and that Upchurch did not question the defendant after this statement.

At a suppression hearing on March 25, 1996, Lt. Johnson testified that he had been the head of the Homicide Division of the Knox County Sheriff's Department in 1992. He said that he was investigating some homicides in East Knox County and learned that the defendant was in the Knox County jail. He noted that he had been out of the country when the defendant was placed in custody.

Lt. Johnson testified that, to his recollection, he, Det. Upchurch, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Agent David Davenport went to the jail on October 29, 1992, and talked to the defendant. He said that the jail did not have any rights waiver forms and that he read the defendant the Miranda warnings from a card. Johnson said that he talked to a "person" the defendant identified as "Kyle."

Lt. Johnson identified a rights waiver form dated October 30, 1992, at 5:00 p.m. He noted that Agent Davenport had written on the form, "I do want a lawyer at this time, and will not answer any more questions now." He said he told the defendant, "If you don't have anything else to say, ... there's no point in us continuing to talk."

Lt. Johnson testified that the next time he talked to the defendant, he was responding to the defendant's sending word through a correctional officer that the defendant wanted to talk to him and Det. Upchurch. He said he and Upchurch returned to the jail, advised the defendant of his rights, and asked if he was sure he wanted to talk with them and without an attorney. Johnson identified a rights waiver form dated November 10, 1992, at 11:45 a.m. He said that he explained the rights "very thoroughly" to the defendant and that the defendant signed the waiver. Johnson identified another rights waiver form dated November 11, 1992, at 2:10 p.m. He said the meeting occurred at the request of the defendant who had gotten word...