State v. Johnson
| Citation | 661 S.W.2d 854 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Walter Keith JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant. 661 S.W.2d 854 |
| Decision Date | 22 August 1983 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Tennessee |
Ray H. Ledford, Chattanooga, for defendant-appellant.
Robert L. Jolley, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for plaintiff-appellee; William M. Leech, Jr., Atty. Gen., Nashville, of counsel.
The defendant, Walter Keith Johnson, 37 years of age, was convicted in the trial court of armed robbery and first degree murder of Raymond Harris. The defendant's punishment was fixed at death by electrocution for the murder and 35 years' imprisonment for the robbery.
The defendant appeals and asserts that the convictions and sentences are invalid upon several grounds: (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's verdicts of murder in the first degree and armed robbery; (2) that sheriff's deputies violated his constitutional rights in making his arrest, searching his pickup truck and seizing certain guns concealed therein and, for these reasons, that evidence of his possession of such guns was not properly admitted; (3) that an inculpatory statement given by him to sheriff's deputies was improperly obtained and should not have been admitted in evidence; (4) that the trial judge erred during the sentencing phase of his trial in permitting the State to introduce evidence that the defendant had been previously convicted of grand larceny and of attempt to commit a felony, to-wit: burglary of an automobile, and that, since the jury listed these two convictions as aggravating circumstances, the sentences of death by electrocution should be set aside and a new trial ordered with respect to sentencing; (5) that the trial judge erred during the sentencing phase of the trial in stating to the jury, in response to a question from them, that it was common practice in indictments for homicide to charge the defendant with first degree murder and that pursuant thereto the jury would find the defendant guilty of that charge or one of the lesser included offenses or the defendant would plead guilty to a lesser included offense as a product of plea bargaining.
We find no error in the convictions and affirm them, but it is our conclusion that reversible error was committed in the sentencing phase of the trial and, accordingly, we set aside the sentence of death by electrocution and award a new sentencing hearing.
Early in September, 1980, the defendant burglarized a residence in Dunlap, Sequatchie County, Tennessee, and stole several firearms therefrom. The defendant took two of these firearms, .22 caliber rifles, to the mobile home residence of the victim Raymond Harris, an 84 year old man who lived alone on Granny Walker Cemetery Road on Daisy Mountain in Hamilton County, and sold or pawned the two rifles to Mr. Harris for the sum of $100.00. This transaction occurred on or about September 6, 1980.
Then, in the early evening of September 8, 1980, the defendant went back to the home of Raymond Harris and demanded the return of the two rifles. The defendant did not testify as a witness before the jury, but, in the statement that he gave to officers following his arrest, he explained what happened as follows:
The defendant left the victim dying in his mobile home residence, hid the guns in bushes alongside the road and then walked back to Daisy, Tennessee, where at about 2:30 a.m. on September 9, 1980, he purchased a red Ford pickup truck for the sum of $200.00 and proceeded back up the mountain to the point where he had hidden the guns taken from Harris, loaded the guns and drove to Sequatchie County.
On September 9, 1980, Terry Francis Harris, a relative of the victim went to the mobile home residence of the victim and found him, dead. The death was reported to the office of the Hamilton County Sheriff and an investigation immediately ensued. The investigation revealed that the victim had been struck about his head more than once with a candle holder but that one particularly severe blow had killed him. This was a blow over his left ear which left a four-inch laceration and caused a massive fracture of his skull on the left side. Dr. Jack Adams, the county medical examiner, testified that the main cause of death was this massive skull fracture. Fragments of a reddish orange colored heavy glass candle holder were found in and about the victim's wounds. When the victim was found, his body was lying face down in his trailer with his head on the couch and the remainder of his body in the floor.
Meanwhile, early on the morning of September 9, 1980, Jerry Randall Johnson, the chief deputy sheriff of Sequatchie County, received a telephone call from a confidential informant who related that the defendant was then in possession of guns stolen from Reverend Russell's residence in Dunlap, Tennessee, and was at or near the Smith residence behind the school in the Lusk Community of Bledsoe County and was attempting to sell the guns to obtain money for use in going to Indiana. The informant gave the deputy the license number of the truck as well as a detailed description thereof. The deputy knew that the informant was not a person involved in criminal activity but was a member of a "Christian family." Moreover, he knew of the defendant's past involvement in thefts and dealing in stolen property. Since the Lusk Community was in Bledsoe County, thus outside the normal jurisdiction of the deputy, he radioed the Sheriff's Department of Bledsoe County, explained his mission and the exigent circumstances and requested permission for him to proceed to apprehend the defendant in Bledsoe County and also asked that Bledsoe County officers join him in that endeavor, all of which was agreed.
Deputy Johnson, accompanied by Sheriff Hickey of Sequatchie County and a constable of Sequatchie County, then proceeded to the Lusk Community of Bledsoe County and parked their patrol car near the Smith residence. Soon, they saw approaching them the red Ford pickup truck bearing the Tennessee license number which had been reported to the deputy by the confidential informant and observed the defendant riding as a passenger in the truck which was driven by another person. They proceeded to halt the movement of the pickup truck and were approaching the occupants thereof when Deputy Sheriff Seals from Bledsoe County arrived and joined the Sequatchie officers. The officers asked the defendant for permission to search his pickup truck and the defendant orally granted such permission. The defendant was drinking beer at this time, he "was drinking a little" but was not "too drunk--not too drunk to drive." He had blood on his shoes, his hand was "cut open" and he bore "scratches on his hands and stuff." Beneath a piece of linoleum in the back of the truck were discovered several firearms the serial numbers of two of which showed that they had been stolen from the parsonage in Dunlap. The defendant was arrested and taken to jail in Sequatchie County. This arrest of the defendant occurred at about 9:00 a.m.
Later in the day Hamilton County officers were informed that the defendant was in...
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