State v. Jones
| Decision Date | 25 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | sKNo. W2009–01655–SC–DDT–DD.sK |
| Citation | 450 S.W.3d 866 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee v. Henry Lee JONES. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Robert L. Parris (at trial and on appeal), and Michael E. Scholl and Jake Erwin (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Henry Lee Jones.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; William E. Young, Solicitor General; Gordon W. Smith, Associate Solicitor General; Leslie E. Price, Senior Counsel; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Thomas D. Henderson and John Campbell, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
The defendant was indicted for two first degree murders in Shelby County. During the trial, the court allowed the jury to hear evidence of a third murder allegedly committed by the defendant in a different state, ruling that the out-of-state murder qualified as a “signature crime” and was relevant to the issue of identity. The defendant was convicted as charged and received a sentence of death for each offense. In a divided opinion, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. Because the out-of-state murder did not qualify as a signature crime and, under these circumstances, the danger of unfair prejudice outweighed the probative value of the evidence, the trial court erred by allowing the proof of the third murder. Because the error does not qualify as harmless, the convictions must be reversed and a new trial must be granted. On remand, the State may again seek the death penalty for each offense.
On the afternoon of August 23, 2003, Margaret Coleman stopped by to check on her sixty-six-year-old mother, Lillian James, and her eighty-two-year-old step-father, Clarence James, at their home in Bartlett. The front door was partially open, and there were linens, papers, and other items strewn about the house, which was ordinarily neatly maintained. When she called out for her mother and received no response, she dialed 911. Officers with the Bartlett Police Department soon arrived and discovered the bodies of the victims inside the house. Both victims had incision wounds
on the neck, among other injuries. There were also signs of strangulation. An extensive investigation led the police to develop Henry Lee Jones (the “Defendant”) as the primary suspect.
On October 7, 2003, the Shelby County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant for two counts of first degree premeditated murder and two counts of first degree felony murder. Later, the Defendant was arrested in Florida. The State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
On July 19, 2004, the State filed a “Notice of Intention to Use Evidence of Proof of Other Crimes in Order to Establish Identity.” In particular, the State sought to introduce evidence that the Defendant killed Carlos Perez in a motel room in Melbourne, Florida, four days after the murders of Mr. and Mrs. James. While acknowledging that Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b) prohibits the admission of evidence of other crimes to show action in conformity with a character trait, the State asserted that the modus operandi in the Perez murder and was so distinctive and so strikingly similar to the modus operandi in the James murders that proof of the Perez murder was admissible as evidence on the issue of identity. The State later amended its notice, seeking to also introduce evidence that the Defendant, using a similar modus operandi, had killed another individual, Keith Gross, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on September 7, 2002, approximately one year prior to the murders of Mr. and Mrs. James. In order to determine whether the proof surrounding the Perez and Gross murders qualified for admission under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b), the trial court conducted a pre-trial hearing. The terms of Rule 404(b) provide context for the purpose of the hearing:
At the Rule 404(b) hearing, a proceeding which involved five days of testimony, Tevarus Young, a witness for the State, testified that in August of 2003 he was homeless and had spent a night at a park in Fort Lauderdale. He recalled that when he awoke he was confronted by the Defendant, who was driving a light-beige, four-door Dodge. According to Young, the Defendant introduced himself as “Bambam” and offered to pay Young for oral sex. Young agreed, got into the car, and was driven to a McDonald's Restaurant. The Defendant then took Young on a series of errands, stopping by a woman's residence to make a phone call, visiting two pawn shops, and driving to a courthouse in Miami to pay some traffic tickets.
According to Young, the Defendant then drove “to some warehouses where [Young] performed oral sex on him.” Afterward, the Defendant gave Young twenty dollars and asked him if he would like to meet some women the Defendant knew in Daytona. Young agreed. After stopping to pick up some clothes at the residence of Young's grandmother, the two men traveled approximately 250 miles north to meet two otherwise unidentified women called “Toosie” and “Tawana.” The Defendant left with Toosie, and Young spent the night with Tawana. When the Defendant and Toosie returned the next morning, they were arguing. Although Young claimed that he wanted to stay in Daytona and start a new life with Tawana, the Defendant convinced him to leave so they could visit some of his relatives. Although he did not know where they were going, Young recalled that the Defendant drove for “[m]aybe a day, a day and a half.” Young fell asleep during the latter part of the trip, and when he awoke he was alone in the car, which was parked in front of a Burger King Restaurant in Bartlett, Tennessee. He remembered that a Burger King employee approached the car, asked for the Defendant, and left. Eventually, Young went inside the Burger King and saw the same employee having a conversation with the Defendant. A different employee brought them some food and, after their meal, the Defendant drove to a nearby apartment complex and parked his vehicle.
Young and the Defendant got out of the car and encountered an elderly African–American man, later identified as Mr. James, who was sitting in his garage. The Defendant said, “Hey, Pops, how are you doing?” Mr. James then informed the Defendant that he had just been released from the hospital and was waiting for a man to come and mow his lawn. Young claimed that he offered to mow the lawn for free, but that Mr. James asked only that he move the lawnmower from the front yard to the back yard.
Young testified that when he returned to the front yard, neither the Defendant nor Mr. James were in sight and the garage door was closed. Young knocked on the front door, but received no answer. When he walked inside, he saw the Defendant with a bloody rope and two bloody towels in his hand. According to Young, the Defendant then entered one of the rooms, threw to the floor an elderly woman, later identified as Mrs. James, and shouted, When, in response, Mrs. James pointed the Defendant to another room, he tied her arms and legs, took off her rings, and directed Young to sit in a chair by the door. As the Defendant left the room to look for the purse, Mrs. James asked Young if they were going to kill her. When Young answered that he thought that the Defendant was related to her, Mrs. James explained that she did not even know the Defendant.
According to Young, the Defendant returned, picked up Mrs. James, and used her body to push Young into the hallway and then into a bedroom. Young testified that the Defendant threw Mrs. James to the floor, placed the rope around her neck, choked her by pressing his foot into the back of her neck, and then cut her neck with a knife, killing her. The Defendant explained to Young that Mrs. James had seen his face.
Young stated that the Defendant then went to another part of the house and returned with a plastic grocery bag. He led Young into a laundry room, where Mr. James was lying, apparently dead. Mr. James' body was surrounded by blood and his hands were tied behind his back. The Defendant removed the ropes used to tie Mr. James' hands and placed them in the bag that Young held. Eventually, the Defendant put the contents of Mrs. James' purse into the bag and the two men left the house. As the Defendant drove away, he threw several items out of the car window. The Defendant later took a billfold from the bag, removed the cash, and threw the billfold out the window. He gave Young approximately $1500 in cash and the rings he had taken from Mrs. James' fingers. Young claimed that the Defendant then displayed his knife and threatened to kill him if he told anyone of the murders. The Defendant drove to a shopping center and bought clothes and shoes for himself and Young. As they drove away, the Defendant instructed Young to change into his new clothes and throw...
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