State v. Lewis, No. M2004-02255-CCA-R3-CD (TN 3/15/2006)
| Decision Date | 15 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. M2004-02255-CCA-R3-CD.,M2004-02255-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. SABRINA RENEE LEWIS. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County; No. 2002-B-713; Cheryl Blackburn, Judge.
Judgment of the Trial Court is Affirmed.
Jay Norman, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Sabrina Renee Lewis.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth B. Marney, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, District Attorney General; and Pamela Anderson and Roger Moore, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Jerry L. Smith, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which David H. Welles and David G. Hayes, JJ., joined.
The appellant, Sabrina Renee Lewis, was indicted with a co-defendant on one count of first degree felony murder and one count of especially aggravated robbery. After a trial, the jury found the appellant guilty of criminally negligent homicide and facilitation of attempted especially aggravated robbery. As a result, the appellant was sentenced to six years as a Range III persistent offender for criminally negligent homicide and fifteen years as a Range III persistent offender for facilitation of attempted especially aggravated robbery. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, for an effective sentence of twenty-one years. After the denial of a motion for new trial, the appellant seeks resolution of the following issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court properly admitted the appellant's video-taped statement into evidence; (2) whether the prosecutor's reference to an alibi during closing arguments was prejudicial in light of the trial court's curative instruction; (3) whether the trial court properly admitted the victim's dying declaration into evidence; (4) whether the trial court properly allowed an expert to testify about DNA testing; and (5) whether the trial court properly sentenced the appellant. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
In July of 2001, the victim, Gary Dean Finchum, and his wife, Linda Finchum, owned an antique business named "Always Antiques," in Madison, Tennessee. On July 13, 2001, the victim was shot multiple times while working at his store. He died the following day as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
In April of 2002, the Davidson County Grand Jury returned a multi-count indictment against the appellant and a co-defendant, James Edward Taylor, charging them with one count of first degree felony murder and one count of especially aggravated robbery.
At trial, the victim's wife, Linda Finchum, testified that the appellant came into the store about three weeks prior to her husband's death. The appellant wanted Mrs. Finchum to examine one vase from a pair of vases that she was interested in selling to the Finchums. Mrs. Finchum explained that as part of their business, they often bought individual items from people to resell in the store. Mrs. Finchum explained to the appellant that her husband did the buying and pricing and instructed the appellant to return to the store later to talk to him. About one week prior to her husband's death, the appellant again came into the store and walked around. The appellant claimed to be looking for a gift for her mother who lived in New York. Mrs. Finchum and her husband offered to come to the appellant's home to examine the vases, but the appellant stated that she would return to the store with the vases later that evening.
Prior to her arrest, the appellant gave a videotaped statement to the police. In that statement, the appellant admitted that she was in Always Antiques on July 13, 2001. The appellant explained that she spoke with the victim, negotiated a price for the vases, and gave the victim her contact information. The appellant claimed that after she was given $125 for the two vases she left the store. The appellant explained that after she left the store, she dropped off the car she was borrowing at Vanderbilt, then went to her mother's house for a few hours before returning home.
Pugh's Pharmacy was located next door to Always Antiques. On the day of the incident, Brenda Farmer and Judy Summers were working at the pharmacy. At approximately 11:00 a.m., the two women heard several loud crashes coming from the direction of Always Antiques. Ms. Summers noticed an older, "possibly gray" vehicle parked outside the back door with the motor running. Ms. Summers thought that she saw someone sitting in the front passenger's side of the vehicle. After a few minutes, Ms. Summers and Ms. Farmer walked next door to Always Antiques to investigate the noises. As they entered the store, they heard the victim call out for help. The victim told them to "call 911" because he had been "shot in the heart." Ms. Summers also noticed a bullet hole in the victim's arm. Ms. Farmer ran back to the pharmacy, informing them of the situation and instructing someone to call 911. The victim told Ms. Summers that a "black man" shot him and that "they" tried to rob him, but were unsuccessful.
Detective Mike Chastain was approximately two blocks north of the antique store on his way to lunch when he heard the radio report of the shooting and attempted robbery. Detective Chastain arrived on the scene prior to the paramedics and found the victim laying in the floor at the rear of the store. The victim was able to identify himself. When asked if he was robbed, the victim responded, "he tried to." The victim identified the shooter as a "male black" who was "young." Shortly after the paramedics arrived, the victim pointed with both of his hands and said: "Officer, officer, the lady's information is on the desk." Detective Chastain asked the victim what "lady" he was talking about and the victim responded, "the lady with the vases." When the detective asked the victim whether "this lady" was somehow connected to the shooting and robbery, the victim stated, "I know she is." Another detective located a piece of paper on the counter with the name "Sabrina Lewis," what appeared to be a driver's license number and the words "two vases" on it.
While talking with the victim, Detective Chastain noticed a hat lying on the floor of the store. The victim identified the hat as belonging to the shooter. Detective Chastain and a paramedic moved an oval table over the hat while making room in the store for the gurney.
After recovering the piece of paper from the counter in the store, Detective Norris Tarkington gathered information about "Sabrina Lewis" from the computer. Later that day, Detective Tarkington, along with several other officers, went to the appellant's residence at 2616 Jones Avenue. The officers knocked on the door and the appellant opened the door several minutes later. The appellant agreed to voluntarily come down to the police station to talk with the authorities. Her statement was videotaped.
Mary Fisher testified that on July 13, 2001, she was driving her vehicle to the Fin Den, a pet store located across the street from Always Antiques. Ms. Fisher remembered stopping at the red light on Gallatin Road directly across from the antique store. As the light turned green, Ms. Fisher saw a man running out of the store with something black in his hand. She described the man as an African-American man slightly over six feet tall, wearing a red shirt, jeans and tennis shoes. Ms. Fisher also noticed a woman driving a vehicle at the corner of a side street that flanked the antique store. The woman made a left turn despite a red light, almost running into Ms. Fisher's vehicle. The woman driving the car was talking, but Ms. Fisher did not see the face of any other passenger in the car. Ms. Fisher informed a uniformed officer at the scene about what she saw.
In January of 2002, Ms. Fisher was contacted by a Metro detective about what she saw on July 13, 2001. The detective visited Ms. Fisher at the Corrections Corporation of America facility in Nashville, where she was incarcerated for DUI. Ms. Fisher was shown a photo array of women and identified the appellant as someone who looked familiar. About one month later, Ms. Fisher identified the appellant as the woman driving the vehicle. At trial, Ms. Fisher identified the appellant as the driver of the vehicle.
Terry Battle, an inmate in the Tennessee Department of Correction, testified that the appellant visited him in jail during the summer and early fall of 2001. During these visits, the appellant told Mr. Battle that she was under investigation for a killing in Madison. According to Mr. Battle, the appellant stated that she sold some vases to a man at an antiques store, then went to her mother's home. At her mother's house, the appellant told a cousin named "Black" that the man at the store had a large sum of money. After this conversation, the appellant drove a vehicle with her mother and "Black" as passengers to the antiques store. "Black" went into the store while the two women waited in the vehicle. After the appellant heard a shot, "Black" ran out of the store and jumped into the vehicle. The appellant drove "Black" to the housing project, where he got out of the car.
Several hairs were found in the hat that was recovered from the crime scene. Dr. Terry Melton, an expert in mitochondrial DNA analysis, testified at trial that her lab received a hair sample from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department along with blood samples from the appellant's two sons. After an analysis was conducted on the items by an employee of the lab, Dr. Melton analyzed the results. She concluded that the appellant's two children and their maternal relatives could not be excluded as donors of the hair in the hat and that 99.94% of the population in North America would not have this type of DNA given the available database.
At the conclusion of the jury trial, the...
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