State v. Marvin J. Hill.

• Decision Date: 24 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. E2008–02210–CCA–R3–CD.,E2008–02210–CCA–R3–CD.
• Citation: 333 S.W.3d 106
• Parties: STATE of Tennesseev.Marvin J. HILL.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

333 S.W.3d 106

STATE of Tennessee

v.Marvin J. HILL.

No. E2008–02210–CCA–R3–CD.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, at Knoxville.

Nov. 24, 2009 Session.May 12, 2010.Application for Permission to Appeal

Denied by Supreme Court

Oct. 12, 2010.

Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender, for the appellant, Marvin J. Hill.

Robert E. Cooper, Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and TaKisha Fitzgerald, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which NORMA McGEE OGLE and D. KELLY THOMAS, JR., JJ., joined.JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J.

A Knox County Criminal Court jury convicted the defendant, Marvin J. Hill, of first degree premeditated murder, see T.C.A. § 39–13–202 (2003), and abuse of a corpse, see id. § 39–17–312. The trial court imposed sentences of life imprisonment and six years, respectively, and ordered the sentences to be served concurrently for an effective sentence of life in prison. In this appeal, the defendant argues that the trial court should have suppressed bodily fluids obtained from the victim's body as fruit of the defendant's unconstitutionally procured statement, contends that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence telephone calls the defendant placed while in jail and a videotape recording of the victim's body being recovered by authorities, asserts that the trial court should not have ruled that he could be impeached by convictions greater than 10 years old, claims that the trial court erred by permitting the State to argue that the victim had been raped prior to her death, and challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

On the night of May 29, or the morning of May 30, 2006, the defendant killed the victim, 28–year–old Christina Eubanks, in her apartment in the Fort Sanders area of Knoxville. In addition to beating the victim with a toilet tank lid, the defendant fastened a dog leash around the victim's neck and strangled her before wrapping her body in a sheet and an area rug and placing it in his car. He then drove the body to a small concrete bridge near the intersection of Jim Sterchi Road and Dry Gap Pike, where he dumped the victim's body into a creek.

At trial, the victim's best friend, Jessica Truax, testified that after receiving a telephone call from her boyfriend, she went to the victim's apartment sometime after 5:30 p.m. on May 31, 2006, to see if the victim was home. She recalled that the victim would not answer her mobile telephone and had not arrived for work as scheduled. Ms. Truax testified that the victim did not answer the door and had not been seen by friends or neighbors for a couple of days. Ms. Truax stated that she and a neighbor opened the side window to the victim's apartment and heard the victim's dog barking and the victim's mobile telephone ringing. The victim's neighbor, Bill, climbed in through the window and unlocked the front door. Ms. Truax recalled that the victim was not inside the apartment and that the dog had been locked in the victim's bedroom without food or water. She said there was dog feces on the floor, which she described as very unlike the dog. Ms. Truax testified that it was uncharacteristic of the victim to leave the dog alone without arranging for someone to care for him in her absence. Ms. Truax described the appearance of the victim's bedroom for the jury: “Her bedroom was very—like the stuff was scattered all over. Her sheets were thrown to the side of the bed and hanging over the side of the bed, and there was just random items like all against the wall on the side of the bedroom that ... was out of the norm.” Ms. Truax recalled seeing the victim's glasses on a bedside table, which she thought was unusual because the victim had very poor vision and did not go anywhere without her glasses. In addition to the glasses, the victim's purse, keys, and mobile telephone had also been left behind. Ms. Truax stated that a couch and coffee table appeared to have been moved, that a dog leash was missing from its hook near the door, and that “[t]he toilet in the bathroom was missing a lid.” Based on these observations, Ms. Truax called 9–1–1. She said she saw “porcelain chips” inside the apartment and pointed them out to investigators.

During cross-examination, Ms. Truax admitted that the victim used marijuana and that she and the victim had smoked marijuana together. She conceded that she lied to police when they asked if the victim used drugs.

Dustin Trukken, the victim's next door neighbor, testified that he knew the victim but that he “[n]ever really hung out with her.” Mr. Trukken stated that he also knew defendant and that he had smoked marijuana with the defendant. He recalled that as he walked back to his house in the early morning hours of May 30, 2006, he saw the defendant drive up outside the victim's apartment. He stated that he and the defendant spoke briefly before they walked together to Sam's Party Store, which was closed. Mr. Trukken testified that the defendant told him that “he was helping [the victim's] boyfriend move out.” He recalled that the defendant left Sam's Party Store before he did, and when he walked home a short time later he saw the defendant outside the victim's apartment “laying down in the back seat of his car.” He said that the door to the victim's apartment was open and that the defendant told him the victim's boyfriend had called and asked the defendant to get his stuff from the victim's apartment.

Mr. Trukken admitted that he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana “the whole night” so that he “wasn't in the clearest state of mind” when he encountered the defendant. He described the defendant's demeanor as “somewhat shaky” and “a little upset,” but he said the defendant's behavior was “not anything that really alarmed [him] or anything else that made [him] know anything was going on.” Mr. Trukken stated that when he learned the victim was missing, he telephoned police and reported his observations to Officer Travis Brasfield.

The victim's boyfriend, Sean Maynard, who was living in Wilmington, Delaware, at the time of the victim's death, testified that he spoke with the victim by telephone early on the morning of May 29, 2006, and she told him that “she was not going to work that day [be]cause her wrist was hurting.” He explained that the victim had carpal tunnel syndrome in her right hand that caused her to experience “severe pain from punching the cash register at work, and she would wear a brace on that hand.” Mr. Maynard recalled that he talked to the victim three more times that day, with the last time being “before [they] both went to bed which would be somewhere between 10 and 11.” When he could not reach the victim by telephone on Tuesday or Wednesday, he became concerned and called Jonathan Bolter, who was Jessica Truax's boyfriend. Mr. Maynard stated that he eventually called the defendant, a mutual friend, because he “was desperate” to find out whether “anyone had seen her in the last day or so.” He recalled that the defendant told him “that he had not seen her, and that if he did see her” he would call Mr. Maynard.

Mr. Maynard testified that he first met the defendant when they worked together at the Fresh Market in 2002. He stated that although the victim also worked at the Fresh Market, he did not believe that they knew each other at that time. Mr. Maynard said that he and the victim began dating in 2004 and that he introduced the defendant and the victim. He recalled that the three of them visited with each other at the victim's apartment and that they “would all smoke marijuana together.” He stated that he moved to Wilmington in November 2005, but he continued to date the victim and visited her once or twice a month. Mr. Maynard testified that during his visits, the defendant would come to the victim's apartment so that they could smoke marijuana.

Mr. Maynard described his relationship with the victim as “mutually exclusive.” Describing the victim's relationship with the defendant he said, “I wouldn't say that it was close, just that they were friends.” He stated that he did not believe from observing their interaction that the victim and the defendant were engaged in a sexual relationship. Mr. Maynard testified that the victim routinely removed her wrist brace before they engaged in sexual intercourse. He said that the victim had never locked her dog in the bedroom.

During cross-examination, Mr. Maynard stated that he and the victim had been to the defendant's residence and that they had traveled with the defendant and his wife, Robin Hill, to Kentucky to play bingo. He testified that he sometimes paid the defendant for the marijuana that they smoked with the victim and that the defendant sometimes provided it at no charge.

Timothy Marshall testified that he lived near the victim and that he knew the defendant through “an old roommate” who had worked with the defendant at the Fresh Market. Mr. Marshall stated that he and the defendant smoked marijuana together. Mr. Marshall testified that the defendant left him a voice mail message on June 1, 2006, asking that Mr. Marshall call him as soon as possible. Mr. Marshall stated that when he returned the defendant's telephone call, the defendant asked him “to deliver a message to ... Dustin Trukken.” Mr. Marshall testified, “He told me to tell Dustin that Dustin didn't know him, Dustin didn't see him.... He said it was a matter of life or death. He couldn't tell me right now. He'd tell me at a later time, and that was it. I delivered the message.”

During cross-examination, Mr. Marshall again admitted using marijuana with the defendant, but he denied selling drugs to the defendant. He also conceded that he asked Knoxville Police Department...