State v. Mathis, No. M2002-02291-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. 1/30/2004)
| Decision Date | 30 January 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. M2002-02291-CCA-R3-CD.,M2002-02291-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DOUGLAS MARSHALL MATHIS. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Houston County; No. CR-4532; Robert E. Burch, Judge.
Reversed.
Jerred Creasy and Kirk Vandivort, Charlotte, Tennessee, for the appellant, Douglas Marshall Mathis.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Christine M. Lapps, Assistant Attorney General; Dan M. Alsobrooks, District Attorney General; and Carey J. Thompson, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINION
The defendant, Douglas Marshall Mathis, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In this appeal, he contends: (1) that the evidence is insufficient; (2) that the trial court erred by giving an irrelevant definition of "knowing" as a part of the instructions to the jury; (3) that the prosecutor's comments during closing argument were improper; (4) that he was denied the right to a fair and impartial jury; and (5) that the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence. Because the state's closing argument was improper and the error cannot be classified as harmless, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial.
In May of 2001, the defendant, charged with first degree murder, entered a plea of guilt to one count of second degree murder for the shooting death of the victim, Selwyn Ward. Later, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief and in September 2001 the post-conviction court granted a new trial.
During the trial, Kenneth Barnes, Sheriff of Houston County, testified that shortly before midnight on May 11, 1999, he received a report of a shooting at a campsite near the Magnolia Bridge. Upon his arrival, Sheriff Barnes found the body of the victim, Selwyn Ward, who had suffered a shotgun wound to the face. The victim's wife, Kim Ward, informed the Sheriff that the defendant had shot the victim after an argument. Ward admitted that she and her son, Cody Lucas, had moved the victim's body after the shooting.
While at the crime scene, Sheriff Barnes learned that the defendant, whom he had known for thirty years, had reported to the sheriff's department and wanted to make a statement. Because he was ill with the flu, the Sheriff was unable to participate in the entire interview but did recall that the defendant, who did not appear to be intoxicated, had claimed that the victim had brandished a weapon during their argument. During the questioning, the defendant acknowledged that he had thrown the murder weapon into the river.
Darrell Allison of the Houston County Sheriff's Department, the first officer to arrive on the scene, found that the victim was dead. At trial, he testified that he did not find any weapons at the scene. Later, Officer Allison learned that the defendant had admitted the shooting and told investigators that he had thrown the gun, which was never found, into a stream. Although Deputy Allison did not conduct an interview, he recalled that the defendant remarked, "Darrell, you . . . know I didn't mean to hurt this man."
David Hicks, criminal investigator for the Houston County District Attorney's Office, participated in the investigation. When he arrived at the crime scene, Hicks observed the shotgun wound to the victim and, along with Agent Joe Craig of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), interviewed the victim's wife and stepson. Hicks noted that there was a large pool of blood in front of a lounge chair near the campfire and that the victim's body had been moved. He testified that no weapons were found at the scene.
Hicks and Agent Craig also interviewed the defendant, who had turned himself in to the Houston County Sheriff's Department. According to Hicks, the defendant had been drinking but was not drunk. He recalled that the defendant claimed that he had gotten into an argument with the victim, who had then "gone to his tent and came back with a gun or what appeared to be a gun." Hicks maintained that it was the defendant's contention that he had backed up as far as he could and was in danger when he shot the victim. After questioning the defendant's brother, Hicks informed the defendant that he had received a conflicting account of the shooting and the defendant then admitted that the victim may not have had a weapon. According to the officer, the defendant acknowledged taking a twelve-gauge shotgun from under the seat, loading it with one six shot shell, positioning the barrel across the window, and firing one shot.
The victim's wife, Kim Ward, testified that her family had gone camping near Magnolia Bridge on the day of the murder. She recalled that shortly after 10:30 p.m., the driver of a large blue car paused on the bridge and then drove toward their campsite. When the car stopped near their campsite, two men got out and one announced, "It's Marshall Mathis and my brother Jeff." According to Ms. Ward, the victim then said, "[Y]our brother, Jeff, he's the one that sold my sixteen-year-old . . . son narcotics," to which the defendant replied, "[Y]ou're making a mistake." Shortly thereafter, Ms. Ward heard "a loud boom" and then saw the victim roll off of his chair and onto the ground. It was her opinion that the victim died within a few seconds. Ms. Ward testified that she sent her son, Cody Lucas, for help while the defendant and his brother sped away. She contended that the victim was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
During cross-examination, Ms. Ward admitted that she did not see who fired the shot that killed the victim. While she was unable to identify the defendant as the driver of the car, she maintained that she saw his arm extending outside of the driver's side window. She conceded, however, that she did not see a gun. Ms. Ward acknowledged that the distance from where the defendant's car stopped to where the victim was sitting was approximately forty-three feet. She also remembered that the defendant had stated that he was drunk. Ms. Ward explained that after the shooting, she and her son, Cody, had moved the body because the victim's feet were too close to the fire.
Cody Lucas, the victim's stepson, testified that he had been expelled from school shortly before the shooting because he had taken Valium to school. He claimed that he acquired the pills from the defendant's brother, Jeff Mathis, and that the victim was upset about the incident. He recalled that on the day of the shooting, the family had awakened early, gathered their camping gear, and driven to White Oak Creek for a day of fishing and swimming. Lucas testified that when he returned to his tent at approximately 10:45 p.m., the victim and his mother were sitting by the fire. He stated that he had only slept for about fifteen minutes when he heard a gunshot. He remembered that when he stepped out of his tent, he saw "a car taking off at the top of the driveway and my dad laying there and my mom crying." Lucas recalled that he drove the family van to a nearby residence to telephone 911.
Kimberly Agee, a friend of the victim, testified that she and her children had joined the victim and his children at the campsite on the day of the murder. She recalled that the children played and swam in the creek while the defendant caught fish for the evening meal. According to Ms. Agee, the victim was "laid back in his recliner or lounge chair by the camp fire, just relaxing" when she left the campsite at approximately 10:45 p.m. She testified that she saw no gun in the victim's possession.
Jeff Mathis, the defendant's brother, testified that he and the defendant had traveled to Waverly on the evening of the shooting and, as they returned home, had to cross Magnolia Bridge. He recalled that when they reached the bridge, the defendant first directed him to stop the vehicle and then asked him to drive down to the creek. He stated that when they arrived at the campsite, the defendant identified himself to the victim, explaining that his brother was with him, at which point the victim replied, "[Y]our little brother, Jeff, has sold my sixteen-year-old son some cocaine." Jeff Mathis testified that an argument ensued and the defendant, who was sitting in the passenger seat, pushed him out of the way and shot the victim with a sawed-off, twelve-gauge shotgun. According to Jeff Mathis, the defendant remarked, "[I]f I had another gun or could get this shell out, . . . I'd kill her and him, too." Jeff Mathis testified that he drove the defendant to the residence they shared with their parents and the defendant shouted, "Daddy, get up, . . . I've killed a man[!]"
During cross-examination, Jeff Mathis conceded that he had initially claimed that the defendant was unarmed on the day of the shooting, explaining that he had done so because he was on parole at the time. He also acknowledged that the victim sounded angry when he accused him of selling drugs to his son and that he was scared because "[y]ou can't ever tell what a man's got when he's camped out." Jeff Mathis testified that the defendant did not take aim before shooting the victim and simply fired out the window of the car.
Before the Sheriff arrived to question the defendant, J.T. Baggett, a member of the Drug Task Force in Houston County, stood guard. Officer Baggett testified that the defendant was on the front steps of the police station when he arrived and appeared to be nervous. While the officer did not participate in the interview of the defendant, he recalled that the defendant claimed that he did not intend to shoot the victim and that he had done so in self-defense. He also heard the defendant acknowledge that he would have to "face the...
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