State v. McLawhorn
| Decision Date | 20 October 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. M2018-02152-CCA-R3-CD,M2018-02152-CCA-R3-CD |
| Citation | 636 S.W.3d 210 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee v. Christopher MCLAWHORN |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Jay Umerley (on appeal) and Nicholas McGregor (at trial), Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Christopher McLawhorn.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; T. Austin Watkins, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; Pamela Anderson, Jan Norman, and Wesley King, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
The Defendant, Christopher McLawhorn, was convicted by a Davidson County Criminal Court jury of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder; especially aggravated burglary, a Class B felony; and two counts of theft of property valued at $1000 or less, Class A misdemeanors. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-202 (first degree murder) (2014) (subsequently amended), 39-14-404 (2018) (especially aggravated burglary), 39-14-146 (2014) (subsequently amended) (theft). The trial court merged the first degree murder convictions and imposed a life sentence. Following a sentencing hearing, the court imposed a sentence of twelve years as a Range I offender for especially aggravated burglary, to be served consecutively to the life sentence. The court imposed sentences of eleven months and twenty-nine days for each of the two theft convictions and ordered them to be served consecutively to each other and concurrently to the life sentence. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress and admitting evidence obtained from a search of his cell phone. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.
The Defendant's convictions relate to the stabbing death of Tiffany Ferguson and to the Defendant's entry into and theft of property from her apartment. The defense theory was that the Defendant was not the person who committed the offenses.
At the trial, Ali Staggs, the victim's twin sister, testified that the victim graduated from the University of North Alabama with a nursing degree in approximately 2015. Ms. Staggs said that after graduation, the victim obtained a job at St. Thomas Hospital as an intensive care unit registered nurse. Ms. Staggs identified photographs of the victim.
Melissa Thornily, who had been the victim's roommate at the time of the victim's death, testified that she met the victim in their college sorority. Ms. Thornily said that she moved to Nashville after graduation and that when the victim and Kelsey Cooper later moved to Nashville, the three of them became roommates. Ms. Thornily identified photographs of their apartment complex. She said that their front door had been accessible from the street and that the door had a keypad lock. She said that they did not have an alarm system but that the front door had an alarm that sounded if the door was shaken when locked. When asked if she had given the code to "anybody else," she said, "Yes." She said that in order to lock the door from the outside, a person must type the code and push a button. She said the back door had a key lock. She said that she worked during the day and that the victim and Ms. Cooper worked at night.
Ms. Thornily testified that when she came home from work on February 27, 2017, the victim was getting ready to go to dinner with friends and was talking with Ms. Cooper about a man the victim liked. Ms. Thornily said that she stayed home that night, that the victim left around 8:00 p.m., and that Ms. Cooper left before the victim. Ms. Thornily said she used the victim's computer to look for job listings that evening. Ms. Thornily identified a diagram and photographs of the apartment, which were received as exhibits. She identified a knife block and knives in a photograph of the kitchen.
Ms. Thornily testified that she and the victim parked in front of the apartment and normally used the apartment's front door. Ms. Thornily said Ms. Cooper parked behind a gate and normally used the apartment's back door.
Ms. Thornily testified that she went to bed around 11:00 p.m. She said that at some point in the evening, she looked at the victim's Snap Chat and that the victim appeared to be in a bar with live music. She said during the night of February 27 and the early morning hours of February 28, she never heard the door alarm. She said that at the time, she had been a "heavy sleeper." She said her bedroom was on the opposite end of the apartment from the victim's bedroom.
Ms. Thornily said she was awakened by a female screaming. She said she jumped out of bed, retrieved her cell phone and glasses, ran out of her bedroom, and saw the open front door. She said she went to the front door, looked right and left outside, and did not see anyone. She said she closed and locked the door and yelled for the victim. She said the victim did not respond. She said she ran into the victim's bedroom, saw the victim lying on her back on the bed with her head tilted back and blood coming from her open mouth. She saw injuries on the victim's right breast, underneath the right breast, and on the victim's right side. Ms. Thornily said the victim did not have a pulse. Ms. Thornily said she spoke with a 9-1-1 operator, who instructed her to unlock the front door and to pull the victim onto the floor to administer chest compressions. Ms. Thornily said she had difficulty moving the victim, who was not moving or conscious. Ms. Thornily said the victim did not react when she pulled the victim off the bed. Ms. Thornily said she performed chest compressions until the paramedics and the police arrived. Ms. Thornily said the victim took one short breath during the chest compressions. Ms. Thornily said that the paramedics took the victim to a hospital and that the police took her in a patrol car to the precinct. She said that when the police drove her around the apartment complex, she recognized the victims’ purse sitting against the side of a building at the end of the street. She said the victim normally stored her purse on a hook on the front door.
Ms. Thornily testified that the police later had her walk through the apartment to identify missing items. She said a knife was missing from the knife block. She did not recall if each slot in the knife block normally was filled. She said she gave DNA and fingerprint samples to the police.
Ms. Thornily testified that she did not know the Defendant on February 27 and 28, 2017. She said he did not have her permission to be inside the apartment.
Paige Ann Stevenson Zoller, one of the victim's neighbors, testified that on a Tuesday in late February 2017, she left her apartment at 6:50 a.m. to go to work and that she saw a purse on the walkway near a gate with items strewn around. She said that she did not see anyone, that rain was falling, and that she put the items in the purse and placed it against the wall before she left for work. She said that her roommate called her later and said police were everywhere. Ms. Zoller said she left work and went to talk to detectives. She identified photographs of the purse leaning against a wall. She said she found the purse outside the gate. She said a person could exit the gate without a code but that entry required a code.
Jonathan Michael Sanborn testified that he worked with the victim in February 2017. He said he and other members of the nursing staff socialized frequently. He said he had been in a long-term relationship that had ended shortly before the victim's death.
Mr. Sanborn testified that he went out with about twelve coworkers and friends, including the victim, on the night of February 27, 2017. He said they went to several establishments using rideshare services and that they drank alcohol. He said that he, the victim, and his friend Jacob left the last establishment in a Lyft rideshare car around 2:00 a.m. Mr. Sanborn said they dropped off Jacob. Mr. Sanborn said he and the victim had been "[p]retty close friends" until this time. When asked if they had dated, he said, "Not particularly." He said that he went with the victim to her apartment and that he had not been there previously. He said that he and the victim had a physical encounter and that he was hesitant because he had just been in a long-term relationship. He said they mutually decided that he should leave and that they would talk about it later. He noted that it was 3:00 a.m. and that they had been drinking. He said the victim was in her bedroom when they talked and that he waited in the living room for about ten minutes for his Lyft to arrive. He said that when his Lyft arrived, he walked out, closed the door, and got into the car. When asked if he had "any method or ability to lock the door," he responded, "I don't know." He said he did not know whether or not he had locked the door. He said he had not asked the victim how to lock the door. He identified a copy of his Lyft receipt, which was received as an exhibit. He said it showed that the ride began at 3:13 and ended at 3:17 a.m. on February 28, 2017. He said that when he left, he had not seen anyone outside the victim's apartment. He said that he and the victim had been "some what drunk" but that she had been conscious and able to speak with and understand him when they talked shortly before he left.
Mr. Sanborn testified that when he woke the next morning, he had calls and text messages from several people he had been with the previous evening and from the victim's friends. He said that once he determined what had happened, he went to a police precinct to report what he knew because he thought he was probably one of the last people who saw the victim. He said he was interviewed and gave a DNA sample.
Nashville Metro Police Officer Frank Walker, Sr....
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Bowling v. State
...State v. McLawhorn, 636 S.W.3d 210 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2020), to prove that his motion to suppress would have been successful is misplaced. McLawhorn was not until over two years after Petitioner pled guilty. "[T]rial counsel cannot be held to a standard of being clairvoyant concerning a case......