State v. Mullins
| Docket Number | W2022-01363-CCA-R3-CD |
| Decision Date | 25 August 2023 |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JERRY RAY MULLINS |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Assigned on Briefs July 11, 2023
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Chester County No. 20-CR-43 Donald H. Allen, Judge
The Chester County Grand Jury indicted Defendant, Jerry Ray Mullins, for the first-degree murder of the victim, Samantha Melendez. Following a jury trial, he was convicted of the lesser-included offense of second degree murder. The trial court imposed a twenty-two-year sentence to be served in the Department of Correction. On appeal, Defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction because he acted in self-defense when he shot the victim twice in the head. Following our review of the entire record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Tenn R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed
Daniel J. Taylor, Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jerry Ray Mullins.
Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Jonathan H Wardle, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jody Pickens, District Attorney General; and Joshua B. Dougan, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINION
State's Proof At approximately 3:06 p.m. on October 14, 2019, Defendant called 911 and reported that the victim, his fiancée, had stabbed him with a knife and razor blade. He initially said that she stabbed him two times but later in the call said that it was four or five times. He then changed it to seven or eight times. Defendant also said that the victim pulled a knife on him and that he shot "the bitch" in self-defense. He described the weapon as a "regular knife" and a "box blade." Defendant told the dispatcher that he was "pouring blood" from his right side. He also asserted that the victim was under a "federal indictment" for attempting to kill her daughter and that she was drunk but was not allowed to have alcohol due to a DUI conviction. The recording of the 911 call was played for the jury at trial.
Deputy Kyle Cupples of the Chester County Sheriff's Office ("CCSO") was dispatched to the scene and encountered Defendant outside the residence. Defendant was lying on the ground beside the house with his head propped up on a tire. He had a cell phone in his left hand, his shirt was open, and Deputy Cupples noticed several "cut marks" to his stomach area. When Deputy Cupples instructed Defendant to drop the phone, Defendant said that he had shot the victim and that she was in the hallway inside the house. Deputy Cupples noticed that Defendant's speech was "a little slurred," and he could smell "a little bit of an alcoholic beverage coming off [Defendant's] person." Deputy Jordan Phelps, who had also arrived on the scene, noted that Defendant "appeared to be very intoxicated" and had to be assisted. Deputy Cupples detained Defendant and placed him in the back of his patrol car for safety reasons and to secure the area. Defendant said that the gun, a Smith and Wesson Walther P22 pistol, was in his vehicle where it was later recovered by Investigator Jason Walker. Defendant also said that both he and the victim had been drinking that day.
Deputy Cupples, along with Deputy Phelps, entered the back door of the residence and located the victim at the end of the hallway, and "she was down on her knees, and she was crouched over with her head almost touching the floor, kind of similar as in the fetal position." She was also making "gurgling noises." Deputy Cupples saw a gray box blade cutter in the victim's right hand, and he removed it from her hand and slid it down the hallway with his foot. The victim appeared to have a gunshot wound to her forehead that was bulging and bleeding heavily. Sergeant Cody Cloud of the CCSO arrived, and he and the other deputies began administering medical aid to the victim until EMS personnel arrived. The victim died at the scene.
John Burke, an advanced EMT with West Tennessee Healthcare Medical Center EMS, was asked to evaluate Defendant who was in the back of the patrol car complaining of chest pain. Defendant also said that he had been cut several times. Mr. Burke looked at Defendant's wounds and described them as "very superficial" and not actively bleeding. He saw some dried blood on Defendant. Because Defendant was complaining of chest pains, it was recommended that he be transported to the hospital.
Investigator Justin Denbow of the CCSO was dispatched to the scene and photographed Defendant's injuries in the ambulance before he was taken from the scene. It was Investigator Denbow's opinion that the injuries "appeared to be superficial, very shallow cuts, wasn't very deep at all, almost more a of scratch-like." He said that Defendant told him that the victim cut him, and he shot her. Investigator Denbow also taped bags on each of Defendant's hands to preserve evidence for gunshot residue ("GSR") tests to be performed later. Defendant told him that there was nothing on his right hand "because he is lefthanded and that's the hand he used." Deputy Phelps accompanied Defendant to the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in the ambulance and collected Defendant's clothing and other items after they arrived.
Investigator Denbow also collected evidence and photographed the scene. In addition to the box cutter in the hallway with the blade open, he found an orange and black pocketknife in some soapy water in the kitchen sink. Investigator Denbow found one spent .22-caliber shell casing on the bathroom floor "just off the hallway" and another at the back of the hallway near a pair of boots. He also located bullet fragments on the kitchen floor under some shelving in the corner of the kitchen.
An autopsy was performed on the victim. Dr. Katrina Van Pelt determined that the victim had two gunshots wounds to her head and some blunt force injuries, including contusions, on her body. According to Dr. Van Pelt, one gunshot was a contact wound with the muzzle of the gun contacting the victim's right eyebrow. She said that the shot entered the right side of the victim's eyebrow and exited above the middle of the eyebrow "kind of on the forehead" and that it was "probably going more front to back." It was Dr. Van Pelt's opinion that this gunshot wound would not have resulted in death if the victim had received immediate care. However, it would have caused significant bleeding and that someone with this type of injury is usually in pain, stunned or dazed and confused and "just kind of drop[s] down." Dr. Van Pelt determined that the second gunshot struck the left side of the victim's head near the "temple region." It was fired at close range and left stippling marks. The bullet lodged in the victim's brain and was recovered by Dr. Van Pelt. She determined that this shot would have immediately incapacitated the victim and rendered her brain dead. Dr. Van Pelt described the wound as "very quickly lethal." However, the victim may have continued breathing for a small amount of time. Dr. Van Pelt found bruises on the victim's left and right arms, left thigh, left and right shins, right forearm and hand. Additionally, one of her toenails was missing, and there was blood around that area. The victim's blood alcohol concentration was 0.236 percent.
Investigator Seth Preslar of the CCSO testified that he performed a GSR test on Defendant's hands at the sheriff's office on the night of October 14, 2019. Defendant told Investigator Preslar that he and the victim were involved in a verbal argument, and he left the residence to go fishing. However, he returned to turn off the lights or "anything else that he may have left on," and the victim came out of a bedroom on the back-left corner of the hallway and began to "swipe" at him with a box cutter. Defendant told Investigator Preslar that he began pushing the victim away from him while she continued to "swipe" at him with the box cutter. Investigator Preslar testified:
Defendant told Investigator Preslar that the victim fell to the ground and continued toward him, that he shot her a second time and that he fired both shots with his left hand. Investigator Preslar noticed that Defendant was wearing two rings on his left finger and asked if Defendant had recently married. Defendant said that he and the victim had just gotten engaged. Investigator Preslar was unable to verify Defendant's claim made during the 911 call that the victim was under federal indictment.
Defendant requested that Investigator Preslar drive him home later that night. When they arrived at the house, Investigator Preslar asked to go inside, and he also asked if Defendant would reenact the events leading up to the shooting. Defendant reenacted the events that he had recited to Investigator Preslar earlier. He claimed that he was backed up against the doorframe and had nowhere else to go when he shot the victim. Defendant indicated that he was facing the end of the hallway, and she was facing the living room at the time the shooting occurred....
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