State v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 28 September 2004
• Docket Number: No. W2001-01299-SC-R11-DD.,W2001-01299-SC-R11-DD.
• Citation: 146 S.W.3d 469
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee v. Gregory ROBINSON.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

146 S.W.3d 469

STATE of Tennessee v. Gregory ROBINSON.

No. W2001-01299-SC-R11-DD.

Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Jackson.

Heard in Nashville June 2, 2004 Session.

September 28, 2004.

Appeal from the Criminal Court, Shelby County, James C. Beasley, Jr., J Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Joseph F. Whalen, Associate Solicitor General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Patience R. Branham and Paula Wulff, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellant/appellee, State of Tennessee.

Joseph S. Ozment and Steffen G. Schreiner, Memphis, Tennessee (at trial); and Edmund L. Carey, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee, and Robert C. Brooks, Memphis, Tennessee (on appeal), for the appellee/appellant, Gregory Robinson.

OPINION

FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which E. RILEY ANDERSON, JANICE M. HOLDER, and WILLIAM M. BARKER, JJ., joined.

We granted the State's application for permission to appeal to determine whether the Court of Criminal Appeals erred by reversing the defendant's conviction for premeditated first degree murder and his sentence of death. Upon review, we hold that the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in reversing the defendant's conviction and sentence. In particular, we conclude that the trial court did not err by failing to instruct the jury on facilitation and solicitation or by permitting the medical examiner to display the victim's cleaned and reconstructed skull as a demonstrative aid during his testimony; that the prosecution did not present inconsistent theories and evidence in the separate trials of the defendant and co-defendant Prentiss Phillips; and that the sentence of death is not disproportionate considering the circumstances of the crime and the defendant. Having reinstated the defendant's conviction and sentence, we have also reviewed and considered all other errors alleged by the defendant and conclude that none warrants relief. With respect to issues not herein specifically addressed, we affirm the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Relevant portions of that opinion are published hereafter as an appendix. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is reversed in part, affirmed in part, and the judgment of the trial court is reinstated.

I. Factual Background

The defendant, Gregory Robinson, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of the premeditated first degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping of Vernon Green. Proof presented at trial established that on the afternoon of April 30, 1997, a squabble between two small children in the Hurt Village Apartments in North Memphis led to an argument between the mothers of these children, which escalated into a fight, including gunfire, between the women's boyfriends, members of rival Memphis gangs—the Gangster Disciples and the Vice Lords.¹ As a result of this fight, the Hurt Village Gangster Disciples called an "aid and assist" meeting, and Memphis-area Gangster Disciples congregated at an apartment in the Hurt Village complex for this meeting. Although the victim was not a gang member and had not been involved in the earlier fight, he was seen near the apartment where the aid and assist meeting was being held. When a gang member accused Green of acting as a lookout for the Vice Lords, the defendant instructed other gang members to "snatch him up" and bring him to the apartment. For one and one-half to two and one-half hours, the defendant, along with other gang members, beat and interrogated Green. Eventually Green was taken from the apartment by six gang members and shot to death in Jessie Turner Park.² Green's body was discovered in the park between 5 and 5:30 a.m., on May 1, 1997, by members of a local walking club, who called the police. When Officer Alvin Peppers arrived at the scene, he found the victim's body lying face down in a prone position. Officer Peppers explained that he could not identify the victim's features, such as eye color, because the "face of the body was so mutilated that there was nothing that we could identify." Officer Peppers found no identifying objects on the body, such as a wallet or jewelry, but he recovered a numbered dry cleaner's tag from inside the victim's clothing that apparently was helpful in identifying the victim. Two live .45 caliber bullets, two .45 caliber bullet casings, and one .20 gauge shotgun shell casing were found within a five foot radius of the victim's body. The following complicated and detailed recitation of the testimony at trial is necessary to a full and proper consideration of the issues presented in this appeal.

Several former gang members testified about the events surrounding Green's kidnapping and murder. Two of these testified for the prosecution. The first, Christopher James, known as "Big Chris," testified for the prosecution. James had been a Gangster Disciple for three or four months on April 30, 1997. Around 5 or 6 p.m. on April 30, 1997, James and fellow Gangster Disciples, Jarvis Shipp, known as "J-Roc," and two other gang members called "Popcorn," and "Steve," witnessed a fight between Shipp's girlfriend and the girlfriend of "Snoop," a Vice Lords gang member. Later, as James, Shipp, and Popcorn were walking toward the apartment of Shipp's girlfriend, Snoop approached them and begin swinging at Shipp. After Shipp and Snoop began fighting, another Vice Lord drew a gun. At this point, James and Popcorn fled, but a bullet grazed Popcorn's hand as they were running from the scene. They arrived from the fight at the Hurt Village apartment of sisters Natalie, Nichole, and April Black around 8 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Shipp, along with fellow Gangster Disciples Prentiss Phillips, James Lee White Carradine, known as "Thug Life," and "Steve," and "Chuck" arrived at the apartment. Shipp was angry and decided to "call some more Gangsters over there to Hurt Village." An aid and assist meeting was called, and according to James, twenty or thirty additional Gangster Disciples from all over Memphis arrived at the apartment for the meeting.

After their arrival, Phillips came inside the apartment and said that Vernon Green was outside "watching out at the apartment." One of the later arriving Gangster Disciples, whom James identified as the defendant, instructed Shipp and three other Gangster Disciples to "go snatch up" Vernon Green. James said Shipp and the others followed the defendant's instruction without hesitation. Green arrived at the apartment around 10 p.m., escorted by "[t]wo disciples in front [and] two disciples in the back." Green stood in the middle of the floor as the defendant asked Green if he had been outside watching for the Vice Lords. The defendant then hit Green in the face, struck Green numerous times, both with his fists and with a broom stick, and then pushed Green onto the couch. James, who had lived in the Hurt Village apartments and known Green for seven years, described Green as the neighborhood comedian and stated that Green had not been a gang member and had not been involved in the fight earlier in the day.

After Green was beaten, he was taken upstairs by "two other guys." Green remained upstairs for thirty to forty-five minutes. During this time, James was "jumped on" and "beat up" downstairs by six Gangster Disciples because he had not helped "Jarvis and them fight." James testified that Phillips came out of the kitchen, where he had been meeting with Shipp and Kevin Wilkins, known as "Big Folk," "cut on the radio and started picking out six people," who then beat James for fleeing rather than aiding Shipp during the fight with Snoop. James testified that Phillips, not the defendant, selected the gang members who beat James and that the defendant had been upstairs at this time.

Green was escorted downstairs after James was beaten, but a short time later, Green was taken from the apartment. Before Green left the apartment, James saw the defendant, Shipp, and Phillips talking together in the kitchen and overheard the defendant say, "Y'all know what to do." James believed this statement meant "[t]hey [were] going to kill [Green]." James recalled that the victim had been held at the apartment two or two and one-half hours. When asked if the victim said anything during this time, James said the victim "told Prentiss [Phillips], `tell them folks to stop.'" When Green was escorted from the apartment by Shipp, Wilkins, Charles Golden, known as "Fufu," and Antonio Jackson, Green had been wearing a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes. Green's black shirt had been pulled over his head so that Green was unable to see or use his arms to resist. As this group left the apartment, James overheard the defendant again say, "Y'all know what to do." James also testified that the defendant at one point aimed a nine millimeter gun at his face, while threatening that the "same thing" would happen to James if James ever said "something about it." James believed the defendant's comment meant "[t]hey going to kill me too." After Green and the other gang members left the apartment, Phillips and "Steve" walked James home in the early morning hours of May 1, 1997.

James admitted that he had never seen the defendant before April 30, 1997, and that the defendant had not been a member of the Hurt Village Gangster Disciples. James maintained, however, that the defendant had been a member of the Memphis Gangster Disciples and had been present at the Hurt Village apartment on April 30, 1997.

Defense counsel on cross-examination questioned James regarding a statement he made to the police on May 8, 1997, one week after these events occurred. In that statement, James informed the police that "[he] saw Anthony, Jarvis Shipp, Shaun, and a big heavy-set guy that I don't know his name, Antonio Jackson, and Big Folk" kill Green. (Emphasis added.) In his May 8 statement James also said that "Shaun" instructed Shipp and three other gang...