State v. Sutton

• Decision Date: 24 October 1988
• Citation: State v. Sutton, 761 S.W.2d 763 (Tenn. 1988)
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Nicholas Todd SUTTON, Appellant. 761 S.W.2d 763
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 763

761 S.W.2d 763

STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Nicholas Todd SUTTON, Appellant.

761 S.W.2d 763

Supreme Court of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Oct. 24, 1988.

Petition to Rehear Denied Dec. 5, 1988.

John E. Appman, Jamestown, for appellant.

W.J. Michael Cody, Atty. Gen. & Reporter, Gordon W. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, Charles E. Hawk, Dist. Atty. Gen., Frank A. Harvey, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Kingston, D. Roger Delp, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Loudon, for appellee.

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

The defendant, Nicholas Todd Sutton, appeals directly to this Court his conviction of first degree murder ¹ and the sentence of death imposed by the jury. He presents four primary issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction and sentence; (2) whether the statutes upon which the verdict is based are unconstitutional under the state and federal constitutions; (3) whether he was denied the right to a fair trial; and (4) whether the trial court erred in its ruling on the admissibility or exclusion of evidence. After a careful review of the entire record and the law, we find these issues to be without merit. We, therefore, affirm the conviction and the sentence.

The defendant Sutton was jointly indicted and tried with co-defendants Charles Freeman and Thomas Street for the murder of Carl Estep at the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility on January 15, 1985. All four men were inmates at that facility on the day of the murder. Freeman was acquitted by the jury. Street was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sutton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death upon the jury's finding of three aggravating circumstances: (1) the defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies, other than the present charge, which involved the use or threat of violence to the person; (2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind; and (3) the murder was committed by the defendant while he was in lawful custody or in a place of lawful confinement or during his escape from lawful custody or from a place of lawful confinement. T.C.A. Sec. 39-2-203(i)(2), (5) and (8). The jury found no mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to outweigh the aggravating circumstances.

I Sufficiency of the Evidence

Defendant first argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of first degree murder and his sentence of death. It should be remembered that all conflicts in the testimony must be resolved in favor of the State. State v. Hatchett, 560 S.W.2d 627, 630 (Tenn.1978). Where the sufficiency of the convicting evidence is challenged, the relevant question for an appellate court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Duncan, 698 S.W.2d 63 (Tenn.1985); TRAP 13(e).

The defendant Sutton and co-defendants Freeman and Street were residents of Guild 6 at the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility on the day of the murder. The victim, Carl Estep, was a resident of Guild 5, which was located next to Guild 6. The facility is composed of one story buildings, guilds, which are equivalent to dormitories. Each guild has approximately 30 cells located along the outer walls. These cells are approximately 5' X 10' and have a wooden door with a vertical window. The cells contain a bunk bed for two inmates and have a toilet and sink. In the center of the guild is the correctional officer's station which is totally enclosed with glass. Also in the center of the guild are tables and benches and open space for the inmates, referred to as the dayroom area. The correctional officer, from his station in the center of the building, can observe the cells of the inmates. On January 15, 1985, when Carl Estep was murdered, there was no correctional officer in Guild 5 between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. During a routine "shakedown" after 10:00 a.m. correctional officers found the body of Estep lying on the lower bunk of his cell in Guild 5. There were signs of a struggle and blood was observed on the wall, the bed covers and on Estep's body. Attempts made to revive Estep proved unsuccessful. The entire facility was then "locked down," and all inmates in Guild 5 were interviewed.

Estep, who had been serving a sentence for child molesting, had been stabbed thirty-eight times in the chest and neck. Most of the wounds were superficial, but nine were potentially fatal, having penetrated Estep's lungs, his vena cava and carotid artery. The examining pathologist testified that this latter wound would have caused death in a matter of minutes. There were seven defensive wounds on Estep's hands and right arm and a wound to the back of his head caused by a blow. It was the opinion of the pathologist that from the size of the wounds two knives had been used by Estep's attackers. On the bottom bunk investigating officers found two homemade knives, called "stickers" in prison jargon, which matched the wounds on Estep's body. A later investigation of the cell uncovered a third knife hidden under a lamp beside Estep's bed.

The testimony of four inmates, sometimes contradictory and evasive, linked the defendant Sutton to the murder. The first to testify was Harold Meadows, a resident of Guild 5. He testified that he was sitting in the dayroom area when he saw Sutton and Street enter the guild and go straight to Estep's cell. He stated that each day between 9:30 a.m. and shortly after 10:00 a.m. there was a period of five to ten minutes when no guards were in Guild 5 due to a duty change. It was during this time on January 15, that he observed Sutton and Street enter the guild. When they entered Estep's cell, his roommate immediately came out and shortly thereafter the volume of the tv or radio increased, and Meadows heard a scream, and Sutton and Street came out. When questioned by correctional officers immediately after the incident, he told them what he had seen and identified Sutton and Street from a photographic line-up. Meadows further testified that on Sunday, January 13, he had seen Estep having a "physical discussion" with Sutton and Street, during which Sutton held a knife to Estep's throat.

Another resident of Guild 5, Estel Green, testified that he was standing in front of the door to his cell (# 1), right next to Estep's cell (# 2), when he saw Sutton and another inmate go inside Estep's cell. Green then went into his cell. When he came back out, he saw the other men in the guild moving toward the back away from Estep's cell. Green moved away with them and heard Estep "holler out. He said, 'Don't do that; please don't do that.' and then he hollered louder, he hollered, 'Somebody help me; somebody please help me.' and that was all I heard." Green was not able to see who left Estep's cell.

Ralph Edward Scates was a resident of Guild 3, but he worked as a laundry man in Guild 1. Scates testified that he had a casual conversation with Street while Street was confined to Guild 1 for investigative purposes after the killing. Street admitted to Scates that "he [Street] cut him ... he stuck him, cut his throat." Street said that homemade knives had been used and that he had tried to flush his down the commode in his cell in Guild 6. Scates stated that Sutton had told him, "The SB got exactly what he deserved."

The last inmate to testify for the State was Cary Scoggins. He testified that Estep was a marijuana dealer at the facility and had sold defendants some "bad merchandise" and had refused to refund the defendants' money. He testified that after the defendants took Estep's watch and some other articles, Estep had threatened to kill Sutton. Scoggins, a resident of Guild 6, happened to be in Guild 5 on the morning of January 15 between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. He stated that he saw Sutton, Street and Freeman come into the guild and enter Cell 2, Estep's cell. He looked through the window in the door of Estep's cell, a vertical window four inches by thirteen inches and saw all three defendants standing in front of the bunk bed with their backs to the window. He saw Estep try to get up from the bottom bunk and Sutton and Freeman pulled knives. Sutton started to stab Estep, who screamed. Scoggins stated that Sutton "just kept on stabbing" about sixteen times. The three defendants then washed their hands in the sink. Scoggins then moved away from the door and left the guild before the defendants did.

In order to contradict Scoggins' testimony, the defendant Freeman presented the testimony of Gary Lumbert, Scoggins' cellmate. Lumbert testified that Scoggins was working with him in the prison library at the time Estep was murdered.

The State recalled James Worthington, the administrative assistant to the warden at the time of the killing, and he testified that he had investigated the murder. He stated that Lumbert had told him that he was present in Guild 6 immediately after Estep had been killed, and that he observed Sutton and Street enter the guild, remove their clothes, and place their clothes in the laundry. Lumbert also told Worthington that Sutton bragged "about stabbing Carl Estep twenty-some times."

On January 15, two garbage bags found outside Guild 8 were brought to Worthington, one containing trash and the other prison clothing. A telephone pass for defendant Freeman was found in one pair of the pants. F.B.I. analysis of the debris from the clothing in the garbage bag revealed a hair consistent with that of the victim on a pair of button-fly jeans and a hair consistent with that of Charles Freeman on one of the jackets. A forensic serologist employed by the T.B.I. testified that she was able to identify a human blood stain matching the victim's blood type on the sleeve...