State v. Townsend

• Citation: 525 S.W.2d 842
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee, Petitioner, v. Roy TOWNSEND, Respondent.
• Decision Date: 23 June 1975
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 842

525 S.W.2d 842

STATE of Tennessee, Petitioner, v. Roy TOWNSEND, Respondent.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

June 23, 1975.

William C. Koch, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville (R. A. Ashley, Jr., Atty. Gen., Nashville, of counsel), for petitioner.

John H. Dinwiddie, Cleveland, for respondent.

OPINION

HARBISON, Justice.

Respondent was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to serve from ten to twenty years in the state penitentiary in connection with the death of Barbara Alexander on Sunday, January 7, 1973. Respondent was also found by the jury to be an habitual criminal and was sentenced to life imprisonment pursuant to the provisions of T.C.A. § 40--2801.

Upon appeal of these convictions by the respondent, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction for homicide and remanded the case for a new trial. That Court also held that the previous convictions of the respondent did not meet the criteria set out in T.C.A. § 40--2801 and did not sustain the charges of habitual criminality. The second count of the indictment was, therefore, dismissed as a matter of law.

This Court granted certiorari and has heard oral argument in the case. We will deal separately with the questions of the sufficiency of the evidence and the habitual criminal charges.

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

The rules under which the appellate courts of this state review criminal cases have been stated so frequently and are so well settled as not to require extensive citation. As stated by the Court in the case of White v. State, 210 Tenn. 78, 356 S.W.2d 411 (1962):

'It is a well settled rule that this Court will not reverse a criminal case on the facts unless it is shown that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of the innocence of the accused.

'The verdict of the jury, approved by the Trial Judge, accredited the testimony of the witnesses for the State, and established their credibility. Such verdict also displaced the presumption of defendants' innocence, raised a presumption of their guilt, and put upon them here the burden of showing that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of their innocence.' 210 Tenn. at 84--85, 356 S.W.2d at 414.

See also Bacon v. State, 215 Tenn. 268, 385 S.W.2d 107 (1964); Anderson v. State, 207 Tenn. 486, 495, 341 S.W.2d 385 (1960); Cooper v. State, 123 Tenn. 37, 138 S.W. 826 (1909).

The case against the respondent rested almost entirely on circumstantial evidence and upon inferences, deductions and conclusions to be drawn from the testimony of the witnesses, including the respondent, who took the stand and whose credibility was directly in issue in the case. As has been stated by this Court on previous occasions, even in circumstantial evidence cases, the burden rests on the defendant on appeal to show that the evidence preponderates against his guilt and in favor of his innocence. Chadwick v. State, 189 Tenn. 256, 225 S.W.2d 52 (1949); Ford v. State, 184 Tenn. 443, 201 S.W.2d 539 (1947).

It was the theory of the State that the respondent, while on a drunken overnight spree in the company of the deceased, Barbara Alexander, beat her so severely that she died from her injuries. On the other hand, respondent contended that the decedent received her injuries in an automobile accident which occurred as he was taking her home at about 8 o'clock on the morning of January 7, 1973.

It is undisputed in the record that the respondent did go to the residence of the decedent on Saturday afternoon, January 6, and that he was in her company continuously thereafter until the time of the accident. His uncle and his mother both saw the decedent during Saturday afternoon and early evening, and both of them testified that on the occasions when they saw her, there were no visible contusions or injuries about her face or body. The decedent and respondent consumed a large quantity of alcoholic beverages during Saturday afternoon and night, and spent the night in the automobile of the respondent, parked on a rural road. Respondent himself testified that both he and the decedent became intoxicated, and he said that he lost consciousness about 1:30 a.m. When he awoke at about 8 a.m., he said that the decedent was intoxicated. Both had disrobed and had sexual relations. Respondent attempted to assist the decedent in replacing her clothing. While he was driving the automobile in the general direction of the residence of the decedent, respondent failed to make a sharp curve in the road, and his automobile left the highway. A light snow was falling, and the road was slippery. Respondent's automobile went into a ditch and struck a culvert. Respondent contended that the injuries which the decedent was later found to have sustained were entirely the result of this automobile accident. He himself was found to have been uninjured in the automobile accident, except for some skinned places or bruises, and except for the fact that his left ring finger was broken after the accident. The respondent contended that this occurred in the accident, while the State contends that the injury to respondent's left hand was consistent with his having struck forcible blows to the decedent.

The decedent was found to have suffered a fractured cheekbone, and there were massive bruises and swelling around her eyes, cuts upon her forehead, and bruises in the chest area. A pathologist, testifying for the State, stated that the cause of death was due to a massive subdura hemorrhage (a hemorrhage under the lining of the brain). He also testified that the trauma to the jawbone or mandible was consistent with a blow by a fist and incompatible with an automobile accident. Both the pathologist and the doctor who attended the decedent in the hospital testified that the location and type of injuries sustained by the decedent did not seem to be those which would result from an automobile accident, and both of them testified that the injuries were consistent with those which would be sustained in a severe beating.

The automobile which respondent was driving was not seriously damaged in the accident, although one wheel and fender did receive some damage. The ditch into which the automobile slid was some three feet or more in depth, and the automobile struck a tile or culvert, breaking a portion of the tile on one end. Respondent telephoned for assistance from a nearby residence, and the owner of that residence also called a neighbor to investigate the accident. This neighbor noticed decedent partially clad on the floorboard of the passenger's side of the automobile, her head on the seat and her legs underneath the body. He saw some blood on her forehead, called for an ambulance and got a blanket to cover her. An ambulance attendant found decedent unconscious and having difficulty in breathing. He administered first aid, and detected the odor of alcohol both on her person and on the person of the respondent. Another ambulance attendant noted that the pupils of the eyes of decedent were dilated, indicating a head injury, and he also noted that the left cheekbone appeared to be fractured. He...