State v. Vaughn
| Docket Number | W2022-00364-CCA-R3-CD |
| Decision Date | 31 May 2023 |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. OVITTA VAUGHN |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Session April 4, 2023
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. C1900420 James M. Lammey, Judge
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Ovitta Vaughn, of driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or more (DUI per se) and driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI) for which she received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, suspended to supervised probation after serving 10 days in confinement. On appeal, the defendant contends the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support her convictions. The defendant also argues the trial court erred in failing to allow the introduction of Deputy Goodman's prior adjudication for untruthfulness, in failing to issue a curative instruction following the prosecution's inappropriate closing argument, in failing to allow the inclusion of a special jury instruction on the operability of the defendant's vehicle, and in failing to require the State to make an election as to whether the defendant was driving her vehicle or merely had physical control. After reviewing the record and considering the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. However, we remand the case for a corrected judgment form in count two.
Tenn R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed and Remanded for Entry of Corrected Judgment
W Price Rudolph (on appeal), and Jason Ballenger and Lauren Fuchs (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant Ovitta Vaughn.
Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Katharine K. Decker, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Vanessa Murtaugh, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
J. Ross Dyer, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Robert L. Holloway, Jr., and Jill Bartee Ayers, JJ., joined.
J. ROSS DYER, JUDGE
On July 29, 2017, Todd Goodwin, an emergency services volunteer with the Shelby County Sheriff's Department (SCSD), was driving on Macon Road near Highway 269 when he and his partner came upon an individual who was "passed out . in the middle of the road." As they were attending to the individual, a motorist stopped them and stated that there was another vehicle stalled in the road, and a woman was standing next to it.
Mr. Goodwin and his partner drove to the vehicle and observed the defendant attempting to direct traffic around her car. When Mr. Goodwin asked the defendant what happened, she stated that she was on her way home from a friend's house when her car "just stopped." The defendant was "stumbling around and her speech was slurred," so Mr. Goodwin asked if she had been drinking alcohol that evening. The defendant admitted to drinking, and Mr. Goodwin requested the assistance of a DUI officer.
Because the defendant's vehicle was in the middle of the road, Mr. Goodwin and his partner attempted to push it into a nearby driveway but were unable to move it completely out of the road. At one point, the defendant got into her vehicle and put the key in the ignition in an attempt to show Mr. Goodwin that it would not start. Mr. Goodwin denied acting aggressively toward the defendant or pressing his arm against the defendant's chest. Mr. Goodwin did not recall the defendant mentioning anyone named Joey or Joann.
Deputy Jeffrey Crook, a K-9 officer with the SCSD, responded to a stranded motorist call and observed the defendant sitting in the driver's seat of her vehicle, attempting to turn the key in the ignition. Deputy Crook asked the defendant what was wrong with the vehicle, and the defendant stated that "she ran out of gas." The defendant became irritated at Deputy Crook's questions and asked him why he would not help her "get the vehicle going so she could go on her way." However, at that point, Deputy Crook could smell alcohol on the defendant and was not going to allow her to leave the scene "under her own power."
The defendant told Deputy Crook that she was driving home that night and did not mention anyone else driving the vehicle or anyone named Joey or Joann. Deputy Crook denied yelling at the defendant or putting his arm against her chest while she was in the car. However, after the defendant exited her vehicle, Deputy Crook reached into it to check the gas gauge and noticed there was a quarter of a tank left. During the defendant's field sobriety tests, Deputy Crook was present but did not assist. Additionally, Deputy Crook's K-9 stayed in the back of his vehicle during the entire encounter with the defendant.
Deputy Ashley Goodman with the SCSD was working in the DUI division in July 2017 and responded to a possible DUI call on Macon Rd at 12:57 a.m. When she arrived on the scene, Deputy Crook advised her that the defendant "was possibly under the influence." Deputy Goodman asked the defendant where she was going and if she had had anything to drink. The defendant responded that she had been in Warsaw at a fish dinner where she had some beers but that she had run out of gas on her way home. The defendant did not tell Deputy Goodman that anyone else had driven the vehicle or mention anyone named Joey or Joann. However, she told Deputy Goodman that Geico could pick the vehicle up.
Deputy Goodman then placed the defendant in the back of her police vehicle and transported her to a parking lot a short distance away because the road they were initially on was dark and unsafe. At the parking lot, Deputy Goodman asked the defendant if she had any injuries or other issues that could affect her balance or ability to walk in a straight line, and the defendant indicated that she had a back surgery eight years ago. Deputy Goodman then had the defendant perform three field sobriety tests: the horizontal gaze/nystagmus, the walk and turn, and the one-leg stand. The defendant did not follow directions on the walk and turn test and was unable to stay on the line. She was also unable to complete the one-leg stand test. The State played a video recording of the defendant's field sobriety tests for the jury.
Following the field sobriety tests, the defendant was taken to Jail East by Deputy Goodman. Once there, Deputy Goodman witnessed a phlebotomist draw the defendant's blood, and Deputy Goodman took the sample in a sealed and labeled vial to the sheriff's office substation where it was subsequently sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for analysis.
Allison Clay, formerly a Special Agent with the TBI and an expert in forensic toxicology, analyzed the defendant's blood sample and found that it had a blood alcohol level of .153 percent, which is nearly twice the legal limit of .08 percent.
The defendant testified on her own behalf, asserting that she visited her nephew's garage that evening so he could work on her brakes and rotors. While there, her nephew, Joey Burton, offered her a beer. Because Mr. Burton was driving her home, the defendant "drank it and drank another one and just enjoyed [herself]" while he worked on her car. After Mr. Burton was finished, he began driving the defendant home. However, at some point the car began "cutting out, stalling out." Mr. Burton pulled onto Macon Road, and the car "just quit." The defendant told Mr. Burton to go to her house, which was approximately ten miles away, and get her other car while she called roadside assistance. The defendant flagged down a passing car, and Joann Cook stopped. The defendant asked Ms. Cook, who she did not previously know, to take Mr. Burton to the defendant's house. Ms. Cook "begged [the defendant] to get in with them," but the defendant did not want to leave her vehicle unattended in the road because it was a danger to others. After Ms. Cook and Mr. Burton left, the defendant called her insurance company's roadside assistance service.
When Mr. Goodwin arrived on the scene, he identified himself as Deputy Crook, and the defendant believed he was an armed sheriff's deputy. The defendant was sitting in her vehicle speaking with roadside assistance, and Mr. Goodwin "ran at [her] with a big flashlight, shined it in [her] face, hollering, put down the phone and get in the car." The defendant was terrified and "told him to get his a** off of her." Deputy Goodman arrived approximately twenty minutes after Mr. Goodwin, but according to the defendant, she was "bullish and rude" to the defendant so the defendant "closed up on her."
Regarding the field sobriety tests, the defendant testified Deputy Goodman did not ask her if she was physically able to perform the tests or if she had any issues with balance, but the defendant offered information about her back surgery. However, Deputy Goodman did not ask any follow-up questions about the long-term effects of the surgery, and the defendant testified the surgery affected her ability to balance properly. The defendant also stated that Deputy Goodman failed to ask her about any visual impairments but that the defendant "offered that information as well." Although the defendant attempted to perform the field sobriety tests, Deputy Goodman spun the defendant "like a top" before the tests began. Following the tests, Deputy Goodman walked the defendant to the police vehicle and handcuffed her. Deputy Crook's K-9 was "right in front of [her]," and the defendant said, "What are you gone do now, sic[] your dog on me?" Deputy Goodman then shoved the defendant into her police vehicle and transported her to Jail East.
The defendant testified that the "real Deputy Crook" never came to the initial scene and did not arrive until Deputy Goodman transported the defendant to the...
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