I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Petitioner's
state criminal case arose from an incident at a Shoney's
restaurant in May 2009. See State v. Teats, No.
M2012-01232-CCA-R3-CD, 2014 WL 98650, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App.
Jan. 10, 2014) (“Teats I”). The
Tennessee Supreme Court summarized the basic facts of this
incident as follows:
Shortly before six o'clock on the morning of May 18,
2009, Jerome Maurice Teats [(“Petitioner”)] and
Tirrone Akillia Simpkins (“the accomplice”)
forced their way into the back door of a Shoney's
restaurant in Nashville. Armed with guns, they threatened
four employees in the kitchen area, forced them to gather in
a storage area in the back of the kitchen, and told them to
put their heads down and not to move. As the accomplice
guarded these employees, [Petitioner] forced the Shoney's
manager to take him to the restaurant's money drawer.
After taking the money, the intruders fled on foot but were
soon apprehended by police.
State v. Teats, 468 S.W.3d 495, 496-97 (Tenn. 2015)
(“Teats II”).
The
court appointed Christopher Coats (“appointed
counsel”) to represent Petitioner. (See Doc.
No. 14-1 at 10-11). A Davidson County grand jury indicted
then Petitioner and the accomplice for “aggravated
robbery of the Shoney's manager and four counts of
especially aggravated kidnapping of the four Shoney's
employees.” Teats II, 468 S.W.3d at 497. The
accomplice's “case was severed before trial, and he
later pleaded guilty to all charges.” Id. at
497 n.1 (citing Simpkins v. State, No.
M2012-01558-CCA-R3-PC, 2013 WL 775957, at *1 (Tenn. Crim.
App. Feb. 28, 2013)).
In
January 2010, appointed counsel filed a motion to withdraw
after Petitioner's family retained James Todd
(“trial counsel”) to represent Petitioner. (Doc.
No. 14-1 at 11-12). In February 2011, trial counsel filed a
motion to suppress statements Petitioner made to police
following his apprehension in May 2010. (Id. at
24-34). The court held a hearing (Doc. No. 14-4) and denied
relief. (Doc. No. 14-1 at 43). As trial approached in late
2011, Petitioner retained
Patrick McNally (“co-counsel”) to assist trial
counsel. Teats v. State, No. M2017-00855-CCA-R3-PC,
2019 WL 76643, at *2, 5 (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 2, 2019)
(“Teats III”).
The
Tennessee Supreme Court summarized the State's evidence
at trial as follows:
During a four-day trial from October 31 to November 3, 2011
fourteen witnesses testified for the State. Francisco
Carrizosa Perez, a cook and food preparer at Shoney's,
testified that on the morning of May 18, 2009, as he opened
the restaurant's back door to take out some trash, two
men came to the door. One man, later identified through trial
testimony as [Petitioner], was wearing a mask and had a
pistol. [Petitioner], pointing the pistol at Mr. Perez's
head, told Mr. Perez not to look at him and to close his eyes
and walk down the hallway leading to the storage area. Mr.
Perez followed his orders. Meanwhile, the other intruder, who
was not wearing a mask and was later identified as the
accomplice, brought the other employees, Dora Delacruz
Moreno, Arcelia Ruiz, and Teresa Diane Cline, to the storage
area.2 Later the store manager came to the area, where the
group sat and waited with their heads down until the
intruders left the store.
[FN2] Three of the Shoney's employees testified through
an interpreter. Ms. Cline passed away before trial, and the
Shoney's manager was unavailable. The jury heard a 911
call, wherein the caller, identified as “Teresa,
” reported that the restaurant had just been robbed by
men with guns. The caller further stated that they had been
put into the stockroom and told to “get in the
corner.”
Arcelia Ruiz, a food preparer at Shoney's, testified that
the morning of May 18, 2009, was the worst day of her life.
She was in the kitchen preparing food, when she heard Mr.
Perez make a noise as if he were scared. She turned around
and saw two men enter the back of the restaurant. One of the
men, identified at trial as [Petitioner], had his face
covered, and both men were carrying guns. She saw
[Petitioner] put a gun to Mr. Perez's head while his
accomplice pointed a gun at her. The accomplice screamed at
Ms. Ruiz not to look at him and asked where the office was
located. When she told him the manager was in the office,
[Petitioner] led Mr. Perez to the back storage area and then
proceeded to the office. The accomplice led Ms. Ruiz to the
storage area where Mr. Perez was waiting. Pointing the pistol
at Ms. Ruiz and Mr. Perez, the accomplice asked how many
people were in the restaurant. As other employees arrived in
the kitchen, the accomplice ordered them at gunpoint to the
storage area. Continuing to guard the four employees, the
accomplice told them “not to move.” Eventually,
the manager came back and told the employees that the men
were going to leave. Ms. Ruiz then heard a voice tell them
all to “bow down, ” and [Petitioner] and his
accomplice left.
Dora Delacruz Moreno, a Shoney's employee, testified that
on the morning of May 18, 2009, she was in the front of the
restaurant preparing the buffet when the intruders entered
the restaurant. As she was heading toward the back, she saw
[Petitioner] taking the manager toward the restaurant's
safe. The man was speaking
strongly to the manager, but Ms. Moreno could not understand
what he was saying. Ms. Moreno then walked to the kitchen,
where the accomplice pointed his gun at her. She could not
understand what the man was saying, so she stood there until
another employee, Ms. Cline, came and led her to the back
with the others. Ms. Moreno's head was down, but she
could see the man's feet. He was standing by the back
door, blocking their exit, and was waving a gun back and
forth. Eventually, the manager arrived and gestured for all
of the employees to get down, and the two intruders left. Ms.
Moreno estimated that they were in the storage area for a
total of about eight minutes, staying there four or five
minutes after the men were gone.
Jack Liev, a frequent patron of Shoney's, testified that
on May 18, 2009, he arrived at the restaurant a couple of
minutes before it opened for business. When he attempted to
enter, he noticed that the inner doors of the foyer were
locked, which he thought was unusual. He was then met by the
manager who frantically explained that the restaurant had
just been robbed and asked Mr. Liev to call the police. Mr.
Liev called 911 from the parking lot. While waiting for the
call to be answered, the manager pointed out one of the
suspects, who was walking down the street, wearing a black
hoodie. As Mr. Liev talked to the 911 operator, he got into
his truck and followed the person, attempting to keep him in
his sight. When officers arrived, Mr. Liev directed them to
the area he last saw the suspect and returned to
Shoney's.
Officer Derek Smith, a patrol officer with the Metropolitan
Nashville Police Department (“MNPD”), was the
first officer to arrive at the scene. He testified that he
received the call around 6:00 A.M. and arrived three or four
minutes later. Officer Smith obtained a description of the
two suspects from the manager and broadcast the description
to other officers in the area. The Shoney's manager then
led Officer Smith around the restaurant, describing what had
happened. Officer Smith noticed that the manager had a small
laceration on the top of his head and that the drawer from
the cash register was lying on the floor in the front of the
restaurant, along with the register's contents and a
black garbage bag.
Also responding to the call and testifying at trial were
Officers Patrick Ragan and Paul Sorace, Sergeant Vernon
Teague, Detectives Diana McCoy and William Stokes, and Tim
Matthews, a crime scene investigator. According to these
officers, the accomplice was apprehended in a field near the
Bellevue Mall, and [Petitioner] when he emerged from a crawl
space beneath a nearby house. While searching for the
suspects, police found a white vehicle belonging to
[Petitioner] parked across the street from Shoney's.
Inside the vehicle, police found [Petitioner's] wallet
and a “large black plastic garbage bag” full of
loose bills and coins. Police also recovered a loaded .357
magnum revolver, a black pair of pants, a black sweatshirt,
and a black hoodie. Lorita Marsh, an expert in latent
fingerprint examination, testified that she matched the
accomplice's and [Petitioner's] fingerprints to a
number of prints collected from [Petitioner's] vehicle.
At the police station, [Petitioner] gave a statement to
Detective Stokes and Detective McCoy. An audio
...
