Thacker v. State

• Decision Date: 23 March 2012
• Docket Number: No. W2010-01637-CCA-R3-PD,W2010-01637-CCA-R3-PD
• Citation: Thacker v. State, No. W2010-01637-CCA-R3-PD (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar 23, 2012)
• Parties: STEVEN RAY THACKER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

STEVEN RAY THACKER

v.STATE OF TENNESSEE

No. W2010-01637-CCA-R3-PD

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON

Filed March 23, 2012

August 2, 2011 Session

Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dyer County

No. C00-54 Allen Wallace, Senior Judge

A Lake County jury convicted the Petitioner, Steven Ray Thacker, of first degree murder and sentenced him to death. On direct appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed both the conviction and sentence. See State v. Thacker, 164 S.W.3d 208 (Tenn. 2005). The Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, and the post-conviction court appointed counsel. Following an evidentiary hearing, the post-conviction court dismissed the petition. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that: (1) he received the ineffective assistance of counsel during his trial; (2) he received the ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal; (3) the sentence of death violates his constitutional rights; (4) the aggravating circumstances of his case do not preclude a finding that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's performance; and (5) he is entitled to post-conviction relief based upon the cumulative effect of counsel's errors. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm the post-conviction court's judgment.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JERRY L. SMITH and CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, JJ., joined.

Donald E. Dawson and Kertyssa Austin, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Steven Ray Thacker.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Jeffrey D. Zentner, Assistant Attorney General; and C. Philip Bivens, District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

I. Facts

A. Procedural History

On December 23, 1999, the Petitioner kidnapped, raped, and killed Laci Dawn Hill in Oklahoma.¹ He used credit and debit cards that he had stolen from Hill to purchase Christmas presents for his family. Concerned that authorities were looking for him, the Petitioner fled to Missouri where he car-jacked a grandmother, a mother, and a child. He pushed the mother out of the vehicle and later let the grandmother and the child go. The Petitioner evaded authorities by hiding in the woods for a few days and breaking into homes. During one of the burglaries, Forrest Boyd, the homeowner, returned to the home, and the Petitioner killed him. The Petitioner fled in Mr. Boyd's vehicle to Dyersburg, Tennessee, where the vehicle broke down. A tow truck driver, Ray Patterson, came to the Petitioner's aid, and, after Patterson learned that the Petitioner was attempting to pay with a stolen credit card, the Petitioner killed Patterson. The Petitioner gave a statement to a Dyersburg police officer admitting that he killed all three victims.

A Lake County jury convicted the Petitioner of first degree murder for killing Patterson and, after a sentencing hearing, imposed a sentence of death. On direct appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed both the conviction and sentence. See State v. Thacker, 164 S.W.3d 208 (Tenn. 2005).

On December 12, 2005, the Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, and the post-conviction court appointed counsel. Following an evidentiary hearing, the post-conviction court entered an order on July 2, 2010, denying post-conviction relief. The Petitioner filed a timely notice of appeal on July 30, 2010.

B. Trial and Sentencing

The evidence presented during Petitioner's trial was summarized by the Tennessee Supreme Court as follows:

The [Petitioner], Steven Ray Thacker, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder and felony murder for the death of Ray Patterson.² The State's proof at trial established that on January 2, 2000, an automobile being driven by the [Petitioner] broke down just east of the Mississippi River as hewas traveling from Springfield, Missouri towards Dyersburg, Tennessee. The [Petitioner] received a ride from an unidentified male to the Northside Truck Stop in Dyersburg. The [Petitioner] asked the cashier at the truck stop, Melissa Atkeson, if she knew of a wrecker service that was open on Sundays. Atkeson provided the [Petitioner] with the name and telephone number of Ray Patterson, a local wrecker operator. The [Petitioner] called Patterson and then waited at the truck stop until the wrecker arrived.

Elizabeth Patterson, the victim's wife, remembered her husband receiving a telephone call at home on the morning of January 2, 2000. After taking the call, Patterson wrote "Oldsmobile Cutlass, '85, pull to Auto Zone store" on an envelope, then told his wife to continue on to church with their children and he would join them later if possible. When the victim left home that morning, he carried a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol in his pocket, which, according to Mrs. Patterson, was not unusual for her husband to do when answering calls for a wrecker. He also carried a pocket knife, his wallet, money, and a pack of cigars.

Curtis Hinson, an employee of Triple-A Taxi in Dyersburg, saw the victim and another man in the victim's wrecker that morning. As Mr. Hinson was traveling on Lake Road, the victim's wrecker passed by, traveling in the opposite direction. Hinson observed that the victim was driving, another man was riding as a passenger, and the wrecker was towing a vehicle. Also that morning, a maintenance worker at the Dyersburg welcome center, Thomas Burns, saw the victim accompanied by another man at the welcome center. Later that afternoon, Burns learned that Mr. Patterson had been killed, and he saw the [Petitioner's] picture in the newspaper. Burns recognized the [Petitioner] as the same man he had seen with Mr. Patterson at the welcome center that morning.

Wyman Brasfield, a wrecker driver for Brasfield's Body Shop, passed by Patterson Brothers' Service Station during the morning of January 2, 2000, and noticed the victim standing inside the building with his back to the window. Brasfield also noticed another person, whom he could not identify, standing inside the building with the victim. The victim's wrecker, with a car attached to it, was parked outside the station lot. Later that day, Mr. Brasfield received a call to tow a vehicle at the residence of Tim Capps, a local mechanic. Upon arriving at Capps' residence, Brasfield recognized the vehicle to be towed as the same one that had been hooked to the Patterson wrecker earlier in the day. The [Petitioner] later admitted to police that he had tradedvehicles at Mr. Capps' repair shop on that day.

Kenneth Campbell and Emily Guinn had been on their way to church the morning of January 2, 2000, when they stopped at Patterson Brothers' Service Station to buy a drink. When Mr. Campbell got out of his vehicle he noticed a person walking towards him but thought nothing of it. However, as he was attempting to get a soda from the drink machine, he saw the victim lying on the ground between the gas pumps and the office. Mr. Campbell immediately got back into his vehicle and left to find a telephone and call the police. He circled the block and, as he neared the service station again, he noticed "someone dragging the body near the roll-up door of the gas station." Mr. Campbell then drove directly to the police station to report what he had seen.

Tina Canada, the manager of B&B Market at Big Boy Junction in Dyersburg, recalled that on that same Sunday morning, a man came into the store to purchase antifreeze. The man asked an elderly gentleman in the store, Sam Brown, whether there was an outside water faucet. He also asked Mr. Brown for directions to Auto Zone and then left the store, heading back toward town. According to Ms. Canada, the man was calm and "just concerned about getting his car fixed." She could not, however, identify the [Petitioner] as being the man in the store.

At approximately 12:20 p.m. that day, the [Petitioner] entered the Auto Zone in Dyersburg and approached a customer in the store, Mr. Paul Gage. The [Petitioner] asked Mr. Gage if he knew of "a place to get a car worked on." Mr. Gage referred him to Tim Capps and told the [Petitioner] that Capps' repair shop was located behind Webb's Used Cars. The [Petitioner], in a statement [he] later gave to police, described how he drove from Auto Zone to Capps' shop. When he was informed that it would take several days to repair his vehicle, the [Petitioner] traded his vehicle to Capps for a red Chevrolet Camaro. However, the Camaro had mechanical problems, so the [Petitioner] returned it in exchange for a Pontiac 6000.

By this time, police had discovered the victim's body at Patterson Brothers' Service Station and had begun their investigation. Officer David Fisher of the Dyersburg Police Department was the first officer on the scene. Officer Fisher discovered the victim lying in the first service bay of the service station. A trail of blood led from the first fuel pump island directly to the body. According to Officer Fisher, the victim was dressed in an "ordinaryservice-station-type uniform" and "his inner shirt was torn, and the jacket and shirt, around the collar area, was pulled backwards, as if he'd been dragged to the location that he was found." Officer Fisher also observed a "substantial" wound to the victim's upper torso.

Two EMT's with the Dyersburg Fire Department, Jerry Walker and Ronnie Collins, arrived at the scene shortly thereafter. Mr. Walker examined the victim for vital signs but found none. Upon opening the victim's shirt, he observed a wound "in his shoulder, coming down, it looked like. It looked like a knife wound." No other wounds were discovered by Walker. A paramedic at the scene, Tony Douglas, also examined the victim and discovered "a puncture wound on the right side of the chest somewhere around two to three inches long and in a moon-shape." Mr. Douglas believed that this wound was fatal and that the victim had died from "bleeding out" because "h

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