Vaughn v. State, No. M2004-00458-CCA-R3-PC (TN 4/22/2005)
| Decision Date | 22 April 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. M2004-00458-CCA-R3-PC.,M2004-00458-CCA-R3-PC. |
| Parties | JAMES A. VAUGHN v. STATE OF TENNESSEE. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Cynthia Hall Templeton, Gallatin, Tennessee, for the Appellant, James A. Vaughn.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General; Lawrence Ray Whitley, District Attorney General; and Sallie Wade Brown, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINION
The Petitioner, James A. Vaughn, was convicted of one count of first degree murder, three counts of attempted first degree murder, and one count of reckless endangerment, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of life plus twenty-two years. This Court affirmed the Petitioner's convictions and sentences on appeal. The Petitioner subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which the post-conviction court dismissed after a hearing. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred because he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.
On May 31, 1996, a jury convicted J. Vaughn1 of the first degree murder of Tyrone Smith, the attempted first degree murder of Ardell Williams, the attempted first degree murder of Chris Williams, the attempted first degree murder of Tallis Bonds, and one count of reckless endangerment. This Court summarized the facts on direct appeal as follows:
Appellant [James A. Vaughn] was indicted for the first degree murder of Tyrone Smith, the attempted first degree murder of Chris Williams, the attempted first degree murder of Tallis Bonds, the attempted first degree murder of Ardell Williams, and one count of felony reckless endangerment as a result of events occurring on July 2, 1995. Around 2:00 a.m. that morning, a group of friends had gathered at "Wing Its," a local restaurant in Gallatin. As many as twenty people were present, including Tyrone Smith, Tallis Bonds, Ardell Williams, Chris Williams, Lemarcus Rickman, Keith Goodrich, Alonzo Rogan, Antonio Bonds, Germaine Mason, Joseph Lyles, and Ernest Redding. Several of those present were drinking beer and smoking marijuana. It was undisputed at trial that a number of those young men belonged to the "Zone 8" gang. [FN1]
FN1. Testimony reflected that Zone 8 was a gang of youths from the black community that had been in existence since the late 1980's. Tyrone Smith and his twin brother, Gerome, were two of the founding members.
The crowd was gathered outside the restaurant and many were sitting on picnic tables waiting for their food to be served. Parked in a gravel lot across the street was the trailer portion of a tractor trailer. Some of the young men at the picnic table noticed two pair of feet visible under the trailer, as if two people were standing behind it. Suddenly, two men came around the side of the trailer and one said "What's up now, mother ____?" Both men brandished guns and a flurry of gunfire followed. The crowd scattered, with several people fleeing into the restaurant and others running down the street.
Four of those present were injured by the gunshots. Ardell Williams suffered five gunshot wounds to his left thigh and entry and exit wounds on his left ankle. Chris Williams suffered one gunshot wound to the buttocks. Tallis Bonds was shot in the back of his right thigh and the bullet exited just above the knee. He was also shot in the foot. Tyrone Smith was shot once in the left upper abdomen and the bullet exited his right chest area. Smith also had entry and exit gunshot wounds on his left thigh. Although Mr. Smith received two surgeries to repair his wounds, he died from complications four days after the incident.
At trial, four eyewitnesses to the shooting, Tallis Bonds, Keith Goodrich, Joseph Lyles, and Lemarcus Rickman, identified appellant as one of the gunmen. [FN2] Although he later denied doing so, Alonzo Rogan was the first person to identify appellant as a shooter immediately after the incident.
FN2. Apparently, the second shooter was Rearno Vaughn, Appellant's uncle. However, he and appellant were indicted and tried separately.
Based on earlier incidents, police believed appellant had motive for shooting Tyrone Smith. In February of 1995, the Appellant's uncle, Ronnie Vaughn, was killed by Gerome Smith. Gerome Smith is the twin brother of Tyrone Smith, the murder victim in this case. Law enforcement officials suspected, and the State theorized at trial, that Appellant shot Tyrone Smith in retaliation for the murder of his uncle. Police officers testified that between February and July of 1995, the atmosphere on the "north side" of Gallatin had been extremely tense and all police officers were on alert.
A large scale search for the appellant was conducted after the shootings. Following unsuccessful attempts to locate appellant in Gallatin, authorities received information that he could be located at a private residence in Sheffield, Alabama. On July 25, 1995, detectives from Sumner County observed Appellant at the residence, but were unable to arrest him at that time. [FN3] Appellant was finally apprehended on September 14, 1995 outside Cincinnati, Ohio as a result of a routine traffic stop.
FN3. Rearno Vaughn was apprehended a short distance from the Alabama residence and indicated that appellant was in the house. However, police were unable to locate him and determined that he fled out the back door of the home.
Two weapons were found in the attic of the Alabama residence: a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum and a .38 caliber snub-nosed pistol. Using expended shell casings from the crime scene, [FN4] ballistics testing disclosed that the seized .357 Magnum had been used in the shootings. Four other fired cartridge casings recovered at the scene were all fired from the same .45 caliber weapon, but no weapon of that caliber was submitted for comparison purposes. [FN5] Testing performed on Ardell Williams' clothes revealed that two of his gunshot wounds resulted from contact shots, meaning the muzzle was either touching the garment or less than three inches away.
FN4. That evidence consisted of five Winchester brand .357 cartridge cases found near the scene, four nickel-plated . 357 metal bullet jackets, and one hollow point .357 nickel-plated metal jacket bullet removed from Chris Williams.
FN5. In addition, three .45 caliber full metal case bullets and one bullet fragment submitted for testing could not be identified to determine whether they were fired through same weapon.
Appellant submitted alibi proof from his girlfriend's sister. Monica Eason stated that she saw appellant at "Club Malibu" in Nashville on July 2, 1995 between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. Appellant also introduced proof that it would take approximately thirty-six minutes to drive from Club Malibu in Nashville to Wing Its in Gallatin. In addition, [A]ppellant presented proof to contradict a State's witness who testified to speaking with appellant and Rearno Vaughn immediately after the shooting. In rebuttal, the State introduced testimony that Monica Eason had earlier told a police detective that she saw appellant at Club Malibu around 12:00 a.m. on July 2, 1995.
Based upon the foregoing evidence, the jury convicted appellant of first degree premeditated murder of Tyrone Smith, attempted first degree murder of Ardell Williams, attempted second degree murder of Tallis Bonds, attempted second degree murder of Chris Williams, and felony reckless endangerment. Appellant automatically received a life sentence for the first degree murder conviction. At a subsequent sentencing hearing, [A]ppellant received twenty-two years for the attempted first degree murder, twelve years on each count of attempted second degree murder, and two years for the reckless endangerment conviction. Those sentences were ordered to be served concurrently to one another, but consecutive to the life sentence.
State v. James Alfonso Vaughn a/k/a Fuzz, No. 01C01-9612-CR-00523, 1998 WL 255438, at *1-3 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Nashville, May 21, 1998), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Jan. 25, 1999).
On February 1, 1999, J. Vaughn filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, which was later amended multiple times by appointed counsel. The amended petition alleged, in pertinent part, that J. Vaughn's trial counsel was ineffective by: (1) failing to object to the trial court's instruction to the jury that deliberation was an element of first degree murder; (2) failing to object to the trial court's instruction on the definition of "knowingly"; (3) failing to object to or appeal the trial court's instruction to the jury about the minimum release eligibility date for the first degree murder offense; and (4) failing to adequately prepare for trial by failing to view the area of the house where the gun was found by police and by failing to interview witnesses regarding this evidence. Further, J. Vaughn asserted that his trial counsel's ineffectiveness prejudiced him.
The following evidence relevant to J. Vaughn's claims was presented at the hearing on his petition for post-conviction relief:2 Walter Stubbs ("Counsel Stubbs") testified that he was appointed to represent J. Vaughn in his defense against multiple charges, the most serious of which was a first degree murder charge. He said that his theory of the case was that J. Vaughn did not commit any of these crimes, and he attempted to prove that J. Vaughn was never in Alabama, where the murder weapon was found, after the murders occurred. Counsel Stubbs said that...
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