State v. Wiliam Belser ( 1999 )


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  •                                                     FILED
    IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
    AT KNOXVILLE
    February 25, 1999
    NOVEMBER 1998 SESSION
    Cecil Crowson, Jr.
    Appellate C ourt Clerk
    STATE OF TENNESSEE,                 )
    )
    Appellee,              )   C.C.A. No. 03C01-9803-CR-00110
    )
    vs.                                 )   Knox County
    )
    WILLIAM BRIAN BELSER,               )   Honorable Ray L. Jenkins, Judge
    )
    Appellant.             )   (Second Degree Murder)
    )
    FOR THE APPELLANT:                      FOR THE APPELLEE:
    TOM SLAUGHTER                           JOHN KNOX WALKUP
    Attorney At Law                         Attorney General & Reporter
    602 S. Gay Street, Suite 600
    Knoxville, TN 37902                     R. STEPHEN JOBE
    Assistant Attorney General
    425 Fifth Avenue North
    2d Floor, Cordell Hull Building
    Nashville, TN 37243-0493
    RANDALL E. NICHOLS
    District Attorney General
    City-County Building
    Knoxville, TN 37902
    ROBERT JOLLEY
    Asst. Dist. Attorney General
    City-County Building
    Knoxville, TN 37902
    OPINION FILED: _____________
    AFFIRMED
    JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., JUDGE
    OPINION
    The defendant, William Brian Belser, was convicted by a Knox County
    Criminal Court jury of the second-degree murder of Brian Shaver, and the trial court
    sentenced the defendant as a Range I offender to serve 25 years in the Department
    of Correction. The sentence runs consecutively to a federal sentence the defendant
    was serving at the time of his Knox County conviction. In this direct appeal, the
    defendant raises the following issues:
    1. Failure of the trial court to grant a continuance when the
    defendant was belatedly transported to Knox County from federal
    custody in Atlanta;
    2. The insufficiency of the evidence to support a second-degree
    murder conviction;
    3.   Failure of the trial court to allow defense counsel to cross-
    examine a state witness about the victim’s violent disposition; and
    4.   Imposing the sentence to run consecutively to the federal
    sentence the defendant was serving at the time of trial.
    After a review of the record, the briefs, and the applicable law, we affirm the
    judgment of the trial court.
    The conviction from which the defendant now appeals is the
    defendant’s second conviction for the homicide of Brian Shaver.          This court
    overturned the first conviction of second-degree murder because the trial court
    failed to instruct the jury as to the lesser included offense of voluntary
    manslaughter. State v. Belser, 
    945 S.W.2d 776
    (Tenn. Crim. App. 1996). The
    present conviction resulted from the retrial upon remand from this court.
    On March 29, 1993, the victim Brian Shaver and four other young
    adults lived in a Knox County townhouse. Angie Barbeau, who was working at the
    2
    time as a “stripper,” was one of these residents and had been the victim’s girlfriend.
    On the evening of March 29 the victim spoke by telephone from the townhouse with
    Ms. Barbeau and with members of her family. According to persons who were
    present in the townhouse that evening, the victim became upset and angry because
    he thought Ms. Barbeau’s family had been abusive to him over the telephone and
    because he believed that the defendant had bought a car for Angie Barbeau.
    During their telephone conversation, the victim and Ms. Barbeau agreed that he
    would place some of her belongings on the front porch for her to pick up. The victim
    was agitated and repeatedly declared that he would not allow Ms. Barbeau to come
    back into the townhouse.
    The victim gathered a large pile of Ms. Barbeau’s clothing and other
    personalty and stacked it on the front porch. However, as he became more
    distraught, he returned to the porch and kicked and threw her things and scattered
    them across the lawn. Later, Ms. Barbeau arrived at the front door. The victim met
    her at the door and placed his hand on her chest and pushed her away so he could
    close the door. As a result of this push, Ms. Barbeau may have stumbled or fallen
    down. The victim moved back upstairs and continued to express displeasure with
    Ms. Barbeau. Within moments, the victim returned to the same door to answer
    either the door bell or a knock.
    Robert John Bowlby testified that when the victim opened the door this
    second time, Bowlby saw a red beam shining into the room. He heard someone
    shout, “He’s got a gun!” Bowlby saw the victim push, or “walk,” Ms. Barbeau back
    into the defendant, who was standing three or four feet behind her. Bowlby noticed
    that the red beam was coming from a gun which the defendant held at shoulder
    level. The unarmed victim, who was then outside, closed the door behind him.
    Bowlby heard two male voices shouting, a scream and then a gunshot. The victim
    then walked back into the townhouse holding his chest and bleeding. Bowlby called
    an ambulance.
    3
    Bowlby also testified that, before March 29, he saw the defendant in
    West Knoxville when the defendant had the same pistol that he had at the
    townhouse on March 29. The defendant said that he was “going to use it for any
    m----- f------ that f---- with me, and that includes that Shaver guy.”
    Bill Ferrell testified that he was at the townhouse on March 29. When
    the victim answered the door the second time, Ferrell saw the defendant standing
    outside behind Ms. Barbeau. He testified that the victim told both Belser and
    Barbeau to leave. When Ms. Barbeau tried to come past him into the house, the
    victim “scooped her up, caught her on his left side, pushed her back. She hit
    Belser’s right arm.” Ferrell testified that she moved away and the defendant pulled
    a 9mm pistol from his trenchcoat pocket. Ferrell saw the flash of the light beam and
    yelled that the defendant had a gun. Ferrell tried to pull the victim back inside but
    was unable to do so because he was “too busy running.” He heard the gunshot and
    the victim say to the defendant, “You shot me. Now you’re going to jail.” Ferrell
    then looked out the window and saw the defendant trying to pull Ms. Barbeau to a
    car.
    Jeffrey Chandler Jackson and Kevin Hall were also present in the
    townhouse on March 29. Jackson testified that after he heard the shouting and the
    gunshot ten seconds later, he looked out the front door and saw the defendant
    standing in the yard and swinging a gun down to his right side.
    Lisa Michelle Hubbard and Guy Adams testified that they were at
    Hubbard’s residence at about 10:30 or 11:00 on the night of March 29, 1993 when
    the defendant and Ms. Barbeau arrived. The defendant laid a pistol on Hubbard’s
    table and said no one should touch it because he thought he had “shot Shaver.”
    Hubbard testified that the defendant said that Shaver had pulled Angie Barbeau out
    of the car and had hit her, although Hubbard saw no evidence of an assault on
    Barbeau’s person. Hubbard further testified that the defendant said that he shot the
    4
    victim as the victim was hitting him. However, Adams testified that the defendant
    said that he had lowered the sight beam from the victim’s head to his chest when
    the gun went off. At the defendant’s request, Adams took the pistol to a location
    on Clinton Highway where he left it. Adams identified the pistol in evidence as the
    same pistol which the defendant brought to Hubbard’s residence.
    Through other proof, the state established that the pistol was
    recovered from the Clinton Highway location, that the cartridge found in the
    townhouse lawn had the same “mechanical fingerprints” as the cartridges test-fired
    through the pistol by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, that the gunshot
    residue test performed on the defendant indicated he had “fired, handled, or was
    near a gun when it was fired,” and that the victim bled to death as a result of the
    gunshot wound.
    The jury convicted the defendant of second-degree murder, and the
    trial court imposed the maximum Range I sentence of 25 years to run consecutively
    to the federal sentence the defendant was serving at the time.
    Before proceeding to discuss the issues on appeal, we acknowledge
    that the notice of appeal in this case was filed one day late; however, in the interest
    of justice we excuse the untimely filing. See Tenn. R. App. P. 4(a).
    First, we examine the defendant’s complaint that the trial court erred
    in failing to grant a continuance of the trial. Defense counsel was appointed in this
    case on May 14, 1997 after the court had successively excused two previously-
    appointed attorneys. Although trial had already been set for November 17, 1997,
    at some point and through some means not reflected in the record the trial date was
    accelerated to September 30, 1997.            Counsel filed motions to continue on
    September 23 and 28; however, only the grounds alleged in the latter motion have
    been preserved as an issue on appeal. In that motion, defense counsel asserted (1)
    5
    the defendant was in federal custody in Atlanta pursuant to 1996 federal
    convictions, (2) counsel wished him to be brought to Knoxville at least two weeks
    prior to trial, (3) as of September 28 he had not arrived, and (4) the federal
    authorities were not being cooperative in arranging his transit to Knoxville. On
    September 29, the trial court continued the trial from September 30 until October
    1 and continued the hearing on the motion until the next day, September 30. The
    defendant arrived in Knoxville at about 9:00 pm on Monday, September 29. At the
    hearing on Tuesday morning, the trial court decided to begin the trial on
    Wednesday, October 1, at 1:30 pm and announced that it believed that the day and
    a half would be sufficient time for counsel to consult with the defendant.
    On appeal, the defendant argues that the allotted time was
    insufficient; however, during the arguments on the continuance in the trial court,
    defense counsel acknowledged that normal preparation requirements were
    alleviated because of the earlier trial of the case, that counsel had made one trip to
    Atlanta to meet with the defendant, that counsel would “need at least a day with [the
    defendant],” and that “if we can get him here today [Monday, September 29] and I
    can have tomorrow [Tuesday] with him, perhaps Wednesday I could go.”
    “The question of whether a criminal trial should be continued to a later
    date is entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial court.” State v. Covington, 
    845 S.W.2d 784
    , 787 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1992). On appeal, this court will not “interfere
    with the exercise of this discretion unless it appears on the face of the record that
    (a) the trial court has abused its discretion and (b) prejudice enured to the accused
    as a direct result of the trial court’s ruling.” 
    Id. We agree with
    the state that the
    defendant has shown neither an abuse of discretion nor prejudice in this instance.
    Although defense counsel originally alleged in a separate motion for
    continuance that he had not had sufficient time to interview or plan for the use of
    witnesses and that an expert in firearm forensics with which the defense had
    6
    consulted was unavailable for the trial date, the grounds of that motion were
    abandoned. Moreover, the defendant has not articulated any specific instance of
    lack of preparation as a result of the defendant’s belated arrival in Knoxville, the
    ground for continuance which is asserted on appeal. There is cause to believe the
    federal authorities were capricious in their handling of the Tennessee requests to
    have their prisoner made available for his state homicide trial.           Although a
    Tennessee trial court in this situation should not hold any such federal caprices
    against the accused on the question of a continuance, there is no showing of an
    abuse of discretion. The trial court partially granted the motion, continuing the trial
    a day and a half, a period of time which defense counsel said would be the
    minimum he would need. Counsel had served on the case since May 1997, had
    previously met with the defendant at his place of confinement in Atlanta, and had
    the benefit of the record of the previous trial in the case. We find no suggestion of
    prejudice to the defendant because a longer continuance was not granted.
    Although the defendant neither testified nor called any witnesses in his behalf, he
    has made no attempt to show that his lack of evidence in chief resulted from
    insufficient preparation time rather than defense strategy. Accordingly, we hold that
    the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant the continuance motion
    in full.
    The next issue is the defendant’s claim that the evidence presented
    at trial is insufficient to support the verdict of second-degree murder. It is well
    established that a jury verdict, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony
    of the witnesses for the state and resolves all conflicts in favor of the theory of the
    state. State v. Hatchett, 
    560 S.W.2d 627
    , 630 (Tenn. 1978); State v. Townsend,
    
    525 S.W.2d 842
    , 843 (Tenn. 1975). On appeal, the state is entitled to the strongest
    legitimate view of the evidence and all reasonable or legitimate inferences which
    may be drawn therefrom. State v. Cabbage, 
    571 S.W.2d 832
    , 836 (Tenn. 1978).
    Moreover, a verdict against the defendant removes the presumption
    7
    of innocence and raises a presumption of guilt on appeal. State v. Grace, 
    493 S.W. 2d
    474, 476 (Tenn. 1973); Anglin v. State, 
    553 S.W.2d 616
    , 620 (Tenn. Crim. App.
    1977). The defendant has the burden of overcoming the presumption on appeal.
    State v. Brown, 
    551 S.W.2d 329
    , 331 (Tenn. 1977).
    Most significantly, where the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged,
    the relevant question for an appellate court is whether, after reviewing the evidence
    in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have
    found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v.
    Virginia, 
    443 U.S. 307
    , 
    99 S. Ct. 2781
    , 2782 (1979); Tenn R. App. P. 13; see also
    State v. Williams, 
    657 S.W.2d 405
    (Tenn. 1983). This rule applies to findings based
    on both direct and circumstantial evidence. State v. Thomas, 
    755 S.W.2d 838
    , 842
    (Tenn. Crim. App. 1988). Circumstantial evidence alone may be sufficient to convict
    one of a crime. State v. Boling, 
    840 S.W.2d 944
    , 947 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1992).
    To establish a defendant’s guilt of murder in the second degree, the
    state must prove that the accused knowingly killed another person. See Tenn.
    Code Ann. § 39-13-210 (a)(1) (1991). The proof in this case, as outlined above,
    overwhelmingly supports the jury’s conclusion that the defendant knowingly killed
    Brian Shaver. Any issues of fact which the defendant may have raised and/or
    argued were resolved in the state’s favor by the jury, and such was the jury’s
    prerogative. State v. Gilbert, 
    612 S.W.2d 188
    (Tenn. Crim. App. 1980). We hold that
    the evidence was sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt to convict the defendant of
    second-degree murder.
    In his third issue, the defendant argues that the trial court erred when
    it did not allow the defendant to open his cross-examination of Mr. Bowlby, the
    state’s first witness, by asking him whether the victim was an “aggressive type” of
    person. Upon the state’s objection to the question, the court held a jury-out hearing.
    After hearing argument about the “first aggressor” rule and about the applicability
    8
    of the facts to the presence of provocation that might reduce the charge to voluntary
    manslaughter, the court ruled that any questions of this first witness about the
    victim’s history of aggression or violence were premature. The defendant did not
    revisit the issue throughout the trial, did not attempt any other cross-examination of
    this type, and did not present any independent proof of the victim’s history of
    aggression or violence.
    Under Tennessee law, evidence of a homicide victim’s violent acts
    against the defendant and others may be admissible under certain circumstances
    even if they occurred prior to the events that led to the murder. See State v. Ruane,
    
    912 S.W.2d 766
    , 780-781 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1995); State v. Hill, 
    885 S.W.2d 357
    ,
    361 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994); State v. Furlough, 
    797 S.W.2d 631
    (Tenn. Crim. App.
    1990); State v. Laterral Jolly, No. 02C01-9207-CR-00169 (Tenn. Crim. App.,
    Jackson, Dec. 15, 1993), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 1994). The rules of admissibility
    vary with the purpose for which the evidence is admitted.1
    We need not elaborate upon the interplay between Tennessee Rules
    of Evidence 405 and the rules for the admissibility of “first aggressor” evidence
    developed by Tennessee case law. The prerequisite for the admission of evidence
    of a deceased’s violent acts in every instance is the same. Before first aggressor
    evidence may be admitted, the issue of whether the deceased was the first
    aggressor must be raised by the proof. State v. 
    Ruane, 912 S.W.2d at 766
    .
    Allegations of counsel and pleadings are not sufficient to raise the issue of self-
    defense. State v. Laterral Jolly, slip op. at 7. Here, defense counsel’s first question
    of the state’s first witness was whether the victim was an “aggressive type” of
    person. Bowlby’s testimony on direct examination contained no suggestion that the
    defendant may have acted in self defense or that the deceased was the “first
    1
    At times, the evidence may be admitted to demonstrate either the
    defendant’s or the victim’s state of mind, to impeach or rebut the state’s
    evidence that the deceased had a peaceful character, or so that the jury can
    determine who was the true aggressor. State v. Furlough, 
    797 S.W.2d 631
    , 648-
    49 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990) (citations to other cases omitted).
    9
    aggressor.”    The trial court properly found that this line of questioning was
    premature. The trial court did not rule that first aggressor evidence, if otherwise
    proper, would not be allowed later in the trial after the pertinent issues had been
    raised by the proof.     The issue of self-defense was not raised by Bowlby’s
    testimony, and the defendant made no effort to offer the evidence again. There is
    no error in the trial court’s handling of the first aggressor issue.
    The defendant’s argument about his attempt to cross-examine Bowlby
    was based in part upon his claim that the victim’s status as an “aggressive type”
    person provoked a mental reaction in the defendant that could reduce his culpability
    for the killing to that of voluntary manslaughter. However, the use of evidence of
    the victim’s prior violent misconduct to establish this defense requires that the
    defendant knew, at the time of the killing, that the victim had the violent tendencies.
    
    Furlough, 797 S.W.2d at 648
    . The evidence, offered for this purpose, relates to
    “apprehension on the part of the defendant” and must be introduced through the
    defendant in his proof in chief, unless it is needed “in rebuttal if the state ‘presents
    evidence to disprove defendant had received such information.’” 
    Id. (citing Williams v.
    State, 
    565 S.W.2d 503
    , 505 (Tenn. 1978)). In the present case, the question
    posed to Bowlby was premature for the purpose of showing the defendant’s
    apprehension. Moreover, the defendant never testified and never injected into the
    trial any basis for the court to conclude that he knew of any violent acts of the victim.
    Thus, to the extent that the defendant sought the evidence in order to show a
    reduced culpability, the claim is meritless.
    Finally, we address the the defendant’s sentencng issue. He correctly
    observes in his brief that a maximum Range I sentence of 25 years was approved
    by this court in the previous appeal from the first second-degree murder conviction,
    see 
    Belser, 945 S.W.2d at 791-92
    , and the defendant restricts his sentencing
    complaint to the impostion of his sentence to run consecutively to the existing
    federal sentence.
    10
    We cannot review even this issue, however, because the defendant
    has not included in the appellate record any transcript of sentencing proceedings.
    The record contains no presentence report, no transcript of a sentencing hearing,
    and no findings and conclusions of the trial court. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-35-
    203, 205, 209 (1997). It is the duty of the appellant to prepare a record which
    conveys a fair, accurate, and complete account of what transpired in the trial court
    with respect to the issues which form the basis of the appeal. Tenn. R. App. P.
    24(b); State v. Rhoden, 
    739 S.W.2d 6
    (Tenn. Crim. App. 1987); State v. Miller, 
    737 S.W.2d 556
    , 558 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1987). Generally, this court is precluded from
    addressing an issue on appeal when the record fails to include relevant documents.
    See, e.g., State v. Bennett, 
    798 S.W.2d 783
    (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990); Tenn. R. App.
    P. 24.
    Although we are precluded from reviewing the consecutive sentencing
    issue raised by the defendant in his brief, we note that Tennessee Rule of Criminal
    Procedure 32(c)(2) provides that, when the trial court is sentencing a defendant who
    has “additional sentences or portions thereof to serve, as the result of conviction in
    other states or in federal court, the sentence imposed shall be consecutive thereto
    unless the court shall determine . . . that good cause exists to run the sentences
    concurrently and explicitly so orders.” Tenn. R. Crim. P. 32(c)(2) (emphasis added).
    The trial court’s judgment did just the opposite from explicitly ordering concurrent
    service; it explicity ordered consecutive sentences. Accordingly, Rule 32(c)(2)
    appears to preclude any claim to concurrent sentencing which the defendant could
    have made had he presented an adequate record.
    The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
    __________________________________
    JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., JUDGE
    11
    CONCUR:
    ______________________________________
    DAVID H. WELLES, JUDGE
    ______________________________________
    L.T. LAFFERTY, SPECIAL JUDGE
    12