Opinion ID: 1664341
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidentiary Sufficiency of the (i)(5) Aggravating Circumstance

Text: The especially heinous, atrocious or cruel aggravating circumstance may be proved under either of two prongs: torture or serious physical abuse. See State v. Hall, 8 S.W.3d 593, 601 (Tenn.1999). This Court has defined torture as the infliction of severe physical or mental pain upon the victim while he or she remains alive and conscious. State v. Morris, 24 S.W.3d 788, 797 (Tenn.2000); State v. Williams, 690 S.W.2d 517, 529 (Tenn.1985). The phrase serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death, on the other hand, is self-explanatory; the abuse must be physical rather than mental in nature. Hall, 8 S.W.3d at 601; see also State v. Suttles, 30 S.W.3d 252, 262 (Tenn.2000). The word `serious' alludes to a matter of degree, and the term abuse is defined as an act that is `excessive' or which makes `improper use of a thing,' or which uses a thing `in a manner contrary to the natural or legal rules for its use.' State v. Odom, 928 S.W.2d 18, 26 (Tenn.1996); see also State v. Nesbit, 978 S.W.2d 872, 887 (Tenn.1998); Morris, 24 S.W.3d at 797. Our case law is clear that [t]he anticipation of physical harm to oneself is torturous so as to establish this aggravating circumstance. See State v. Carter, 988 S.W.2d 145, 150 (Tenn.1999) (citing cases from other jurisdictions); see also Nesbit, 978 S.W.2d at 886-87; State v. Hodges, 944 S.W.2d 346, 358 (Tenn.1997). Our case law is also clear that the physical and mental pain suffered by the victim of strangulation may constitute torture within the meaning of the statute. See State v. Cauthern, 967 S.W.2d 726, 732-33 (Tenn.1998); Hodges, 944 S.W.2d at 358. The facts of this case, when viewed in a light most favorable to the State, easily satisfy both of these definitions. From the appellant's own statements, we know that this child was essentially kidnaped and secreted to a discrete and remote locationby someone in a position of trustunder the pretense that she was being taken to see her mother. The appellant stopped the car, and Nikki watched him take off his pants and then remove her own clothes. While still in the strict confines of the front seat of the car, the appellant climbed on top of her, covered her mouth, and began to forcibly rape her while crushing her throat with his left hand. At some point while she was being violently raped, Nikki was struck in several parts of her face, and her head was smashed against the door handle. Although it is impossible to know how long Nikki remained conscious during this terrifying ordeal, it is uncontroverted that she was alive and conscious at least through part of the rape, because even though the full weight of the appellant was crushing her and even though she was being manually strangled, the appellant admitted that Nikki struggled to get free with her arms and legs. In fact, the appellant candidly admitted that she struggled to get free for a little while. When the appellant finished his gruesome act, he noticed that she was no longer breathing and had turned blue, a fact he attributed to putting too much pressure on her [neck] where she couldn't breathe. There can be no reasonable doubt that while she struggled to free herself, Nikki was alive and conscious, and a jury could rationally infer from its common sense and everyday experience that she was extremely concerned about her own physical safety. Cf. Nesbit, 978 S.W.2d at 886 (stating that juries in capital cases may still use their common knowledge and experience in deciding whether a fact is logically deducible from the circumstances in evidence, or in making reasonable inferences from the evidence, and may test the truth and weight of the evidence by their own general knowledge and judgment derived from experience, observation, and reflection). Moreover, the jury would have been fully justified in concluding that as the appellant gradually choked off all air to the child, Nikki was in an extreme state of mental pain and anxiety, as well as enduring and intense physical pain. A rational jury using common sense and judgment could clearly find that the proof established, beyond a reasonable doubt, the torture of the victim through infliction of severe mental and physical pain, and our cases require no more. The appellant cites this Court's decision in State v. Odom for the proposition that the proof was insufficient to establish torture because penile rape alone cannot establish torture. We agree with Odom to the extent that a rape, in and of itself, cannot support imposition of the death penalty when the crime charged is murder in the perpetration of a rape. The appellant ignores, however, that the mental anguish of the child in this case was not derived solely from the act of penile penetration. Rather, the severe mental and physical pain of the victim necessary to establish torture is derived from all of the surrounding circumstances of the murder, which necessarily include the kidnaping and forcible confinement of the victim by someone in a position of trust, the brutal rape of the victim, and the violent manual strangulation of the victim to the point that she lost consciousness and turned blue. While the mere fact of rape could not be used to impose death under the facts of the appellant's case, the sentencing authority certainly could have inquired into the unique circumstances surrounding the offense to determine whether the victim was tortured within the meaning of the (i)(5) aggravating circumstance. Contrary to the appellant's assertions, we find nothing in Odom which prevents a thorough examination of the circumstances surrounding the rape and murder. In fact, Odom's legitimate concerns with sufficient narrowing of the death-eligible class of defendants are actually furthered by such an examination, and only in this manner can the sentence of death be reserved for the worst of the worse. Based on our review of the entire record in the present case, we find that a rational jury could have concluded from all of the surrounding circumstances that Nikki Reed was tortured through the infliction of severe mental and physical pain. The appellant also argues that the proof is insufficient to establish that the victim suffered serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death. Again, we must disagree. By the appellant's own admission, he manually choked the victim so forcefully that she stopped breathing, turned blue, and lapsed into unconsciousness. A rational jury could certainly have found that this particular manual strangulation constituted serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death, even though the manual strangulation was not determined to be an actual cause of death. The law is clear that [t]here is no requirement that the cause or mode of death also be the cause or mode of the `serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death.' Nesbit, 978 S.W.2d at 887. Accordingly, we have no hesitation in also concluding that a rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that this murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death.