Opinion ID: 1057579
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: the trial court's decision to permit the state to recall agent barry brakebill

Text: Mr. Hester continues to take issue with the trial court's decision to permit the State to recall Agent Barry Brakebill of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The State desired to recall Agent Brakebill to address an error regarding the time that a blood sample had been taken from Mr. Hester following the fire on December 14, 1999. Mr. Hester insists that the State should not have been permitted to present evidence contradicting the time listed on the paperwork accompanying the blood sample because he had not been notified of the inaccuracy prior to trial. The Court of Criminal Appeals found that the trial court did not err by permitting the State to recall Agent Brakebill. We agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals. Agent Brakebill was one of the witnesses called by the State to testify about the investigation of the crimes committed on December 14, 1999. Part of this investigation included a blood sample taken from Mr. Hester that showed no alcohol remaining in his system at the time the sample was taken. The State did not question Agent Brakebill about this sample during direct examination. When asked about this blood sample on cross-examination, Agent Brakebill seemed to suggest that he had witnessed the blood being drawn from Mr. Hester at the hospital on the night that Mr. Haney died. On redirect examination, Agent Brakebill testified that he had turned over the blood sample to the State Fire Marshal's office and that it was his understanding that test results were negative for alcohol. On recross, Agent Brakebill agreed that the afternoon of December 15, 1999 was almost a full day after Mr. Hester was arrested. When asked whether the sample that tested negative for alcohol was taken almost a day after [Mr. Hester] was arrested, Agent Brakebill responded, I'm not sure.... I would need ... to see ... the lab report. Following Agent Brakebill's testimony, the State called Special Agent William Barker of the Tennessee Bomb and Arson Investigation Section. Once again, the State did not initially question Agent Barker about the blood sample taken from Mr. Hester. On cross-examination Agent Barker testified that the writing on the paperwork accompanying the blood sample indicated that the sample had been taken at 12:45 p.m. on December 15, 1999, approximately seventeen hours after Mr. Hester was taken into custody. Agent Barker also testified that blood samples in DUI cases would not be taken after a defendant had a full night's sleep and had eaten lunch the next day. He declined to speculate on why the blood sample would not have been taken on the night that Mr. Hester was arrested. On redirect examination, Agent Barker testified that he was not present when the blood sample was taken. The State then recalled Agent Brakebill. Mr. Hester did not object. Agent Brakebill testified that the paperwork accompanying the blood sample had been filled out partially by him and partially by Robin Smith, a nurse. He testified that (1) Ms. Smith had placed the time on the document, (2) he was present when the blood sample was taken, and (3) he recalled that the sample was drawn on the night that Mr. Hester was arrested. He also testified that he was not sure of the exact time when the sample was taken and that it could have been after midnight on December 15, 1999. Agent Brakebill testified that he was at home asleep at 12:45 p.m. on December 15, 1999 and that the blood sample could not have been drawn at 12:45 p.m. on December 15, 1999 because he was present when the sample was taken. During a vigorous cross-examination, Agent Brakebill conceded that the papers accompanying the blood sample were serious documents that were important to the laboratories, chain of custody, and future trial proceedings. He also conceded that his only basis for refuting the time on the paperwork was his memory of an event that occurred more than five years earlier. Finally, Agent Brakebill conceded that he had never filed any document amending or correcting the incorrect date and time record on the paperwork that accompanied the blood sample drawn from Mr. Hester. Agent Brakebill was excused following his cross-examination, and the State proceeded to call its next witness without objection or comment from the defense. Tenn. R.App. P. 36(a) provides that [n]othing in this rule shall be construed as requiring relief be granted to a party responsible for an error or who failed to take whatever action was reasonably available to prevent or nullify the harmful effect of an error. Mr. Hester took no action to apprise the trial court of his view that allowing the State to recall Agent Brakebill was error, nor did he attempt to strike Agent Brakebill's testimony, seek a continuance, or even move for a mistrial after the allegedly improper testimony was presented. Through his failure to raise any objection, Mr. Hester waived his right to challenge the trial court's decision to allow Agent Brakebill to testify and to Agent Brakebill's testimony itself. Nevertheless, Tennessee's appellate courts may take up an issue that has been waived if the issue constitutes a `plain error' that affects the substantial rights of a party and consideration of the issue is necessary to do substantial justice. Grindstaff v. State, 297 S.W.3d 208, 219 n. 12 (Tenn.2009). This review for plain error is discretionary. State v. Hatcher, 310 S.W.3d 788, 808 (Tenn.2010). When asserting plain error, the defendant bears the burden of persuading the appellate court that the trial court committed plain error and that the error was of sufficient magnitude that it probably changed the outcome of the trial. State v. Bledsoe, 226 S.W.3d 349, 354-55 (Tenn.2007). Under plain error review, relief will only be granted when five prerequisites are met: (1) the record clearly establishes what occurred in the trial court, (2) a clear and unequivocal rule of law was breached, (3) a substantial right of the accused was adversely affected, (4) the accused did not waive the issue for tactical reasons, and (5) consideration of the error is necessary to do substantial justice. State v. Gomez, 239 S.W.3d 733, 737 (Tenn. 2007). Under Tennessee law, a trial court's decision to permit a witness to be recalled is a discretionary one. State v. James, 315 S.W.3d 440, 460 (Tenn.2010). Agent Brakebill was recalled to address a matter that had arisen, not through the State's direct examination of Agents Brakebill and Barker, but instead through the cross-examination of these agents by Mr. Hester's lawyer. It appears from the direct examination of these agents that the State did not intend to refer to the negative results of the blood-alcohol test to prove Mr. Hester's guilt. Instead, the negative blood test results appear to have only become a matter of significant concern for the State after Mr. Hester challenged Agent Barker regarding the poor investigative techniques employed by Agent Brakebill in failing to administer the blood-alcohol test on the night of Mr. Hester's arrest. At that point, the State pushed back by recalling Agent Brakebill to testify regarding his recollection that Mr. Hester's blood had been drawn on the evening of the arrest. During his renewed cross-examination of Agent Brakebill, Mr. Hester's lawyer was able (1) to criticize Agent Brakebill's competence for failing to correctly note the time that the blood was drawn or to catch an error by the nurse on an important criminal investigative record; (2) to challenge the reliability of Agent Brakebill's recollection about when the blood sample was drawn five years earlier; and (3) to call attention to the absence of any documentation corroborating Agent Brakebill's recollection that the blood sample had been taken on the night Mr. Hester was arrested. Mr. Hester has failed to present this Court with any argument demonstrating that a clear and unequivocal rule of law was breached by the trial court in the exercise of its discretionary authority to allow the State to recall Agent Brakebill. Accordingly, we find that Mr. Hester has failed to carry his burden of demonstrating that the trial court committed plain error.