Opinion ID: 779947
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Effect of the DNA Evidence on the Element of Malice Aforethought

Text: 29 In addition to the questions raised by the DNA evidence concerning the aggravating factors, the DNA evidence raises a serious issue as to whether Paul House is guilty of first degree murder. At the time of the defendant's trial, Tennessee law defined murder as an unlawful killing with malice aforethought, either express or implied. Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 39-2-201 (1982) [repealed]. If the murder was perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait, or by other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated killing or was committed during the commission of a felony, the killing constituted first degree murder. Id. at §§ 39-2-202(a) [repealed]. All other murders were deemed second degree murder. Id. at §§ 39-2-211(a) [repealed]. The Tennessee Supreme Court further explained the elements of first-degree murder as follows: 30 To convict a defendant of murder in the first degree, there must be an evidentiary basis for a conclusion by the jury that the killing was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. All homicides are presumed to be malicious in the absence of evidence which would rebut the implied presumption. And, if a weapon is handled in a manner so as to make the killing a natural or probable result of such conduct, malice will be presumed from the use of the weapon. Deliberation and premeditation involve a prior intention or design on the part of the defendant to kill, however short the interval between the plan and its execution. It is sufficient if only a moment of time elapses between the plan and its execution as long as the jury can conclude from the evidence that there was some appreciable interval, however small. And, whether premeditation is present in a given case is a question of fact to be determined by the jury from all circumstances of the case. 31 Sikes v. State, 524 S.W.2d 483, 485 (Tenn. 1975) (citations omitted). Thus, to convict a defendant of first-degree murder, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant killed the victim, and did so with malice aforethought, premeditation, and deliberateness. Id. 32 The Tennessee Supreme Court has made it clear that when a jury makes a determination of culpable mental states, such as premeditation ..., [it] must [often] be inferentially made from the circumstances surrounding the killing. State v. Hall, 958 S.W.2d 679, 704 (Tenn.1997). However, circumstantial evidence of a defendant's state of mind will not support a jury verdict of premeditated murder unless the proof of premeditation and deliberation is so strong and cogent as to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save the guilt of the defendant, and that beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Crawford, 225 Tenn. 478, 470 S.W.2d 610, 612 (1971). Motive directly impacts the question of premeditation and the defendant's state of mind. See, e.g., State v. Schafer, 973 S.W.2d 269, 273 (Tenn.Crim.App.1997)(holding that the State had failed to prove premeditation because of its failure to prove motive). 33 The State argued at closing that the defendant's motive was to rape the victim and murder her in an attempt to conceal the rape. In disproving the rape, the DNA evidence introduced on habeas also undermines the State's only proffered motive for the crime and its stated basis for establishing the element of premeditation or malice aforethought necessary to prove first-degree murder. This evidence together with the new evidence of the husband's confessions and Blake's expert testimony appears to raise for House a strong claim of actual innocence of murder in the first degree.