Opinion ID: 1528630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: We first address Defendant's contention that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding of guilt and the finding of the heinous, atrocious and cruel aggravating factor. The principles which govern our review of a conviction by a jury are well settled. 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 State's theory. State v. Williams, 657 S.W.2d 405, 410 (Tenn. 1983). 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). A verdict against the Defendant removes the presumption of innocence and raises the presumption of guilt on appeal, see State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn. 1973), which the Defendant has the burden of overcoming. State v. Brown, 551 S.W.2d 329, 331 (Tenn. 1977). Where the sufficiency of the convicting evidence is challenged, the relevant question for an appellate court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found Defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Duncan, 698 S.W.2d 63 (Tenn. 1985); T.R.A.P. 13(e). The Defendant's identity was established by his fingerprints found in the victim's home and on the front hood of her car, which was stuck in the mud and contained items taken from the victim's home. There was no explanation by the Defendant as to how his fingerprints could have gotten in Ms. Brewer's home and on her car. The Defendant maintained in a statement to the police that he did not know the victim and had never been in her home. This, taken in conjunction with the Defendant's statements to his niece and to Willie Cox indicating that he had committed the murder, clearly established his guilt. The evidence indisputably supports aggravating circumstances (i)(2) [the Defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies which involved the use or threat of violence to the person] and (i)(7) [the murder was committed while the Defendant was engaged in committing a robbery]. The Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support (i)(5) [the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind]. The evidence shows that in the course of robbing the victim, an elderly woman, the Defendant brutally beat her about her entire body, tied her up, slashed her throat and drowned her in the bathtub while she was still conscious. The Defendant avers that the evidence is insufficient to support a finding of torture because the pathologist testified only that the victim could have been conscious during her ordeal. The jury could have inferred from this testimony and from the use of the sheets to tie the victim and the posture of her body in the bathtub that the victim was alive and conscious during her rape and the beating, slashing and drowning. This meets the definition of torture in State v. Williams, 690 S.W.2d 517, 529 (Tenn. 1985). Furthermore, such mistreatment of an unconscious or deceased person so close to the time of the victim's death could also establish depravity of mind at the time of the killing under Williams. [1] It was for the jury to determine whether the proof established that the victim was tortured prior to her death or that Defendant's acts involved depravity of mind. The jury resolved this factual question in favor of the State and against the Defendant. This issue is without merit. Having found the evidence sufficient to support the finding of the heinous, atrocious or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind aggravating circumstance, we now turn to Defendant's argument that the depravity of mind aspect of subsection (i)(5) is unconstitutionally vague. This Court recently rejected this argument in State v. Cazes, 875 S.W.2d 253 (Tenn. 1994), and State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166, 181 (Tenn. 1991). See also, State v. Van Tran, 864 S.W.2d 465, 478-480 (Tenn. 1993). Even were we to agree with Defendant's contentions in this respect, we note that this aggravating circumstance does not depend upon a finding of depravity in the present case but is independently established by the element of torture.