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State v. Wilcox10/19/1999
The defendant, John Wilcox, appeals as of right from his conviction by a jury in the McMinn County Criminal Court for second degree murder, a Class A felony. The defendant was sentenced to fifteen years confinement in the custody of the Department of Correction.
On appeal, he raises the following issues:
(1) whether the evidence is sufficient to support the conviction;
(2) whether the trial court erred by denying the defendant the opportunity to cross-examine the pathologist regarding the identity of the body;
(3) whether the district attorney committed prosecutorial misconduct by repeatedly referring to the defendant's exercise of his constitutional rights; and
(4) whether the trial court erred by allowing the district attorney to argue facts that had not been introduced into evidence regarding the county's shoestring budget.
We affirm the judgment of conviction.
At trial, Chad Smith, a patrol officer with the McMinn County Sheriff's Department, testified that on August 10, 1997, he was dispatched to the defendant's house at around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. on the report of a burglary. Officer Smith testified that the defendant told him that someone had broken into his home but that he did not know who it could have been. Officer Smith said the defendant told him that he was missing an answering machine, a telephone and jewelry. He said the defendant showed him horse hoof prints and boot prints. He said the defendant stated that one boot print looked like a man's, and the other looked like a woman's.
Officer Smith testified that he wrote a report and told the defendant that a detective would contact him the next day. He said he also told the defendant to call the sheriff's department to report the value of the jewelry and to notify them if he had any leads. Officer Smith said he did not take fingerprints because he is not certified. He said he notified Detective Jerry Wilson of the burglary that night. He testified that around midnight, he received a dispatch regarding a gunshot victim.
Officer Smith testified that when he arrived at County Road 110, the scene of the shooting, he saw the victim, Terry Bohannon, lying on the road and struggling to breathe. He said the victim had several gunshot wounds and cuts. He said that after emergency services arrived, he examined the scene and noticed a bloody horse that appeared to be dead. He said he also noticed a saddlebag containing a telephone and an answering machine. He said he did not find any knives or guns in the victim's vicinity. He said he found shell casings and a long black sword sleeve in the middle of the road, about ten to twenty feet from the victim.
Officer Smith testified that he did not speak with the defendant's neighbors about the burglary because he received another dispatch and did not have time. He said that at the preliminary hearing, he testified that he called Detective Wilson around 10:00 p.m. to notify him of the hoof and boot prints.
Michael Guffey testified that the incident occurred about one and one-half miles from his house. He said he was friends with both the victim and the defendant. He said that on August 10, the victim came by his house on horseback with Melissa Linder around 11:00 p.m. He said the victim stayed about five minutes then left. He said the victim returned around midnight and said his horses had gotten loose and he needed help catching them. Mr. Guffey said he got his fourteen-year-old son David out of bed, and they found the horses in a neighbor's field. He said that David and the victim caught the horses while he took Ms. Linder home in his van. He said that when he go
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