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State v. Pyburn8/16/2004
victim's hand for fingerprints. Agent McKinney related that he did not find any latent prints on the knife. However, he testified that it was not uncommon to be unable to find a latent print that may have been present when the evidence was collected. He explained that latent prints were fragile. The print might have been "wiped off," or, because a latent print is ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent moisture, it might have evaporated.
Investigator Gene Hargis of the Marion County Sheriff's Department testified that on January 7, 2001, he was called to investigate the shooting death of the victim. When he arrived at the scene, he and Allan Weeks inspected the mobile home taking certain items into evidence, including a Winchester 30/30 rifle, a spent shell casing located on the floor in the living room, and an unspent shell casing located in the bedroom opposite where the victim's body was discovered. In the bedroom in which the victim's body was discovered, Investigator Hargis collected bullet fragments from the wall and the floor behind the bed. Investigator Hargis subsequently submitted this evidence, as well as bullet fragments recovered from the victim's brain, to the TBI crime laboratory for identification. Investigator Hargis also removed the knife from the victim's left hand and submitted it to the TBI crime laboratory for latent print examination. A nylon knife sheath was discovered on the bed in the bedroom where the victim's body was located. Investigator Hargis testified that he observed the victim's body lying between the bed and the bathroom and "red spatters" on the bathroom floor.
After processing the crime scene, Investigator Hargis returned to the sheriff's department to interview the appellant. After signing a waiver of his rights, the appellant submitted a written statement, which Investigator Hargis read into the record as follows:
Me and [the victim] had been drinking pretty much all evening. [The victim] began telling me that I wasn't much of a father and began running his mouth to me. We had a fight in the living room where he hit me in the jaw. I told him to pack his clothes and leave. He went to his room for a while. [The victim] then grabbed a 30-30 rifle that was behind the living room door and went into his room and hollered, "I'm going to kill you." At that time I went into his room and took the rifle from him. I then went into the living room put the gun behind the stereo speaker. I got up, went to the door . . . to let the dog in. As I was shutting the door I saw [the victim] coming out of his room with a knife held above his head coming towards me, saying he was going to kill me. I reached and grab the gun and it went off. We were face to face and he was coming towards me. [The victim was] about five or six feet from me when the gun went off. I went and called Virginia Moore and told her what happened. I then put the gun in . . . my room.
According to Investigator Hargis, the appellant claimed that when the rifle discharged, he was holding it " s if . . . holding a long barrel weapon." When demonstrating the manner in which the victim was holding the knife, the appellant told Investigator Hargis that the victim was "holding up left hand with fingers around the handle of the knife . . . and the blade pointing forward." Investigator Hargis testified that although the appellant claimed to have been struck in the jaw, he observed no injuries.
Dr. Charles Harlan, the forensic pathologist who performed the victim's autopsy, testified that the victim died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. Dr. Harlan reported that " he presence of stippling in this particular wound indicate that the distance from the muzzle to the ski
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