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State v. Williams4/17/2002
In September 1991, the Defendant shot and killed Raymond Brooks, the victim in this case, outside of a club in Memphis. Although he was fifteen years old at the time of the crime , the Defendant was tried as an adult and convicted of first degree murder, for which he received a sentence of life imprisonment. This Court affirmed his conviction on direct appeal, see State v. Tavarus U. Williams, No. 02C01-9307-CR-00137, 1994 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 393 (Tenn. Crim. App., Jackson, June 29, 1994), and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied the Defendant's application for permission to appeal. The Defendant subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied relief, and the Defendant appealed the trial court's decision. On appeal, this Court held that the Defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. See Tavarus U. Williams v. State, No. 02C01-9711-CR-00423, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS (Tenn. Crim. App., Jackson, Oct. 23, 1998). This Court therefore reversed the judgment of the lower court, vacated the Defendant's conviction, and remanded the case for a new trial. See id.
In August 2000, the Defendant was again tried for the murder of Raymond Brooks. At the second trial, the jury found the Defendant guilty of second degree murder. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to twenty years incarceration. The Defendant now appeals both his conviction and his sentence. Having reviewed the record, we affirm the Defendant's conviction, but reverse the judgment as to the sentence only, and remand to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing.
The following evidence was presented at the Defendant's second trial for the shooting death of victim Raymond Brooks: Captain Frederick Sansom of the Memphis Police Department testified that in 1991, he was called to the scene of a homicide that took place at J.T.'s Lounge, located at 1403 Elvis Presley Boulevard. Sansom stated that he arrived at the scene at 3:36 a.m., where he was advised by other officers already present at the scene that "a male black had been shot dead on the sidewalk in front of the lounge." Officers found a pair of sunglasses near the victim's body and "a brown slip of paper," on which a phone number and the name "Saundra" were written, in the victim's pocket. Officers found no weapons or money on or near the victim's body. As part of his duties, Sansom made a sketch of the scene, which was shown to the jury at trial.
Dr. O.C. Smith, medical examiner for Shelby County, testified that he had reviewed a report containing the results of an autopsy performed on the victim, but stated that he did not actually perform the autopsy. He explained that the previous medical examiner for Shelby County, who had resigned in 1999, performed the autopsy. Smith testified that the victim was a twenty-year-old male who died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest. He specified that the victim sustained six or seven gunshot wounds. Smith testified that after being shot, the victim did not live long; he stated that the victim "could have been rendered unconscious or incapacitated almost immediately."
Dr. Smith reported that "powder burns" were found on the victim's right arm. He explained, "Powder burns are a layman's term to describe wounds that are produced when the muzzle of the weapon is close enough to the skin surface at the time it's fired that it actually marks the skin." Smith stated that the type of "powder burns" found on the victim's arm were in a "stipple pattern," indicating that the weapon used to shoot the victim was likely fired from a distance of twenty-four inches or less from the victim's skin. In addi
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