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State v. Bryant10/9/2001
The defendant, Derrick Bryant, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-202(a)(1). The jury sentenced him to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. In this appeal of right, the defendant asserts that the trial court erred by (1) failing to suppress his confession; (2) denying his last requested continuance; (3) accepting transfer of the case from the juvenile court; and (4) excluding evidence of the victim's reputation for violence. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgment of the Trial Court Affirmed
Gary R. Wade, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Thomas T. Woodall and Robert W. Wedemeyer, JJ., joined.
OPINION
On February 12, 1998, at approximately 3:30 a.m., the defendant reported a burglary to the Hamblen County Sheriff's Department. Lieutenant Mike Kitts was dispatched to meet the defendant at Roe Junction Church. The defendant told Lieutenant Kitts that while he and his father were asleep, someone had broken into their residence. The defendant stated that while he had successfully fled the residence, he feared for the life of his father. In the residence, Lieutenant Kitts and another officer found the body of the victim, Randall Bryant, who had been shot once in the back of the head while sleeping.
After searching the Bryant home, Lieutenant Kitts took a recorded statement from the defendant. The defendant, who was 16 years old at the time, told the deputy that he and his father went to bed sometime between 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. He claimed that between midnight and 1:30 a.m., he heard someone enter the house and walk through all the upstairs rooms. The defendant said that when he heard a gunshot, he went upstairs and encountered the intruder "running through the hall with a black full face ski mask." The defendant claimed that he found the victim's cellular phone and truck keys, ran outside to the victim's truck, and drove away. He contended that he was chased by the intruder, who had an automobile. The defendant told Lieutenant Kitts that he eluded his pursuer by hiding with his headlights off on a dead-end street. When the defendant telephoned his grandmother, she instructed him to drive to her residence. He then contacted police, who arranged to meet him at the church.
Chief Deputy Larry Samsel, of the Hamblen County Sheriff's Department, investigated the crime scene. He found a nine millimeter shell casing on the night stand next to the victim's bed and found a permit that had been issued to the victim for a nine millimeter handgun in the defendant's bathroom commode. The permit had been cut into small pieces. A pair of scissors lay on a nearby counter. Deputy Samsel located a nine millimeter bullet on a speaker in the defendant's bedroom. While the deputy found another of the victim's handguns, he was unable to locate the nine millimeter weapon.
After he was taken into custody and advised of his Miranda rights, the defendant confessed to the crime in a second statement to police:
When [my girlfriend and I] got [home] my dad walked outside. My girlfriend left. My dad told me to get my ass in the damn garage. He started fussing and took hi belt off . . . hit me 3 or 4 times on the back of my thighs. He told me I stole his tools and said I was a damn thief, but I didn't steal his tools. He told me if he caught me on the telephone he was going to beat my ass. I went to my room and shut the door. I was pretty upset. About 30 minutes [passed] and he came back down to my room. He opened the door . . . said your getting another damn beating. He started hitting my back with the buckle end of the belt. He we
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