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State v. Reid7/20/2001
ter at the truckstop.
Steve Bennett, a detective with the Cleveland Police Department, testified that he assisted with the search of the crime scene and the defendants' car after they were apprehended. At the scene of the shooting, the police found five .22 shell casings. Inside the car, the police discovered two boxes of .22 rimfire ammunition, a black stocking- type mask, a cap, and articles of clothing. Two days later, on Interstate 75, northbound, the police also discovered the three guns involved in the crime: a .22 caliber revolver pistol, a Phoenix .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and a Haskell .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. Two of the weapons were wrapped in a black shirt, and the third was laying close by. The particular type of .22 revolver discovered on the interstate can hold six rounds in its chamber, and it contained five rounds when the police found it. The Phoenix .22 semi-automatic is capable of holding eight rounds, fully loaded, and it had five rounds remaining in the clip. (Bennett was not questioned about the status of the .45 weapon upon discovery.) The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab matched the five casings recovered from the crime scene to the Phoenix .22 semi-automatic handgun.
Detective Bennett testified that he first encountered Defendant and the co-defendants, O'Neil Sanford (Defendant's half-brother) and Orlando Malone, at the Bradley County Sheriff's Department an hour or two after the shooting occurred. Upon searching the suspects, the police discovered approximately $40.00 in cash on Sanford and 79 cents or so in change on Malone. Defendant had no cash on his person. When Bennett was asked by the prosecutor whether he attempted to get a statement from Defendant and whether he cooperated, Bennett replied "Yes" and "No," respectively. Defense counsel objected. A bench conference was then held out of the presence of the jury. When the jury returned, the trial judge instructed them, inter alia, to ignore Bennett's response to the prosecutor's question concerning whether or not Defendant gave the police a statement.
During cross-examination, Bennett was asked whether he performed a gunshot residue test on Defendant and he responded affirmatively. He testified that propellant powder residue is normally present on the hands of a person who fires a weapon and that the residue test performed on Defendant gave inconclusive results. On redirect-examination, Bennett revealed that all three defendants were tested for powder residue and that the test results were all similarly "inconclusive." By way of explanation, Bennett read to the court the following excerpt from the TBI report concerning their test results: "some .22 rimfire ammunition does not have all the elements needed for gunshot residue analysis. These results cannot eliminate the possibility that the individual could have fired or handled a gun." Bennett testified that .22 ammunition does not contain the primer which is necessary for conclusive results in this type of test.
Eric Benion, one of the victims, testified that he was with Kenneth Blair, Marcus Williams, and Charles Massengill, at 580 Dooley Street on May 22, 1998, when the shooting incident occurred. Benion and Williams had started the evening at Benion's house. When Benion's girlfriend became argumentative, Williams and Benion left to go to Williams' apartment. As they were leaving, Massengill also showed up and they invited him along. Blair arrived at Williams' apartment later on. The men spent the majority of the evening sitting on the balcony talking and joking and drinking a few beers. They noticed three black women with three black men in the parking lot downstairs. One of the men (the co-defendant, Malone)
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