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State v. Adams12/20/1999
ill you," or, "Next time I'll kill you," both statements indicate that the Defendant knew his actions in stabbing Linda Lewis were reasonably certain to cause death. The Defendant stabbed Ms. Lewis four or five times in the chest. He did not stop until Ms. Lewis said, "I'm dying." According to Christine Lewis, the Defendant stated, "I killed the bitch." This proof is more than sufficient for a rational juror to find that the Defendant knew his actions were reasonably certain to cause Ms. Lewis' death.
The Defendant also contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant recklessly entered Linda Lewis' residence without her effective consent and that, as a result, he could not be convicted of aggravated burglary. Aggravated burglary occurs when a person enters a habitation without the effective consent of the property owner and commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft, or assault. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-14-402(a)(3), -403(a). The statute does not specify a required mental state for the entering of the habitation, though it does require that the person enter and commit or attempt to commit a felony, theft, or assault. See id. When a specific mental state is not given as an element of an offense and is not plainly dispensed with in the offense, the State must at least prove that the defendant acted recklessly. See id. § 39-11-301(b), (c). A person acts "recklessly with respect to circumstances surrounding the conduct or the result of the conduct when the person is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the accused person's standpoint." Id. § 39-11-302(c).
The Defendant argues that the State did not prove he was reckless because the proof did not establish that Linda Lewis had revoked her consent for him to enter her residence or that he was aware of and disregarded the risk that he did not have Ms. Lewis' effective consent to enter her residence. The evidence, however, is to the contrary. The evidence shows that Ms. Lewis and the Defendant lived together for a period of time and that the Defendant then moved out, taking all of his belongings except for his couch and television, which he refused to remove. Ms. Lewis retrieved the key to the residence from the Defendant. On the day of the attempted murder, the Defendant called Ms. Lewis a number of times and was informed that Ms. Lewis did not wish to speak to him. After he stated that he was coming over, Christine Lewis locked the screen door. When the Defendant arrived at Ms. Lewis' residence, he "snatched" open the locked screen door and entered, wielding a knife. He then proceeded to stab Linda Lewis. A rational jury could easily determine from this evidence that the Defendant did not have permission to enter the residence, that he was at least aware of the risk that he did not have permission to enter the home, and that he disregarded that risk and entered Ms. Lewis' residence with the intent to assault Ms. Lewis and did in fact assault her. Thus, the evidence is more than sufficient to support this conviction.
II.
The trial court allowed the introduction as substantive evidence of a picture drawn by the Defendant of a woman with a knife through her eye and depicting blood spurting out of the knife wound, entitled "Booded Tears." The picture was sent by the Defendant to Linda Lewis, accompanied by a letter dated November 13, 1996, which was also introduced into evidence. After a hearing on the
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