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State v. D'Antonio10/26/2005
a hiatal hernia and a bad back.
Of lesser consequence, the assailant left a ball cap at the crime scene. A black hair, characteristic of cat hair, was found in the cap. The defendant and his wife owned a black cat in March of 1989, according to Carolyn Cox.
Although the State's evidence was entirely circumstantial, it proved a motive, acquisition and possession of the gun that fired the fatal shots, opportunity, and the defendant's efforts to fabricate an alibi through Steven Daniel and Carolyn Cox. The description of the masked shooter, by all witnesses except Sammy Sadler, matched the defendant.
The defendant's statements to officers after his arrest were admittedly subject to different interpretations. However, a jury would be entitled, in the light of all other evidence, to accept the defendant's remarks as an admission of guilt.
We are mindful of our responsibility in reviewing convictions acquired solely by circumstantial evidence and are guided by our supreme court's admonition in Crawford, 470 S.W.2d at 613:
In order to convict on circumstantial evidence alone, the facts and circumstances must be so closely interwoven and connected that the finger of guilt is pointed unerringly at the defendant and the defendant alone. A web of guilt must be woven around the defendant from which he cannot escape and from which facts and circumstances the jury could draw no other reasonable inference save the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. Mere suspicion and straws in the wind are not enough for circumstances take strange forms.
The defendant argues that evidence of guilt points equally to Chuck Dixon, Steve Daniel, or an unknown assailant. We do not agree. The evidence strongly indicates that the murder occurred with Dixon's knowledge, but the totality of circumstances, in our view, points directly at the defendant and supports the jury's verdict of the defendant's guilt.
Pre-Accusatorial Delay
The defendant filed a pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment due to the thirteen-year delay between the commission of the offense and the return of the indictment. The defendant contended that he had suffered actual prejudice due to the delay and that the State had caused the delay to gain a tactical advantage. The motion to dismiss was denied, and the defendant now appeals the issue as violative of due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, ยงยง 8 and 9 of the Tennessee Constitution.
The murder of Kevin Hughes occurred on March 9, 1989, and an immediate investigation was undertaken. In 1993, the police learned that Steve Daniel had sold a gun to the defendant in 1989. In 2002, Daniel was re-interviewed, and the police learned that the weapon provided to the defendant had been test fired at Daniel's Georgia home in 1989. Officers went to the site of the test firing and recovered thirteen projectiles from the area. One matched the bullets recovered from the victim. Based on this evidence, an indictment was obtained charging the defendant with murder. According to Detective Pridemore, police had lacked enough evidence prior to this discovery to make formal charges.
In an effort to show prejudice, the defendant adduced testimony at the pre-trial motion showing that an alternative suspect theory had been pursued in 1989. This investigation was done by a patrol officer independent of the homicide unit. Numerous tape-recorded interviews were conducted in that investigation. These recordings were no longer available by the time of the defendant's indictment. Acting as an informant for Georgia and federal officials, Steve Daniel
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