Jenkins v. State

DAVID JENKINS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

No. M2019-01238-CCA-R3-PC

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE

Assigned on Briefs June 25, 2020

March 16, 2021

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Franklin County

No. 2013-CR-93

Thomas W. Graham, Judge

Pro se Petitioner David Jenkins was originally charged with first degree premeditated murder and felony murder in the perpetration of especially aggravated kidnapping. The trial court granted a directed verdict on the felony murder charge, and the jury convicted the Petitioner of first-degree premeditated murder. State v. David G. Jenkins, No. M2016-00270-CCA-R3-CD, 2017 WL 1425610, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Apr. 21, 2017). The trial court sentenced the Petitioner to life imprisonment to be served consecutively to his sentence for a prior offense. The Petitioner later filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging numerous grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel, which was denied by the post-conviction court. In this appeal, the Petitioner claims the post-conviction court erred in denying relief. Upon our review, we affirm.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3, Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, P.J., and ALAN G. GLENN, J., joined.

David Jenkins, Pro Se, for the Petitioner.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Jonathan H. Wardle, Assistant Attorney General; and Steve Blount, District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

As relevant to the issues raised in this post-conviction matter, the evidence presented at trial established that the victim, Corey Matthews, was a member of the Aryan Nation and was serving as a confidential informant for law enforcement. After other members of the Aryan Nation learned of the victim's actions, the Petitioner and his co-defendants, Todd Dalton, John Corey Lanier, and Coty Holmes, drove the victim to a remote location where they beat the victim. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *1. Co-defendant Lanier used a knife to cut an "X" over the victim's Aryan Nation tattoo on his abdomen. The Petitioner then struck the victim on the head and face multiple times with a ball-pein hammer, resulting in the victim's death.

Co-defendants Holmes and Lanier testified at trial concerning the events leading up to the victim's death. On the day of the offense, at approximately 10:00 a.m., co-defendant Dalton called and asked co-defendant Holmes to come to his shop. Co-defendant Holmes then learned that the victim was to be kicked out of the Aryan Nation because the victim had been serving as an informant for law enforcement. Co-defendant Holmes understood that the victim would receive a "beat-out" and that the victim's "patch" or tattoo would be "covered." Co-defendant Holmes explained that the victim's tattoo would either be cut or covered with another tattoo. Co-defendant Holmes said the Petitioner was present during the conversation about what was to happen to the victim.

Before they left co-defendant Dalton's shop, co-defendant Holmes observed the Petitioner retrieve a ball-pein hammer from the back of his truck. The men then went to pick up co-defendant Lanier and eventually went to Tractor Supply in Winchester, Tennessee, to meet the victim. The victim got into the backseat of co-defendant Dalton's truck with codefendants Lanier and Holmes. After driving to another friend's home, the men returned to the Tractor Supply store where the victim's car was parked. The men eventually drove to the victim's home, where all five of the men got into co-defendant Dalton's truck. Co-defendant Holmes turned off his cellular phone, and co-defendant Dalton placed it in the glove compartment of his truck. Co-defendant Holmes believed everyone turned off their cellular phones and put them away.

Co-defendant Dalton drove to a cemetery located approximately ten to fifteen minutes from the victim's home. Upon arriving, the victim was eventually pushed into co-defendant Holmes and they "tangled up, threw a couple of punches, [and] went to the ground." Co-defendant Holmes punched the victim "a couple of times" and while the victim was lying on the ground, the other four men hit and kicked the victim "a couple of times." The Petitioner then retrieved a ball-pein hammer and began hitting the victim in the head with it. The co-defendants yelled at the Petitioner to stop; however, the Petitioner hit the victim five or six times, stopped, and then resumed hitting the victim five or six more times. Once the Petitioner and the other co-defendants got back into the truck, the Petitioner acted excited and told co-defendant Holmes and Lanier that they "had earned [their] bones."

Co-defendant Lanier confirmed that the victim was a member of the Aryan Nation and that the Petitioner had told him that the Petitioner was associated with the Aryan Brotherhood. Co-defendant Lanier said that upon arriving at the cemetery co-defendant Dalton told the victim, "You [have] been talking to the police. You know what that means." The Petitioner and co-defendant Holmes then went after the victim. Co-defendant Lanier confessed to tackling and hitting the victim twice. After the men cut an "X" over the victim's tattoo, they kicked the victim in the head and stomped him. Co-defendant Lanier testified that the men were about to leave the victim; however, the Petitioner hit the victim in the head with a ball-pein hammer three to four times. Co-defendant Lanier yelled at the Petitioner to stop, and the men got in the truck and left. Co-defendant Lanier said that the victim was conscious when he was cut and semi-conscious and making sounds before the Petitioner hit him with the hammer. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *5-6.

The men returned to Manchester, Tennessee, where the Petitioner purchased beer at Tops, a convenience store. The Petitioner had blood on his arms and stated that "the lady in the store looked at him like he was crazy because he had blood on his arms." Co-defendant Holmes stated that co-defendant Dalton owned a trailer on co-defendant Dalton's property where a man named "Shorty" lived. Co-defendants Holmes and Dalton went to the trailer, and co-defendant Dalton told "Shorty" what had occurred. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *2-4.

Co-defendant Lanier confirmed he was a "regular member" of the Aryan Nation and was not an "enforcer." He said the Petitioner was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and not the Aryan Nation. A few days prior to the victim's death, co-defendant Lanier attended a meeting at the home of "Shorty" and Tabatha Roulette Jones. Co-defendant Lanier attended one formal meeting of the Aryan Nation during which rankings were discussed. The victim said he was an "enforcer" with the gang, which co-defendant Lanier believed meant that the victim ensured that people followed the rules. Co-defendant Lanier said a member who violated the rules of the Aryan Nation could have his tattoo removed. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *6. Co-defendant Lanier stated that the Petitioner had blood and brain matter on him when he purchased beer at the convenience store following the victim's death. Co-defendant Lanier testified that when he was a member of the Aryan Nation, he believed that "blood out," during which a member was removed from the gang, meant that the member was beaten and not that the member was killed. Co-defendant Lanier did not recall the Petitioner saying anything about the blood and brain matter on him upon returning from purchasing beer following the victim's death. State v. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *6.

On March 24, 2013, in response to a missing person report filed by the victim's wife, Officer Mike Holmes of the Cowan Police Department began driving around JacksonCemetery, a secluded area near the victim's home where people would go to think or fight. Officer Holmes found the victim's body in a cut cornfield approximately thirty yards from the gravel road that separated the cemetery and the cornfield. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *8. Investigator Brian Brewer with the Franklin County Sherriff's Office eventually developed the Petitioner, and co-defendants Dalton, Lanier, and Holmes as those who were with the victim on Saturday, March 23, 2013, prior to his death. Id. Officers also obtained videotapes of the Petitioner along with the victim and the co-defendants recorded by several convenience stores on March 23, prior to the victim's death. Investigator Brewer said that while he received information that the Defendant and the co-defendants stopped at another convenience store to purchase beer after killing the victim, he was unable to place any of the men at a particular convenience store during that time period. Id. at 8. The Petitioner was eventually apprehended in September 2013, in Hobbs, New Mexico. David G. Jenkins, 2017 WL 1425610, at *11.

The Petitioner appealed his conviction and sentence, which were affirmed by this court, and permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court was denied on September 20, 2017. On October 30, 2017, the Petitioner filed a seventeen-page, pro se petition for post-conviction relief, raising numerous grounds of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Although the Petitioner was represented at trial by two trial counsel, lead counsel and co-counsel, he challenged the conduct of only co-counsel. On December 12, 2017, the Petitioner was appointed post-conviction counsel. First post-conviction counsel filed a motion to withdraw, noting that upon review of the allegations in the Petitioner's petition they appeared to be "personal . . . questioning [co-counsel's] mental competency." Because first post-conviction counsel knew co-counsel, first post-conviction believed he had a conflict in representation. The trial court granted the motion to withdraw, and on February 6, 2018, the court appointed second post-conviction counsel to represent ...