The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction and death sentence a Missouri man received for killing a Dyer County tow truck driver who had answered his murderer’s Sunday morning call for help.
Steven Ray Thacker was convicted of first degree murder for the Jan. 2, 2000, stabbing death of Ray Patterson. Thacker had called Patterson to tow his car after it broke down as he was driving from Missouri toward Dyersburg.
“The proof in this case showed that the defendant’s vehicle broke down and was towed to a service station by the victim,” Justice William M. Barker wrote. “The defendant then attempted to pay for the wrecker service with a stolen credit card. When the card was rejected, the defendant stabbed the victim because the defendant ‘knew (he) was wanted in other states.’”
Thacker stole money, a gun and credit cards from his victim before going to a local restaurant and eating a hamburger. He later checked into a Union City motel, where he was arrested.
Barker, writing for a majority of the court, said issues raised by Thacker in his automatic direct appeal “are without merit.” He was joined in the decision by Chief Justice Frank Drowota, III, and Justices E. Riley Anderson and Janice M. Holder.
Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., wrote a separate concurring/dissenting opinion in which he agreed with the majority that Thacker’s conviction should be upheld, but disagreed as to the sentence of death.
In his opinion, Birch said the protocol used for comparative proportionality review is “inadequate to shield defendants from the arbitrary and disproportionate imposition of the death penalty.” He cited previous cases in which he has dissented because of his concerns about the method used for the review.
“As previously discussed, I believe that the three basic problems with the current proportionality analysis are that: (1) the proportionality test is overbroad, (2) the pool of cases used for comparison is inadequate, and (3) review is too subjective,” Birch wrote.
State law requires the court to conduct proportionality review in capital cases to ensure that death sentences are applied consistently. The court determines whether the sentence of death is “disproportionate to the sentences imposed for similar crimes and similar defendants.”
“We conclude that the defendant’s sentence of death in this case was not applied arbitrarily and was not excessive or disproportionate when compared to similar cases in which the same penalty was imposed,” Barker wrote. “We have upheld the death penalty in several similar cases where the defendant stole from the victims and committed murder to avoid arrest or prosecution.”
The court set a Sept. 8, 2005, execution date for Thacker, who has state and federal appeals remaining.
(05/01/2005)
Judge Kennedy Receives State Justice Institute Scholarship
Seventh Circuit Court Judge Randy Kennedy of the 20th Judicial District (Davidson County) was awarded a State Justice Institute (SJI) scholarship to attend a 10-day General Jurisdiction course at the National Judicial College in Nevada.
The award covered tuition, transportation and lodging. Kennedy and other judges from across the country shared ideas on courtroom and case management, including those involving self-represented, or pro se, litigants. Topics included in the General Jurisdiction course included jury and non-jury trials, docket management, judicial discretion and judicial ethics.
Kennedy formerly served as senior attorney at Kennedy and Brown, and was appointed to the bench in 2003 and elected in 2004. He is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and the Nashville School of Law. Kennedy is a native Nashvillian and was a veteran trial lawyer with 26 years of courtroom experience.
The National Judicial College was founded in 1963 and averages 85 courses a year with more than 2,700 judges enrolling from across the nation. It is located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno, and includes technology-enhanced classrooms, a 75,000-volume law library, state-of-the-art model courtroom, modern seminar rooms, distance education facilities, computer lab and offices of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media. More information about the State Justice Institute is available on the SJI web site (http://www.statejustice.org).