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IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
Assigned on Briefs December 4, 2012 JARVIS Q. WILLIAMS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Appeal from the Criminal Court of Shelby County No. 01-08323 Chris Craft, Judge

No. W2012-00052-CCA-R3-PC - Filed December 27, 2012

Jarvis Q. Williams ("the Petitioner") filed for post-conviction relief from his convictions of seven counts of especially aggravated kidnapping and four counts of aggravated robbery, alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel and denial of a public trial. After a hearing, the post-conviction court granted relief in the form of a reduced sentence but otherwise denied relief. This appeal followed. Upon our thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment Affirmed J EFFREY S. B IVINS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which A LAN E. G LENN and R OBERT W. W EDEMEYER, JJ., joined. Joseph S. Ozment (on appeal), Memphis, Tennessee; Ryan Feeney (at hearing), Selmer, Tennessee, and Larry Copeland (at hearing), Memphis, Tennessee, for appellant, Jarvis Q. Williams. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Sophia S. Lee, Senior Counsel; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Chris West, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION Factual and Procedural Background Trial A jury convicted the Petitioner of seven counts of especially aggravated kidnapping and four counts of aggravated robbery for crimes committed in January 2001. The trial court

sentenced the Petitioner to an effective term of 360 years for these crimes. This Court affirmed the Petitioner's convictions and sentences on direct appeal. See State v. Jarvis Williams, No. W2002-03010-CCA-R3-CD, 2003 WL 23100810, at *9 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 23, 2003). The Tennessee Supreme Court denied review on May 10, 2004. See id. at *1. To assist in the resolution of this proceeding, we repeat here the summary of the facts set forth in this Court's opinion resolving the Petitioner's direct appeal: Kimberly Hancock testified that, on the night of January 11, 2001, she was with her fiancee, Divin Wright, Divin's mother, Divin's step-father Jerome Carpenter, and Jerome Carpenter's brother, Omar Coleman. Kimberly wanted to retrieve some clothes that were at the home of her girlfriend, Marion Vaughn. Omar agreed to drive her to Marion's home, and Divin accompanied them. When they arrived, Kimberly and Divin went into the house; Omar waited in the car. In the house were Marion, the Defendants John and Jarvis Williams,1 Torrez Talley and Thaddeus Brown. Kimberly went upstairs and began to gather her clothes. She heard Defendant John coming up the stairs and heard him say, "somebody is fixing to die." Kimberly tried to run, but Defendant John grabbed her by the neck and threw her down the stairs. He followed her down and forced her to sit on the couch. Defendant Jarvis then forced Divin to sit on the couch next to her. Both Defendants were armed. Defendant John accused Kimberly of having set up a break-in of his home by Divin's brother Oliver. Kimberly denied any knowledge of any break-in. Defendant John and Defendant Jarvis both told her that she was going to die because of her participation in the break-in. They also told Divin that he would pay for his brother's actions. Torrez Talley and Thaddeus Brown left the house and returned with Omar. They made him strip and took his checkbook. Javon Bryant then arrived, pulling two guns and pointing one of them at Kimberly. Javon told Kimberly that she was going to help them find Oliver, and Javon and Defendant Jarvis forced Kimberly into a black car. Defendant Jarvis sat in the back seat with her and kept a gun on her. Javon Bryant drove.

1

At times we will differentiate between the two Defendants by referring to them by their first names

only.

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Eventually, Defendant Jarvis called Oliver and arranged a meeting. Defendant Jarvis then called Defendant John and told him about the meeting. Javon Bryant then drove to the meeting place and forced Kimberly at gunpoint into Defendant Jarvis' purple Dodge Intrepid, which had been driven to the meeting place by Thaddeus Brown. Defendant Jarvis, Javon Bryant, Thaddeus Brown and Keith Ezell got in the car with her; Ezell was also armed. After a short time, Bryant and Ezell left the car and patrolled the area. When Oliver pulled up for the meeting, Bryant and Ezell got on either side of Oliver's car and told the two men in the car to get out. In the car with Oliver were Jerome Carpenter, Oliver's fiancee Tonyell Somerall, and Tonyell's seven-year-old son, Jodeci. Oliver and Jerome were forced out of the car and told to strip. Javon Bryant hit Oliver in the head with a gun. Oliver was then forced into the trunk of the Intrepid, and Jerome was forced into the trunk of the car that Oliver had been driving, a Neon. Ezell took the wheel of the Neon, in which Tonyell and her son were still seated. Bryant returned to the Intrepid. Both cars then left the scene. A short time later, both cars pulled over. Defendant Jarvis told Ezell to get Tonyell's identification and let her go. They got Jerome out of the Neon's trunk and placed him in the Intrepid's trunk with Oliver. They told Kimberly that they were going to let her go, but that they were going to kill Omar and Divin. They threatened to kill Kimberly and her daughter if she told the police. The men then dropped Kimberly off near her mother's house. She subsequently called the police. She testified that she was robbed of $120 that night by her assailants. Divin Wright also testified. He explained that Oliver is his older brother. He stated that, when he entered Marion Vaughn's house, he saw both Defendants; Defendant John was Marion's boyfriend. Thaddeus Brown and Torrez Talley were also there. As Divin waited for Kimberly to gather her clothes, he saw Defendant John follow her upstairs. Kimberly then came "tumbling down" the stairs, and Defendant Jarvis grabbed Divin and "slammed [him] to the floor." Defendant Jarvis then forced him onto the couch while Defendant John forced Kimberly onto the other end of the couch. Both Defendants were pointing guns at Divin and Kimberly. The Defendants kept asking where Oliver was. Defendant John told Divin that they were going to kill him, Divin. Javon Bryant arrived and pointed two guns at them and asked Defendants John and Jarvis which one they wanted him to kill first. Divin

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testified, "It was like Jarvis and [John] were the leaders." Eventually, Defendant Jarvis "put the gun on" Kimberly and forced her out of the house. Before he left with Kimberly, Defendant Jarvis went outside and returned with Omar. Omar was forced onto the couch with Divin. After Defendant Jarvis and Javon left, Defendant John held a pistol on Divin and forced him to give him everything in Divin's pockets. Keith Ezell then entered, wielding a shotgun. Ezell began beating Divin. Defendant Jarvis stripped Divin naked; Omar was also stripped. At some point Oliver and Jerome were brought into the house, also naked. Divin testified that both Defendants beat on him with their guns and fists. They also kicked him. Divin saw the assailants beat his brother Oliver as well. Defendants John and Jarvis picked Divin up off of the floor at one point and forced his head into the smoldering fireplace. Defendants John and Jarvis poured bleach on Divin and the other three victims. Eventually, Defendants John and Jarvis, together with Javon Bryant, Keith Ezell, Torrez Talley and Thaddeus Brown, forced Divin into the trunk of a car and told him that they were going to take him and his brother to Mississippi and bury them. Divin was having trouble maintaining consciousness, and the next thing he remembered was leaving the hospital. Omar Coleman testified that he drove Kimberly and Divin to Kimberly's friend's house on the night in question. Kimberly and Divin went into the house, and he remained in the car. After about ten minutes, three men approached the car with guns and told him that he was "under arrest." Omar identified Defendant Jarvis as one of the armed men. The men forced Omar into the house, where Omar saw Kimberly and Divin on the sofa. He also saw Defendant John in the house. Defendant Jarvis told him to remove his clothes. Omar testified that, "before I could even take them off [Defendant Jarvis] just started ripping them off and kicking me in my side." After Omar was stripped, he was told to sit on the couch while his pants pockets were shaken empty. Defendant Jarvis and Defendant John were asking, "Where's my stuff?" and Omar saw Defendant Jarvis grab some of the money that fell out of his pants. While he sat on the couch, Omar heard Divin and Kimberly being asked about Oliver's whereabouts. Defendant Jarvis then accompanied Kimberly out of the house for the purpose of calling Oliver from a pay phone. Omar testified that Defendant Jarvis was armed as he took Kimberly out of the house. After Defendant Jarvis left, Defendant John made some phone calls, and some other men arrived at the house. These men were armed.

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Eventually, Jerome and Oliver were brought into the house. Jerome and Oliver were naked. The assailants, including the Defendants, forced the four victims to lay on the floor. Omar then saw the assailants beating Divin and Oliver. Omar was struck once in the head when he tried to escape. After the beatings, the assailants poured bleach on the victims. Omar and Jerome were then forced out of the house and into the trunk of Omar's Ford Focus. Defendant John was one of the men who forced Omar into the trunk, and was armed while doing so. Oliver and Divin were forced into another car. Omar testified that one of the other assailants, a man he knew as Red Von,2 told them that they were going to be driven to Mississippi and buried there. Tonyell Somerville, Oliver's fiancee, testified that she and Oliver and her son Jodeci were driving home from dinner on the night in question, and stopped to pick up Jerome. They then drove toward some destination of which she was unaware, because she dozed off. When she awoke, she saw several men surrounding the car. The men were armed and were yelling at them to get out of the car. Oliver and Jerome got out of the car; one of the men approached her as she sat in the front passenger seat and told her not to move. She saw the men striking Oliver in the head, and the men were telling Oliver and Jerome to remove their clothes. One of the armed men got into the back seat of the car with Tonyell's young son. She then saw the men put Oliver in the trunk of another car, an Intrepid. Tonyell testified that she was held at gunpoint and was very afraid. One of the armed men got into the driver's seat and began driving away. This man had a sawed-off shotgun. Tonyell pled for her life and her child's life, and the man told her not to worry, that they were after Oliver. He asked her for money, and she gave him what she had in her purse. She also gave him a ring she was wearing. The man pulled the car over in an area with which she was not familiar and told her to get out with her son and start walking. She begged to keep her car because she did not know where she was. At this point, another man came up and told the driver to just get her identification, and then let her go with her car. She testified that she handed over her identification, and the man that had come up to the car told her, "Okay. We've got your ID. We have your address and your name. If you go to the cops and say anything then we will come back and kill you and your son." The men then removed something from her trunk; she did not know at the time what was in there. She

2

Red Von was elsewhere identified as Javon Bryant.

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then left and called the police at the first opportunity. Tonyell identified the Defendants as two of the men involved in her abduction. Jodeci, Tonyell's son, also testified. He was seven at the time of the offenses, and eight when he testified. He stated that he saw Oliver being hit with a gun. Oliver Wright testified that he and Tonyell and Jodeci and Jerome were in the car after dinner when he got a phone call from Defendant Jarvis. Defendant Jarvis told him that his car had broken down and asked Oliver to take him to an auto parts store for a battery. He recognized Defendant Jarvis' voice because he had known him for about a year. He drove to Defendant Jarvis' location and recognized the purple Intrepid; the hood was up. He got out of his car and began to approach Defendant Jarvis' car when he saw Defendant Jarvis and two other men named Javon and Keith Ezell "jump around the corner with guns." The men told him, "Don't move or, bitch, you're going to die." Javon then told him to "get naked" and hit him in the head with a pistol. After he was naked, Javon hit him in the head again with the pistol, and he and Defendant Jarvis forced him into the Intrepid's trunk at gunpoint. Javon broke Oliver's leg with the trunk lid. The car was then driven a few blocks and stopped. At that point, Defendant Jarvis and Javon opened the trunk and placed Jerome in the trunk with him. Jerome was also naked. They drove for another few minutes and stopped at Marion Vaughn's house, where the trunk was opened by Defendant Jarvis and Javon. The men told Oliver and Jerome to get out; both men were armed as were two other men near the car. The four assailants took the two victims into the house, where Oliver saw Divin and Omar, both naked. Defendant John, who was in the house, walked up to Oliver and hit him in the head with a pistol. Subsequently, Defendant Jarvis, Javon, Defendant John, Thaddeus and Ezell all beat him; he also saw them hitting Divin in the head with pistols. The men told Oliver that he was "going to die" that night. Oliver testified that they "put cigarettes out" on his back and poured bleach on him and the other victims. The four victims were then forced back outside and put into the trunks of the Intrepid and Focus. Oliver heard Defendant Jarvis' and Javon's voices in the Intrepid. The car was driven off and stopped at a place where Oliver could hear a train approaching. The police then arrived and let the victims out of the car trunks.

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Oliver testified that he suffered various injuries from the attack, including a broken leg, broken ribs and burns on his back. He also testified that his assailants took some money and jewelry from him. Both Defendants testified. Defendant John Williams testified that he "wasn't involved in none of these incidents" and had been "at home with [his] child and [the] baby's momma." Defendant Jarvis Williams testified that he had "no knowledge of what's going on" and had "no idea what this arises from." Id. at *1-4. Post-Conviction On March 18, 2005, the Petitioner, acting pro se, filed for post-conviction relief. The Petitioner subsequently was appointed counsel, who filed an amended petition. A hearing was held in April 2007, at which the following proof was adduced: The Petitioner testified that, after trial counsel was appointed for him, they began discussing whether he had an alibi defense to the crimes with which he had been charged. He stated that he told his lawyer ("Trial Counsel") that he had been "at home that night." With him were his three children, ranging in age from one to six years old. His girlfriend, the children's mother, had left him at home to care for the children while she went to work. The Petitioner stated that he spent most of the evening on his computer. Trial Counsel did not seek to examine his computer. The Petitioner stated that he did not know if the computer was still in existence. The Petitioner testified that Trial Counsel was "more adamant in pushing [him] into accepting a guilty plea" than investigating his case. Trial Counsel did not discuss the Petitioner's alibi with him nor did Trial Counsel send an investigator to discuss it with him. Trial Counsel did not ask for the Petitioner's girlfriend's phone numbers. When the Petitioner later questioned Trial Counsel about his failure to follow-up on the Petitioner's alibi, Trial Counsel told him that he did not believe "it was credible enough." The Petitioner's first day of trial was on a Monday. Persons supporting the Petitioner attended the trial on that day through Wednesday. However, on Thursday, these persons were excluded from the courtroom. The Petitioner testified about this issue as follows: No one ever gave us a complete answer [as to why these persons were excluded]. But we

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