State v. Dewayne Moffit ( 2010 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT JACKSON
JANUARY SESSION, 1997
FILED
June 3, 1997
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
Cecil Crowson, Jr.
) No. 02C01-9510-CC-00298 Appellate C ourt Clerk
Appellee )
) HENDERSON COUNTY
vs. )
) Hon. FRANKLIN MURCHISON, Judge
DEWAYNE MOFFITT, )
) (Resisting Arrest)
Appellant )
For the Appellant: For the Appellee:
FRANKIE STANFILL and CHARLES W. BURSON
DANIEL TAYLOR Attorney General and Reporter
Asst. District Public Defenders
112 W. Baltimore, Suite 208 SUSAN ROSEN
Jackson, TN 38301 Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Justice Division
(ON APPEAL) 450 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, TN 37243-0493
GEORGE MORTON GOOGE JAMES G. (JERRY) WOODALL
District Public Defender District Attorney General
DONALD ALLEN and
NICK NICOLA
Asst. District Attorneys General
Lowell Thomas State Office Bldg.
Suite #201-A
Jackson, TN 38302-2825
OPINION FILED:
AFFIRMED PURSUANT TO RULE 20
David G. Hayes
Judge
OPINION
The appellant, Dewayne Moffitt, was convicted by a Henderson County
jury of resisting arrest, a class B misdemeanor. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-602(1991). The trial court sentenced the appellant to six months incarceration in the
county jail, suspending all but sixty days. On appeal, the appellant challenges
the sufficiency of the evidence.
Viewing the evidence adduced at trial in a light most favorable to the
State, the appellant’s conviction arose from the following events. On February
27, 1994, Captain Scott Pollard of the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department
drove to the Royal View Apartments in Lexington. The dispatcher had received
a report that an armed man was attempting to forcibly enter an apartment and,
possibly, was holding another man at gunpoint. When Captain Pollard,
accompanied by Deputy Brian Duke, arrived at the apartment complex, they
were instructed by Sergeant Scotty Kizer of the Lexington Police Department to
proceed to another building in which an injured child was located. The child had
been injured when the mother had either thrown the child from a second floor
window or jumped from the window holding the child in her arms. The mother
had then fled with her children to the appellant’s apartment. The appellant,
however, refused to either allow Captain Pollard to enter his apartment in order
to determine the condition of the child or bring the child to Pollard. The appellant
physically obstructed Pollard’s entry into his apartment, pushing Captain Pollard
and threatening Pollard with a metal pipe. Additionally, several officers
overheard the appellant threaten Pollard’s life. When Pollard and several fellow
officers attempted to arrest the appellant for disorderly conduct and assaulting a
police officer, the appellant refused to allow the officers to place handcuffs on his
wrists. Ultimately, six officers and the use of a chemical spray were needed to
subdue the appellant.
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After thoroughly reviewing the records, the briefs, and the law governing
the issue presented by the appellant, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient
to support the finding by the trier of fact of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and
that no error of law requiring a reversal of the judgment is apparent. Accordingly,
pursuant to Ct. Crim. App. Rule 20, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
____________________________________
DAVID G. HAYES, Judge
CONCUR:
__________________________________
JOE B. JONES, Presiding Judge
__________________________________
PAUL G. SUMMERS, Judge
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