State v. Franklin Jenkins ( 1997 )


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  •              IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
    AT NASHVILLE             FILED
    JULY 1997 SESSION
    October 24, 1997
    Cecil W. Crowson
    Appellate Court Clerk
    STATE OF TENNESSEE,                    )
    )    C.C.A. NO. 01C01-9601-CC-00030
    Appellee,                 )
    )    WAYNE COUNTY
    VS.                                    )
    )    HON. WILLIAM B. CAIN,
    FRANKLIN JENKINS,                      )    JUDGE
    )
    Appellant.                )    (Aggravated assault)
    FOR THE APPELLANT:                          FOR THE APPELLEE:
    NATHANIEL H. KOENIG                         JOHN KNOX WALKUP
    150 Second Ave., N., Suite 300              Attorney General & Reporter
    Nashville, TN 37201-1902
    (On appeal)                            LISA A. NAYLOR
    Asst. Attorney General
    SHARA FLACY                                 450 James Robertson Pkwy.
    District Public Defender                    Nashville, TN 7243-0493
    LARRY NICKELL                               MIKE BOTTOMS
    Asst. Public Defender                       District Attorney General
    P.O. Box 1208
    Pulaski, TN 38478                           RICHARD H. DUNAVANT
    (At trial)                              Asst. District Attorney General
    P.O. Box 304
    Pulaski, TN 38478
    OPINION FILED:____________________
    REVERSED AND REMANDED
    JOHN H. PEAY,
    Judge
    OPINION
    The defendant was indicted for aggravated assault committed by use of
    a deadly weapon.1 A jury convicted him of Class D aggravated assault2 and he was
    sentenced as a Range I standard offender to three years incarceration. In this direct
    appeal, the defendant contends that he is entitled to a new trial because the court
    below failed to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of assault. He also challenges
    the length of his sentence, contending that the trial court erred in applying certain
    enhancement factors. Upon our review of the record, we reverse the defendant’s
    conviction and remand this matter for retrial.
    Nadine Armstrong testified that on September 14, 1992, she had gotten
    into an argument with the defendant, her boyfriend. According to Ms. Armstrong, the
    defendant hit her in the mouth and she ran into another room. As she was running,
    she heard a shot. She turned around and saw the defendant standing in front of her
    with a gun. She testified that she just stood there and started to scream. At that
    point, the defendant held the gun to her chest and threatened to kill her. She testified
    that she had been afraid for her life and asked him not to kill her. He subsequently
    took the gun down. A bullet was later recovered from the floor.
    The defendant testified that, during the argument, the victim “raised up
    the mattress on the bed and reached her hand under the bed, and I told her, I said,
    you better not be getting no gun. And I slapped her.” According to the defendant, the
    1
    The indictment provides, in pertinent part, that the defendant “did unlawfully, intentionally and
    kno wing ly by the u se of a dea dly we apo n, to w it: a 38 0 calib er pis tol, ca use [the vic tim] t o rea son ably
    fear imminent bodily injury by hitting said [victim] in the mouth and did shoot at [the victim] and did put
    the aforesaid pistol in the chest of [the victim] while stating he would kill her, in violation of Tennessee
    Code Annotated 39-13-102.” At the time this crime was committed, aggravated assault could be
    com mitte d by as sau lting s om eon e and caus ing se rious bodily in jury or using or dis playing a dea dly
    weapon. T.C.A. § 39-13-102(a)(1) (Repl. 1991). The instant indictment sufficiently alleges aggravated
    assault only by use or display of a deadly weapon. The indictment contains no allegation of serious
    bod ily injury.
    2
    Effe ctive M ay 12, 1993 , agg rava ted a ssa ult be cam e eith er a C lass C or C lass D felo ny,
    depen ding upo n wheth er the as sault was com mitted inte ntionally or kn owingly, or rec klessly. See
    T.C.A. § 39-13-102 (Su pp. 1993).
    2
    victim then went to her vehicle and when he next saw her in the house, “she had a
    gun in her hand.” He testified that he had been scared and slapped the gun with his
    left hand. At that point, he testified, “the gun hit the floor, and it went off. And she
    was clawing at me, and I didn’t mean to hit her, but I hit her.” He testified that he
    subsequently retrieved the gun and threw it into the woods.
    Assault is committed when a person “(1) Intentionally, knowingly or
    recklessly causes bodily injury to another; (2) Intentionally or knowingly causes
    another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or (3) Intentionally or knowingly
    causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the
    contact as extremely offensive or provocative.” T.C.A. § 39-13-101(a) (Repl. 1991).
    Assault is a lesser grade offense of aggravated assault. See generally State v. Trusty,
    
    919 S.W.2d 305
     (Tenn. 1996). At the time the instant crime was committed,
    aggravated assault occurred when a person committed an assault as defined in
    T.C.A. § 39-13-101 and used or displayed a deadly weapon, and it was a Class C
    felony. T.C.A. § 39-13-102(a)(1)(B) and (b) (Repl. 1991).
    In 1993, our legislature rewrote the section of our Code dealing with
    aggravated assault. In pertinent part, aggravated assault was divided into Class C
    and Class D felonies, depending upon the defendant’s mens rea at the time he or she
    committed the offense. That is, aggravated assaults committed intentionally or
    knowingly remained Class C felonies. However, aggravated assaults committed
    recklessly became Class D felonies. See T.C.A. § 39-13-102 (Supp. 1993). In this
    case, the court below instructed the jury under the revised version of aggravated
    assault. This was error. See T.C.A. §39-11-112 (Repl. 1991) (“Whenever any penal
    statute . . . is repealed or amended by a subsequent legislative act, any offense, as
    defined by the statute . . . being repealed or amended, committed while such statute
    . . . was in full force and effect shall be prosecuted under the . . . statute in effect at
    the time of the commission of the offense.”)
    3
    The court below compounded its error by failing to instruct the jury on
    simple assault. “It is the duty of all judges charging juries in cases of criminal
    prosecutions for any felony wherein two (2) or more grades or classes of offense may
    be included in the indictment, to charge the jury as to all of the law of each offense
    included in the indictment.” T.C.A. § 40-18-110(a) (Repl. 1990). It is error to fail to
    instruct the jury on the lesser offense(s) unless the record clearly shows that the
    defendant was guilty of the greater offense and is devoid of any evidence permitting
    an inference of guilt of the lesser offense. State v. Boyd, 
    797 S.W.2d 589
    , 593 (Tenn.
    1990). In this case, the defendant testified that the victim had had the gun and that he
    hit her after disarming her. This testimony, if believed, would support a conviction of
    simple assault: not aggravated assault by use of a deadly weapon. Accordingly, it
    was error for the trial court to fail to instruct the jury on the lesser offense of assault.
    The trial court’s error entitles the defendant to a new trial. See, e.g., State v.
    Summerall, 
    926 S.W.2d 272
    , 279 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1995). There remains the issue,
    however, of which charges the defendant may be retried upon.
    When the trial judge charged the jury under the new version of
    aggravated assault, he instructed it to first consider the offense of intentional or
    knowing aggravated assault, the Class C felony. If the jury determined the defendant
    to be not guilty of this offense, it was then to consider the defendant’s guilt of reckless
    aggravated assault, the Class D felony. The jury returned a verdict of guilt of Class D
    aggravated assault. Obviously, then, it acquitted the defendant of intentional or
    knowing aggravated assault. Equally obviously, the defendant cannot now be retried
    for that offense. See U.S. Const. amend. V; Tenn. Const. art. I, § 10. We see no
    double jeopardy violation, however, in permitting the defendant to be retried for
    reckless aggravated assault, as that offense existed at the time the offense was
    committed. That is, that the defendant recklessly caused bodily injury to the victim
    and used or displayed a deadly weapon. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-102(a)(1)(B) and 39-
    13-101(a)(1) (Repl. 1991). Accordingly, we remand this matter for a new trial on the
    4
    charge of reckless aggravated assault under T.C.A. § 39-13-102(a)(1)(B) (Repl. 1991)
    and, to the extent supported by the evidence, all lesser offenses.
    The defendant also contends that the trial court erred when it enhanced
    his sentence based on his use of a firearm and causing injury to another person. We
    first note that, in sentencing the defendant, the court below also noted as an
    enhancement factor that the defendant committed the crime while on parole. This
    was appropriate. See T.C.A. § 40-35-114(13). The defendant’s prior criminal history
    serves as yet another enhancement factor. T.C.A. § 40-35-114(1). Thus, while our
    disposition of this case renders this issue moot, we find that a mid-range sentence of
    three years3 was appropriate given these two enhancement factors alone. However,
    we further note that use of the enhancement factor for possession or use of a firearm
    during the commission of the offense, T.C.A. § 40-35-114(9), is improper when
    sentencing for a conviction of aggravated assault by use or display of a deadly
    weapon. This enhancement factor is an essential element of the offense and
    therefore may not be used. T.C.A. § 40-35-114. Similarly, enhancement on the basis
    that the reckless aggravated assault resulted in bodily injury to another person4 is not
    appropriate because bodily injury is an element of reckless assault. See T.C.A. § 39-
    13-101(a)(1) (Repl. 1991).
    With respect to resentencing following retrial of this matter, if the
    defendant is again convicted of reckless aggravated assault, the conviction must be
    treated as a Class D felony for punishment purposes. See T.C.A. § 39-11-112 (“[I]n
    the event [a] subsequent [legislative] act provides for a lesser penalty, any punishment
    imposed shall be in accordance with the subsequent act.”) The legislature’s revision
    to the aggravated assault section of our Code provides for a lesser penalty for
    3
    The s entenc ing range for this offe nse wa s two to fo ur years. See T.C.A. § 40-35-112(a)(4).
    4
    Bodily injury committed during the commission of a felony may be applied as an enhancement
    factor in at least two circumstances: where the defendant has been previously convicted of a felony that
    resulted in death or bodily injury, T.C.A. § 40-35-114(11), and where the defendant willfully inflicted
    bodily injury upo n anothe r person . T.C.A. § 40-35-1 14(12).
    5
    reckless aggravated assault than did the prior statute. Accordingly, the defendant is
    entitled to the lesser penalty if he is reconvicted of the same offense.
    The court below having committed reversible error, we reverse the
    defendant’s conviction for aggravated assault and remand this matter for a new trial in
    accordance with this opinion.
    ______________________________
    JOHN H. PEAY, Judge
    CONCUR:
    ______________________________
    WILLIAM M. BARKER, Judge
    ______________________________
    JERRY L. SMITH, Judge
    6
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 01C01-9601-CC-00030

Filed Date: 10/24/1997

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 10/30/2014