ALAN E. GLENN, J.
The defendant, Devaughn Edwards, was convicted of three counts of facilitation of kidnapping, two of which subsequently were merged; two counts of facilitation of robbery, and one count of facilitation of aggravated burglary, for which he received an effective sentence of sixteen years. On appeal, he argues that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the convictions for facilitation of kidnapping and that the court erred in imposing consecutive sentencing. Following our review, we affirm the judgments.
The defendant's convictions resulted from the home invasion of a residence on Mud Island in Memphis by the defendant and three others, during which the two residents were robbed and one was beaten.
Tad Robbins testified that he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy and was living on Mud Island on April 11, 2012. That evening, he and his wife heard a commotion coming from a neighbor's house, and he saw a Lincoln automobile backed into the driveway of a nearby vacant house. He observed two men entering "quickly" into the garage and went out his back door because he thought "there was something weird." He noticed that the car was "running" and returned to his house to call 911. As he watched, the garage door opened, and he saw two men leaving a house carrying a television set, a guitar, and a bag of other items. Two more men came out of the house, and they "loaded up" in the car to leave.
Jaredan Braal testified that he was a mechanical engineer for Medtronic. On April 11, 2012, he was living on Mud Island and returned home "around 10:45 or 10:50 at night" from teaching a dance class. He pulled into his garage, which was in an alley behind his house. As he was unloading items from his car, he saw a vehicle in front of the neighbor's house behind him. One of the two men at the car said he wanted to ask Mr. Braal a question, adding that he was looking for a particular street. They were joined by another man who soon produced a pistol, which he pointed at Mr. Braal. Mr. Braal then threw down his cell phone and wallet and ran into his garage but was hit in the head multiple times and fell to his hands and knees. Two of the men then entered Mr. Braal's house, while a third kept watch on him. Mr. Braal's roommate was brought from the house and made to lie down beside him. After the men loaded their vehicle with items from the victims' house, they asked for the PIN number for Mr. Braal's debit card, and he made up a number. The four men then left, and the victims telephoned 911 from a neighbor's telephone. Mr. Braal was hospitalized for twelve days as a result of his injuries. He identified the defendant as the person who hit him with the pistol.
Frederick Krafcik, Jr. testified that he was living on Mud Island on April 11, 2012, and was employed by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, working at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He said that, during that evening, he was on the bed in his room when the door was kicked open and two men entered at pistol-point. They took different items, including cash, and ordered him to go downstairs to the garage, where he found his roommate already lying facedown and blood on the floor. He said that as "the criminals were still going back and forth in the house, removing items," he stayed facedown on the garage floor, as they ordered. After the men left, the two victims ran to neighbors for help, "knocking on doors, looking bloody and beaten up, [but] people weren't answering."
Mr. Krafcik said that he at first thought it was his roommate coming up the stairs, but then his door was kicked in. The man who came through the door pointed a pistol at him, and another man then came in, the two of them asking, "[W]here is the cash?" He said that the two men took his DVD player and computer, the cash from his wallet and, later, he discovered they had taken his cell phone. At gunpoint, he was made to go down the stairs to the garage. He described his roommate, who already was in the garage:
Mr. Krafcik said that at least three men came into the house, but "it sounded like there was a fourth person." He said that he had paid between $3000 and $3500 for the items the men took.
Officer Robert Forbert of the Memphis Police Department testified that he received a prowler call on April 11, 2012, to the victims' residence. Upon their arrival, officers found the door was open, the residence was ransacked, and there was a pool of blood in the garage. Officer Forbert learned that Mr. Braal was at a nearby address, where he went and found him on the floor, with others trying to stop the bleeding from his nose. Mr. Braal said his iPhone had been taken, and information was entered into Officer Forbert's iPhone to locate Mr. Braal's phone. An exact address was provided by the iPhone application, which was 2423 Manchester Road. Officer Forbert then went to that address, where he observed traveling south on the street a tan Lincoln Zephyr automobile, which matched the description the victim gave of the car the defendants were operating. Two African-American males were in the automobile, which the officer stopped. The vehicle was being driven by the defendant, whom the officer identified in the courtroom. At the residence, a male and female came to the door and were detained while a search warrant was obtained to search for the iPhone.
Officer Terrell Hunt of the Memphis Police Department testified that he was assigned to the Felony Response Unit. On April 12, 2012, he responded to a call to a residence on Manchester Road. A search warrant was obtained, and Officer Hunt entered the residence where he located a large television, matching the description of the one taken from the victims' residence. He also found at the residence an iPhone, a Mac 10 Notebook computer, a bulletproof vest, and a guitar. All of these were found in the bedroom of Adrian Henderson, one of the co-defendants.
Officer Justin Edward Sheriff, a crime scene investigator with the Memphis Police Department, testified that on April 12, 2014, he was called to photograph a 2006 Lincoln Zephyr and items taken from it at an auto shop located at Alcy and Manchester. He took photographs of the vehicle and a wine bottle which was inside it.
Sergeant Velynda Thayer of the Memphis Police Department testified that on April 12, 2012, she was assigned to investigate the home invasion and robbery that occurred on Mud Island, for which two suspects, one of whom was the defendant, were in custody. She advised the defendant of his
Patrece Edwards, the defendant's mother, was the only witness testifying in his behalf. She said she had not known that he was spending time with the three co-defendants.
On appeal, the defendant argues that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support his convictions for facilitation of kidnapping and erred in imposing consecutive sentences. We will review these claims.
The defendant's specific argument in this regard is that the State failed to present sufficient evidence of kidnapping beyond proof of the underlying felony.
In considering this issue, we apply the rule that where sufficiency of the convicting evidence is challenged, the relevant question of the reviewing court is "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt."
In
As we have set out, the defendant was convicted of various counts of facilitation of kidnapping, robbery, and burglary. A person facilitates a felony if, "knowing that another intends to commit a specific felony, but without the intent required for criminal responsibility under § 39-11-402(2), the person knowingly furnishes substantial assistance in the commission of the felony." Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-403(a).
The defendant argues on appeal that the "victims testified that they were forced to lay [sic] on the floor of the garage while the perpetrators in the home took things out," one victim saying he "believed the men were in the home 5 or 10 minutes." The shortness of this span did "not exceed that necessary to accomplish the accompanying felonies of [r]obbery and [a]ggravated [b]urglary," according to the defendant's argument. As we will explain, we disagree with this analysis.
As our supreme court explained in
Based upon the evidence, in the light most favorable to the State, the jury could have reasonably concluded that the first victim was accosted by the defendant's companions in his driveway, where they took his wallet and cell phone at gunpoint. He was struck by the pistol and chased into his garage, where he was repeatedly struck in the head by a man he "believed" was the defendant and detained there. The defendant remained in the garage with the first victim while two co-defendants entered the residence. The second victim was captured in his bedroom, as the defendant's companions kicked open the door and forced him at gunpoint to the garage, where he found his bloody and beaten housemate. Both victims were detained there by the defendant while their home was ransacked and looted. From this evidence, a jury could have reasonably concluded that the two victims were forced into the garage, where they could be controlled while the burglary and thefts were being committed, as well as being beaten or threatened to prevent their running for help. Based upon this proof, the jury easily could have found the defendant guilty of the charged offenses. However, he was determined to be guilty of facilitating each of the offenses. The record supports this determination. This assignment is without merit.
The defendant also argues that the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentencing, asserting the court did not make the findings, as required by
The trial court may order multiple sentences to run consecutively if it finds by a preponderance of evidence that one or more of the seven factors listed in Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-115(b) apply, including that the defendant is a dangerous offender whose behavior indicates little or no regard for human life and no hesitation about committing a crime in which the risk to human life is high. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-115(b)(4). When the court bases consecutive sentencing upon its classification of the defendant as a dangerous offender, it must also find that an extended sentence was necessary to protect the public against further criminal conduct by the defendant and that the consecutive sentences reasonably relate to the severity of the offense committed.
In this matter, the trial court determined, in deciding what enhancement factors should be applied, that the defendant had little or no regard for human life. Sergeant Thayer testified at the sentencing hearing that the defendant admitted participating in the crimes for which he had been tried, as well as three other robberies, and the court observed that this showed the defendant and others had set out on "a robbery spree, home invasion spree and that little if any regard to human life was employed there." Additionally, the court concluded that a "consecutive sentence [wa]s . . . necessary . . . to not minimize the horror of the series of events that were proven at the trial." The record abundantly supports these determinations by the trial court to impose consecutive sentencing.
Based upon the foregoing authorities and reasoning, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.