Antonio L. Fuller v. State of Tennessee

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 28, 2010
DocketM2008-01421-CCA-R3-PC
StatusPublished

This text of Antonio L. Fuller v. State of Tennessee (Antonio L. Fuller v. State of Tennessee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Antonio L. Fuller v. State of Tennessee, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE November 18, 2009 Session

ANTONIO L. FULLER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2001-A-276 J. Randall Wyatt, Jr., Judge

No. M2008-01421-CCA-R3-PC - Filed September 28, 2010

Petitioner, Antonio L. Fuller, appeals the post-conviction court’s dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief in which he alleged the ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. Specifically, Petitioner contends that trial counsel’s assistance was ineffective because he failed to (1) object to the trial court’s instruction to the jury concerning the lesser included offense of aggravated kidnapping; (2) object to the trial court’s consideration of Petitioner’s prior convictions in determining his sentencing range and the length of his sentence; and (3) failed to raise these issues in the motion for new trial. Petitioner contends that appellate counsel’s assistance was ineffective because he failed to raise these issues on appeal. Petitioner also contends that the length of his sentence violates the principles set forth in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004) and asks this Court to grant him a new sentencing hearing. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Tenn. R. App. P. Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed

THOMAS T. WOODALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which JERRY L. SMITH and CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, JJ., joined.

David A. Collins, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Antonio L. Fuller.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Lacy Wilber, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. (Torry) Johnson, III, District Attorney General; Amy Eisenbeck, Assistant District Attorney General; Lisa Naylor, Assistant District Attorney General; and Dan Hamm, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. OPINION

I. Background

Following a jury trial, Petitioner and his co-defendant, Marcellus Betty, were convicted of two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and one count each of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, evading arrest, and reckless endangerment. The trial court sentenced Petitioner as a Range II, multiple offender, to ten years for his aggravated burglary conviction, eighteen years for his aggravated robbery conviction, thirty- five years for each especially aggravated kidnapping conviction, seven years for his evading arrest conviction, and four years for his reckless endangerment conviction. The trial court imposed a combination of concurrent and consecutive sentences for an effective sentence of fifty-six years.

The facts supporting Petitioner’s convictions were summarized by our supreme court as follows:

During the early morning hours of December 22, 2000, the defendants, Antonio Fuller and Marcellus Betty, broke into the Goodlettsville townhouse of George Woods, III, and Quantrissa Sherrell Woods. Mr. Woods was sleeping, and Mrs. Woods was nursing their ten-day-old son. Fuller and Betty ran into the bedroom. Betty approached Mrs. Woods’ side of the bed, pointing a rifle at her and the baby. Fuller walked to the other side, aiming a shotgun at Mr. Woods. Betty demanded, “Where’s the dope? Where’s the money?” Mrs. Woods responded, “We don’t have any drugs or money. You know, we just work. All the money we have is up on the dresser, about seventy dollars.” Betty threatened to kill the couple if they did not give him drugs and money.

When Betty asked where “Little Jason” was, Mr. Woods realized that the men had broken into the wrong townhouse. Mr. Woods told them that Little Jason’s cousin lived in another townhouse in the complex and drove a car similar to his. Betty demanded that Mr. Woods show them the correct townhouse. Betty took the seventy dollars from the dresser and ordered Fuller to bind the couple with duct tape. Mrs. Woods’ mouth was covered, and her arms were taped behind her. Mr. Woods’ arms and legs were bound, and he was forced outside the townhouse. Mr. Woods estimated that forty minutes passed from the time the men entered the townhouse until Mr. Woods left with them.

-2- Soon thereafter, Mrs. Woods’ five-year-old daughter ran into the bedroom. Because Betty had warned Mrs. Woods that he knew she had a child in the other room, Mrs. Woods told her daughter, “You have to go back to your room and lay down and not say anything, because, if they catch you in here, they’re going to kill us, thinking you’ve called the police.” Then, with her arms still bound behind her, Mrs. Woods called 911 from a phone on the nightstand. Mrs. Woods hung up before her call was answered, however, fearing that Betty or Fuller was still in the townhouse. When the 911 dispatcher called back, Mrs. Woods answered and quickly explained the situation. Mrs. Woods was able to communicate despite the duct tape still covering her mouth because she had licked her lips before the tape was applied, thus loosening it. After hanging up the phone, she got back into the bed in the same position as the men had left her.

After Mr. Woods showed Fuller and Betty where Little Jason’s cousin lived, the three men returned to the Woodses’ townhouse. Betty took Mr. Woods up to the bedroom and placed him in the bed with his wife, who remained bound. Betty again threatened the couple, stating, “I’ll kill you if you mess my sting up.” Betty repeated the threats as he went back and forth sticking the barrel of the rifle in each victim’s mouth. Betty ordered the couple to face the wall, and then he fled.

Mr. and Mrs. Woods worked together to remove the duct tape from each other. When free, the couple packed a bag and gathered their children. They were running toward the door when the police arrived. Upon seeing Fuller and Betty drive out of the parking lot of the complex, an officer attempted to pull them over. Both men were apprehended after a high-speed chase.

State v. Fuller, 172 S.W.3d 533, 534 -536 (Tenn. 2005).

On direct appeal, this Court concluded that Petitioner’s conviction of the especially aggravated kidnapping of Ms. Woods violated the due process principles announced in State v. Anthony, 817 S.W.2d 299 (Tenn. 1991) and reversed and dismissed Petitioner’s conviction for this offense. The trial court’s judgments as to all other aspects were affirmed. Because Petitioner’s two sentences for especially aggravated kidnapping were ordered to be served concurrently, Petitioner’s effective sentence of fifty-six years remained unchanged. State v. Antonio Fuller, No. M2002-02377-CCA-R3-CD, 2004 WL 1562546, at *8 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Nashville, July 13, 2004), rev’d. in part by Fuller, 172 S.W.3d at 534.

-3- The supreme court denied Petitioner’s application for permission to appeal. The court, however, granted the State’s application for permission to appeal to consider whether Petitioner’s dual convictions for aggravated robbery and the especially aggravated kidnapping of Ms. Woods violated due process principles. After review, the court held that the separate conviction for the especially aggravated kidnapping of Ms. Woods did not violate due process under Anthony and its progeny, and reversed the judgment of this Court insofar as it dismissed Petitioner’s conviction of the especially aggravated kidnapping of Ms. Woods. Fuller, 172 S.W.3d at 538.

II. Post-Conviction Hearing

Trial counsel testified that he began practicing law in 1998, and his practice involved primarily criminal cases.

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Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Blakely v. Washington
542 U.S. 296 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Schriro v. Summerlin
542 U.S. 348 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Williams v. Taylor
529 U.S. 362 (Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Dellinger
79 S.W.3d 458 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2002)
Fields v. State
40 S.W.3d 450 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2001)
State v. Jefferson
31 S.W.3d 558 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Fowler
23 S.W.3d 285 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Williams
977 S.W.2d 101 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1998)
Henley v. State
960 S.W.2d 572 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1997)
State v. Jordan
116 S.W.3d 8 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2003)
Butler v. State
789 S.W.2d 898 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Blouvett
904 S.W.2d 111 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1995)
Baxter v. Rose
523 S.W.2d 930 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1975)
State v. Fuller
172 S.W.3d 533 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Burns
6 S.W.3d 453 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1999)
Sloan v. State
477 S.W.2d 219 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1971)
State v. Anthony
817 S.W.2d 299 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
Antonio L. Fuller v. State of Tennessee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/antonio-l-fuller-v-state-of-tennessee-tenncrimapp-2010.