Bays v. State

529 S.W.2d 58, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 284
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 10, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 529 S.W.2d 58 (Bays v. State) 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
Bays v. State, 529 S.W.2d 58, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 284 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

DUNCAN, Judge.

The defendant, Esco Bays, and a co-defendant, Dewey Linkous, were both convicted in the Knox County Criminal Court of robbery, with each receiving a penitentiary sentence of not less than six (6) years nor more than ten (10) years. The defendant Bays has appealed his conviction to this Court. Linkous did not appeal.

In his first assignment of error, the defendant alleges that: “The Court erred in not directing a verdict for the Defendant on the charge of Robbery at the close of the State’s proof and again at the close of the Defendant’s proof; and in any event the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdict and preponderated in favor of the Defendant’s innocence.”

The evidence in this case was all adduced by the state’s witnesses, as the defense of[60]*60fered no proof. The evidence showed that on June 29, 1974, the defendant, along with his co-defendant, Dewey Linkous, another man named Scott, the defendant’s wife, and another girl named Debbie Green were out riding around in a car. They were drinking and needed money with which to buy more whiskey, whereupon they went to the Zayre Department Store. After arriving at Zayre’s parking lot, Scott and Linkous got out of the car, and Scott grabbed Mrs. Irene Borden’s pocketbook. The pocketbook contained combs, pencils, keys, some jewelry, and various other items, including a purse (billfold) which in turn contained identification cards, charge-plates, driver’s license, etc. Mrs. Borden was knocked down and dragged some ten (10) feet. The daughter of the victim grabbed Scott and tore his T-shirt. Scott and Linkous got back into the car, which took off at a high rate of speed. The license number of the fleeing vehicle was obtained, and the car was found to be registered in the name of the defendant, Eseo Bays.

Officers were called to the scene and they interviewed the victim and witnesses. The officers put out a call regarding the license number of the suspect automobile. In a few minutes the officers located the vehicle about two (2) miles from the scene of the robbery. The defendant and Linkous were found in the vehicle and were removed therefrom. Lying in the seat in plain view were some credit cards and an employer identification card, all belonging to the victim. Over the visor was found the victim’s driver’s license. The victim identified these items and testified they were in her pocketbook at the time of the robbery. At this juncture, the defendant’s wife, Betty Louise Bays, and Debbie Green walked upon the arrest scene. The Green girl took one of the officers to the Bays home nearby and retrieved a wristwatch from inside the home and gave it to the officer. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Bays went into the same house and retrieved a gold necklace chain and gave it to the officer. On both occasions the officer accompanied each individual inside the house. Both the wristwatch and necklace were identified by the victim as having been taken from her in the robbery. Other items of evidence taken in the robbery were found by the officers in a paper bag on the side of a street.

The proof also showed that as the car was leaving the scene of the incident, the contents of the pocketbook were emptied in the car. One of the men hung the necklace around Mrs. Bays’ neck. After they drove up to their house, the defendant unfastened the chain from his wife’s neck and told her to take it into the house.

The defendant made a statement to the officers admitting that he was on the scene at Zayre’s parking lot, and that one of his associates “grabbed a woman’s pocketbook”; that his associate “ran and jumped back in the car with the purse”; that he thought his associate “knocked the woman down”; that his associate “got in the car, and we took off”; and that as they drove toward his house, “the other guy throwed (sic) the purse out of the car.”

From the foregoing brief summary of the evidence it is obvious that there is practically no dispute about the facts. From the testimony of the state’s witnesses, including even the defendant’s then wife, Betty Bays, there is no question but what the defendant’s companion robbed Mrs. Borden, and that the defendant drove the vehicle to and from the scene of the robbery. In a matter of minutes the defendant was found in the same vehicle, and several items of the stolen property were found in the vehicle. The finger of guilt points unerringly toward the defendant as one of the guilty perpetrators of this crime.

In considering and passing upon an assignment of error challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to warrant and sustain the verdict of the jury in criminal cases, this Court is bound by the rule that a conviction will not be reversed on the facts unless it is shown by the defendant that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. McBee v. [61]*61State, 213 Tenn. 15, 372 S.W.2d 173; Schweizer v. State, 217 Tenn. 569, 399 S.W.2d 743; McGhee v. State, 3 Tenn.Cr. App. 324, 460 S.W.2d 875.

By no stretch of the imagination can it be said that the evidence here preponderates against the verdict of the jury. The evidence against the defendant is overwhelming. It shows, without the slightest doubt, that the defendant, Esco Bays, was aiding and abetting in the commission of this robbery. T.C.A. § 39-109. The trial judge was correct in not directing a verdict for the defendant. Shanklin v. State, Tenn. Cr.App., 491 S.W.2d 97. The assignment on the evidence is overruled.

In assignment of error no. 2, the defendant contests the admission in evidence of the credit cards and driver’s license belonging to the victim.

The proof showed that the officers involved in the seizure of these items had interviewed the victim and witnesses on the scene of the robbery, and had learned that a robbery had been committed. They also learned what items had been taken in the robbery. They obtained the license number of the get-away vehicle, and minutes later found the vehicle, being occupied by the defendant and Linkous, whereupon they proceeded to arrest the defendants.

Some of the items were found in “plain-view,” but without even discussing the “plain-view doctrine,” it is axiomatic that upon arresting the defendants upon reasonable cause that they had committed a felony (T.C.A. § 40-803(3) and (4)), the officers’ search of the vehicle was plainly incident to such arrest. Thus, the search was constitutionally permissible and the evidence concerning the fruits of the search was admissible.

It is fundamental law that one lawfully arrested may be searched in his person or premises where arrested, without a warrant, provided the search is incidental to the arrest. Armour v. Totty, Tenn.Sup.Ct., 486 S.W.2d 537; Batchelor v. State, 213 Tenn. 649, 378 S.W.2d 751; Greer v. State, 1 Tenn. Cr.App. 407,

Related

State v. Bobo
814 S.W.2d 353 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Hall
656 S.W.2d 60 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1983)
State v. McMahan
650 S.W.2d 383 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1983)
State v. Pritchett
621 S.W.2d 127 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1981)
State v. Boles
598 S.W.2d 821 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1980)
Rippy v. State
550 S.W.2d 636 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
529 S.W.2d 58, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bays-v-state-tenncrimapp-1975.