Cooley v. State

478 S.W.2d 901, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 478
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 29, 1971
StatusPublished

This text of 478 S.W.2d 901 (Cooley 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
Cooley v. State, 478 S.W.2d 901, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 478 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION

MITCHELL, Judge.

On January 22, 1971 the defendant Larry DeWayne Cooley represented by court-appointed counsel was tried in the Criminal Court of Hamilton County, Tennessee and convicted in two separate cases of uttering and publishing two forged' bank checks, one check in the amount of $89.40 and the other for $95.40. The jury fixed the punishment in the two cases at not more than two (2) years in the penitentiary in each case. Honorable Russell C. Hinson, Judge presiding pronounced judgment for not less than one (1) year nor more than two (2) years in the penitentiary in each case, and ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

The motion for a new trial was heard and overruled, and appeal was prayed and granted.

Upon the trial of the defendant in the two separate cases for passing forged checks, Mrs. Sarah Bakken, office manager of W. T. Grant Company on Brainard Road testified that they cash a great many payroll checks, 150 a week. That she saw a young man whom she positively identified as the defendant Cooley, walking to the counter. That she got up and walked to the counter and asked if she could help him. That “without saying a word he presented this check which was written payable to Leroy Meeks, on the Signal Roofing & Supply Company, 509 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee date 8-27-1970, written on a check writing machine for “the sum of 89 Dols 40 Cts” Signal Roofing Supply Company signed by pen and ink what looks to be Bill H. Marian and O. J. Carter on Ridgedale Branch of the Hamilton National Bank, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

He also gave her a drivers license # 3722557 with the name MEEKS, LEROY A. 2719 East Main Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

That Mrs. Mamie Nicholson, the Credit Manager and Mrs. Virginia Miller, assistant manager were in the office with her at the time. She looked over the check carefully. The amount had not been written in the space for the figures of dollars and cents, she observed the payee’s name, “Leroy Meeks”, she examined the signature. That she looked at the defendant and he “immediately dropped his head”, and she said “just one moment please” and walked to the rear, picked up the phone to call the police, the defendant saw her and said, “Ma’am tell her I’ll be back in a minute.” She put the phone down and walked back through the office, he was completely out of sight. She walked through a little hallway where she saw he was almost to the front of the store. She called him and asked him to come back. He turned and came back. She watched him until he got almost to her, she turned and went into the office and told the girl it was Leroy Meeks, to call the police. The Assistant Manager began to dial the phone and the defendant ran from the store. Mrs. Mamie Nicholson followed him. Mrs. Bakken [903]*903directed the colored janitor who was washing the window to go and help Mrs. Nicholson. She chased the defendant all the way to the edge of East Gate. That she had the defendant under observation for 3 or 4 minutes, under good lights in the building and it was light outside about 6:30 P.M. when she accepted the check, she was the width of the counter from him. She positively identified the defendant as the one who gave her the check. They had been alerted about these checks and gave the matter close attention. She did not give him any money on the check.

Charles William Gaston, Detective Chattanooga Police Department testified he conducted a line-up in which Mrs. Betty Sewell identified the defendant Larry DeWayne Cooley. That he advised the defendant of his rights to a lawyer at the line-up, and that he waived his rights and signed a waiver prior to being placed in the line-up.

Mrs. Betty Jane Sewell testified that in August, 1970 she worked as cashier-checker at By-Ryt Super Market on Dodson Avenue. That on August 28, 1970 she saw the defendant Cooley. That he came in with this check and presented it to Mr. Lamb who was standing right next to her. Mr. Lamb always had to ok all payroll checks. That they had received notice on these Signal Roofing Supply checks. That they had a list on their register of different stolen checks, serial numbers. Mr. Lamb started to go to the telephone and the defendant asked “anything wrong?” Mr. Lamb said, “no.” The defendant said, “I’ll be vack in a minute, I forgot my cigarettes, I’ve got to get my cigarettes.” He started out the door and she went out the door behind him, and when he saw her behind him he ran. There was a car waiting out there with a driver in it, he got in the car and she got part of the number and gave it to Mr. Lamb, it was a Georgia tag.

“This is a check on the Signal Roofing and Supply Company pay to order of Larry Corbey for $95.40, 8-27-1970 signed Oliver Phifer and C. O. Schoocraft which the defendant gave Mr. Lamb.” That a few days later Mr. Gaston called her and asked her to come down and see if she could identify a suspect. That she immediately identified and pointed out the defendant in the line-up. That there was no doubt in her mind that it was the defendant. That at the time the defendant passed the check the lighting was good, and that it was 4:00 or 4:30 P.M. That she had the defendant under observation for a few minutes and she chased him and followed him out of the store. There was no crowd in the store at the time and nobody else coming through her aisle she didn’t have a customer at the time.

Oliver Phifer testified he and C. O. Schoocraft are the owners of Signal Roofing and Supply Company, 509 Dodds Avenue Chattanooga, Tennessee. That their place was burglarized on August 27, 1970, that their Hamilton National Bank Checkbook and blank checks and check writing machine were stolen. That he has examined the checks passed in this case and that they are forgeries. That the check which has his name and that of Mr. Schoocraft on it are not their signatures and that the $89.40 check does not have the signatures of Phifer and Schoocraft on it. Both checks are forgeries. He also testified that they had notified all the stores and banks, including By-Ryt Super Market and W. T. Grant Store, that their place had been burglarized and their blank checks and check writing machine had been stolen. He did not know who burglarized their place of business.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The defendant has made the following assignments of error:

1. That the Trial Court erred in “failing to suppress the line-up identification and evidence obtained as a result of the line-up in violation of United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218 [87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149] (1967) as there was no intelligent waiver [904]*904of the defendant’s right to counsel at the line-up. That the procedure used in the line-up was so unfair as to violate the due process clause of the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Motion to suppress line-up, identification, and all evidence obtained as a result of the line-up.”

“2. The Court erred in failing to sustain the defendant’s motion to dismiss made in open court based on the fact that the defendant had been previously acquitted of a burglary charge and receiving and concealing charge arising out of the same set of facts, which violated the defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights against double jeopardy as outlined in Waller v. Florida, [397 U.S. 387] 90 S.Ct. 1184 [25 L.Ed.2d 435] (1970) and the principle of collateral estoppel as outlined in Ashe v.

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Related

Abbate v. United States
359 U.S. 187 (Supreme Court, 1959)
United States v. Wade
388 U.S. 218 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Waller v. Florida
397 U.S. 387 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Ashe v. Swenson
397 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1970)
State Ex Rel. Lawrence v. Henderson
433 S.W.2d 96 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1968)
Lloyd v. State
440 S.W.2d 797 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
478 S.W.2d 901, 1971 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooley-v-state-tenncrimapp-1971.