Harrison v. State

532 S.W.2d 566, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 313
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMay 22, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 532 S.W.2d 566 (Harrison 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
Harrison v. State, 532 S.W.2d 566, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 313 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinions

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

Represented in his trial and here by two appointed attorneys of the Knoxville Bar, Harrison is now before this Court upon his appeal in the nature of a writ of error contesting his conviction of robbery, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for not less than five nor more than 10 years.

The defendant’s first Assignment of Error assails his conviction upon the usual ground that the evidence was insufficient to warrant and support the jury verdict and preponderated against it and in favor of his innocence.

The essential substance of the prosecution evidence, obviously accredited by the jury, showed that about 11:00 p.m. on 28 July 1973 the defendant entered the Convenient Food Mart in Knoxville and bought two six-packs of beer and was checked out by a cashier; that he went to the telephone and then re-entered the check-out lane and got in the front of the line and asked for and was given some change and returned to the telephone; that while talking on the phone in a loud voice he dropped his beer and the store manager re-sacked it for him; that after finishing his telephone conversation he stood by the front door and greeted several customers as they entered and left; that he then started to walk out of the store but turned quickly and went back inside, and with his hand under his shirt, told the store manager, “Give me the money, I’m going to shoot you”; that the manager gave him the money from both cash registers, which turned out to be $364, and the defendant stuffed it into his pockets and ran out; that the manager got into his car and started looking for the defendant, spotted him “darting down” a nearby alley and returned to the store and called the police and when they arrived two or three minutes later he gave them a description of the defendant and where he last saw him running through the alley. When overtaken and captured in his flight, the defendant had $120 in bills and change in his pockets and dropped more money on the ground just before he was caught, making a total of some $360. The manager picked the defendant out of a line-up at police headquarters the following morning. Both the manager and the cashier identified him in court.

The defendant did not testify. He presented his cousin Linda Harrison and Mrs. Evelyn Brown. Linda testified the defendant visited her in her apartment about 10:30 p.m. on July 28, 1973 and that Mrs. Evelyn Brown was there at the time; that he wanted to get some beer and she and he walked to the Convenient Food Mart and he bought two six-packs of beer; that [569]*569Mrs. Brown entered the store while they were there and they conversed briefly; that she and the defendant were in the store 10 or 15 minutes and nothing unusual happened and no robbery occurred while they were there; that the defendant wanted to see her father before resuming his journey to Miami, and as she and he were walking in that direction they saw a man running in the opposite direction (toward town) on Magnolia Avenue; that a few minutes later a police car pulled alongside and one of the officers said he wanted to talk to the defendant and he handed her the sack of beer and walked over to the cruiser where he was handcuffed and taken away. Mrs. Brown corroborated Linda about being in the latter’s apartment when the defendant arrived and about them leaving to go to the store. She said a short time later she decided she needed some things and drove to the store and the defendant and Linda were still there and she talked with them and they left before she did; and that nothing unusual occurred while she and they were in the store.

As the sole and exclusive judges of the credibility of the witnesses and of the weight and value to be given their testimony, Bailey v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.), 479 S.W.2d 829 and cases therein cited; Gordon v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.), 478 S.W.2d 911, very evidently the jury was unable to accord any credence to the testimony of Linda Harrison and Mrs. Brown.

Considered and tested in accordance with the well-known rules governing appellate review of the evidence in criminal cases when its sufficiency is challenged, to which we must adhere, Webster v. State, 1 Tenn.Cr.App. 1, 425 S.W.2d 799; McGill v. State, 4 Tenn.Cr.App. 710, 475 S.W.2d 223, upon this record there can be no question that the evidence presented by the prosecution fully justified and amply supports the verdict of the jury.

In his first Assignment the defendant also claims the trial court erroneously failed to charge the jury concerning the lesser included offenses of assault and battery, assault and larceny. This complaint was not included in his motion for a new trial. Thus, he is confronted by the settled rule that, having failed to raise these questions in his new trial motion, he is precluded from raising them here for the first time. The law of this State is that, absent any patent invalidating error, the trial judge will not be put in error upon matters not brought to his attention for correction in the motion for a new trial, and Assignments of Error which were not incorporated in the new trial motion will not be considered on appeal. Jenkins v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.), 509 S.W.2d 240; Pulley v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.), 506 S.W.2d 164; Rule 14(4) and (5) of the Tennessee Supreme Court Rules, adopted by this Court (2 Tenn. Cr.App. 746).

There is no merit in the defendant’s third Assignment that the trial court erred in failing to grant him a continuance to secure the services of other counsel and in failing to replace his appointed counsel when his lack of confidence in them became apparent. The record shows that through the efforts of his attorneys, who were appointed 18 January 1974-75 days before the trial, the State had agreed to recommend a sentence of five years upon a plea of guilty; that after the court carefully explained his rights in the premises, the defendant stated he wanted to enter a plea of not guilty; and that he then told the court he felt like his lawyers had lost interest in his case because he decided to go to trial instead of pleading guilty, and another attorney his mother wanted to employ to represent him was engaged at the time in the trial of a case in another court. This record does not support the defendant’s criticism of his attorneys. In fact, it demonstrates that their representation of him was of a very high order. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the continuance.

Another groundless Assignment is that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the jury when, during voir dire exami[570]*570nation of prospective jurors, the Assistant District Attorney General inquired whether they would consider the defendant’s background in assessing punishment. The court sustained defense counsel’s objection as to use of the word “background,” stating that the defendant was on trial only for what was charged in the indictment.

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Bluebook (online)
532 S.W.2d 566, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-state-tenncrimapp-1975.