Jackson v. State

466 S.W.2d 232, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 614, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 412
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 31, 1970
StatusPublished

This text of 466 S.W.2d 232 (Jackson 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
Jackson v. State, 466 S.W.2d 232, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 614, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 412 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

MITCHELL, Judge.

Jimmie Lee Jackson, represented by retained counsel in the Trial Court, but represented by the Public Defender for this appeal, has appealed his conviction of receiving stolen property over the value of $100.00 and a sentence of three years in the penitentiary from the Criminal Court of Shelby County, Honorable Odell Horton, Judge presiding.

We shall refer to the plaintiff-in-error by name or as the defendant and to the defendant-in-error as the State.

The indictment was returned January 10, 1969 charging the defendant in the first count with burglary in the third degree of the business house of Perel & Lowenstein, a corporation, about the - day of November 1968, the second count charged the defendant with grand larceny of one camera of the value of $106.50 and one record player of the value of $48.29 and in the third count with knowingly receiving and concealing the stolen property described in the second count.

On October 24, 1969 the defendant was convicted of receiving stolen property over the value of one hundred (100) dollars, the jury fixed the punishment at not more than three years in the State Penitentiary, upon which the court pronounced judgment of not more than three years in the State Penitentiary and that he be rendered infamous.

After his motion for a new trial was heard and overruled the defendant appealed to this court and assigned errors.

On April 17, 1970 the Trial Court found the defendant was financially unable to employ counsel, and ordered the Public Defender to represent the defendant for the appeal.

On November 11, 1968 at about 12:30 A. M. Herbert Lipman, manager of Perel and Lowenstein’s Store at 144 South Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee, received notice that there had been a breaking of a window at the store. He hurried at once to the store and found that a large plate glass show window had been broken. In the window there had been displayed a portable typewriter, Polaroid camera kits, a record player, luggage and other commodities of that nature. The Polaroid camera valued at $106.50 and a record player valued at $48.29 had been removed from the display in the broken show window and within a few minutes were found in the possession of the defendant at the time he was arrested.

Shortly after midnight on the night of November 11, 1968 William Sandford Nes-bitt, Jr., employed by Guardsmark, an Industrial Security Firm, was patrolling Beale Street, Third Street, and Main Street at the time of the burglary. He saw the defendant carrying a hi-fi portable record player and a camera, new merchandise. He told Nesbitt he had just arrived there from New York, that he was a little turned around and was trying to get to his Mother’s house on Greenwood. Nesbitt’s suspicions were aroused, he gave defendant [234]*234directions how to get a cab to go to his Mother’s house on Greenwood, and Nesbitt told a Memphis House Cleaning man nearby to keep an eye on the defendant and get the number of the cab if he got in one.

Then a car came down the alley with the lights off which Nesbitt then recognized as a police car. He joined the police in the car and told police that he had seen the defendant carrying a hi-fi record player and a camera. Then they drove around to Hernando Street and saw the defendant standing on the corner of the alley with the camera in his hand and talking to about 4 men standing there. Then the defendant ran with the camera in his hand, without taking the hi-fi which he left on the sidewalk. The police fired, the defendant was hit in the heel and fell. Mr. Nesbitt identified the defendant in the courtroom and pointed him out.

The officers handcuffed the defendant. He said the officers shot him for nothing.

Carl Watson, director of Security for Gordon’s Transport, formerly with the Memphis Police Department testified that on November 11, 1968 he heard the A. D. T. which was the burglar alarm, responded to the call, moved to the vicinity of the burglarized store, drove down an alley saw Guard Nesbitt, who told them what he had seen, Nesbitt joined them, they drove on and saw the defendant with a camera in his hand standing in front of a building talking to some other colored men. He identified the defendant in the courtroom as the man he had seen with the camera. The police car stopped, Watson jumped out and the defendant fled. The officer called to the defendant to come back and fired his pistol over his head and another shot off to the side, the defendant ran about 50 feet, turned right into an alley fell down hollering, he’d been shot. The officer took the camera from the defendant and handcuffed him. He examined the defendant trying to find a bullet wound and found a small puncture wound in his heel. The defendant was wearing low cut tennis shoes.

The defendant was warned of his rights under the Miranda rule and made the following statement:

“That he had purchased these two articles from a male colored he did not know on Calhoun Street for approximately $20.00. He stated he’d been to Club Paradise earlier that evening and left there to get some more whiskey and had run into this male colored down there on Calhoun. He stated that he did not know his name and he denied he broke the window at Perel and Lowenstein’s.”

The defendant was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where Mr. Watson left him in the treatment room after the doctor came. The defendant was later taken to John Gaston Hospital.

J. M. Prescott with the Memphis Police Department for 18 years testified that he investigated the burglary. That he went to Perel and Lowenstein’s talked with Mr. Hodnett in charge of Security and examined the store window in question. He verified the serial number of the hi-fi taken. The only things missing from the show window were the camera and the hi-fi. Then he went to the hospital where he talked with the defendant who was advised, that he had the right to remain silent and that anything he said could be used against him in a court of law. He was also advised that he had the right to have a lawyer, either of his own choice or court-appointed one if he could not afford one and to talk to his lawyer before answering any questions and to have him with him during questioning if he wished. The defendant stated that he had been down on Hernando Street since approximately 7:00 P. M. on the 10th, that he had been drinking atnd was in and out of Robinson’s Cafe on Hernando, that he walked up Hernando to a small street by Handy Park where he met an unknown male white, he approached him and asked him did he want to buy this camera and stereo for $30.00. He stated that he wouldn’t buy it for $30.00, he got him down to $20.00 and he did buy it, and that he had had it about 15 minutes [235]*235prior to the police arresting him and that he ran from the police because he was frightened.

Prescott testified further that the defendant was in the hospital under treatment and he was informed they were going to operate on his foot. A large cast was on his foot.

Watson and Prescott testified the defendant was told he was under investigation for burglary.

The defendant testified and denied that he burglarized the Perel and Lowenstein Store on November 11, and did not steal the Polaroid Camera or the stereo. That he had on a few occasions pleaded guilty and served his sentence in the workhouse. That after he got out of the workhouse, he went to work for Owens-Spruce Snack Company.

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Related

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443 S.W.2d 450 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1969)
Gann v. State
383 S.W.2d 32 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1964)
Kessler v. State
414 S.W.2d 115 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1967)
Anderson v. State
341 S.W.2d 385 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1960)
State v. Veach
456 S.W.2d 650 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
466 S.W.2d 232, 3 Tenn. Crim. App. 614, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-state-tenncrimapp-1970.