State of Tennessee v. Andrea Spencer

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 18, 2003
DocketW2002-01483-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Andrea Spencer (State of Tennessee v. Andrea Spencer) 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
State of Tennessee v. Andrea Spencer, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON Assigned on Briefs July 8, 2003

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANDREA SPENCER

Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. 00-03985-89 Joseph B. Dailey, Judge

No. W2002-01483-CCA-R3-CD - Filed September 18, 2003

As a result of a jury trial in Shelby County, the Defendant, Andrea Spencer, stands convicted of one count of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexual battery. The trial court ordered the Defendant to serve an effective sentence of eighty-four years as a Range II multiple offender. On appeal, the Defendant contends (1) the trial court erred in refusing to sever the offenses; (2) dual aggravated kidnapping convictions violate double jeopardy principles; and (3) his sentence is excessive. Upon review of the record and the applicable law, we vacate one of the Defendant’s two aggravated kidnapping convictions due to a double jeopardy violation. In addition, because certain enhancement factors were wrongfully applied, we reduce the Defendant’s sentence for sexual battery by one year and one of his sentences for aggravated burglary by three years, thereby reducing the Defendant’s effective sentence to eighty years. We otherwise affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed in Part; Reversed and Vacated in Part; Remanded

ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which GARY R. WADE, P.J., and JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, J., joined.

Robert Wilson Jones, Public Defender; W. Mark Ward, Assistant Public Defender (on appeal); and Michael J. Johnson, Assistant Public Defender (at trial), for the appellant, Andrea Spencer.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael Moore, Solicitor General; John H. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Jennifer Smith Nichols and Amy P. Weirich, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION

The Defendant’s convictions for sexual battery and one count of aggravated burglary relate to incidents on August 30, 1999, involving S.S.,1 the thirteen-year-old victim. His convictions for aggravated rape, one count of aggravated burglary, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping relate to events involving the same victim on October 30 and 31, 1999.

Loretta Saulter, the victim’s mother, testified that in 1999, she, the victim, and her other daughter were living in a two-bedroom duplex on Lamar Cove in Shelby County, Tennessee. She stated that on August 30, 1999, at approximately 12:00 a.m., she was awakened by the victim yelling from her bedroom. The victim then ran into Saulter’s bedroom and told her the Defendant had broken into the residence through the window and fondled her while she was sleeping in her bed. Saulter testified that when she ran into the victim’s bedroom, no one was there, but the window, which had a broken lock, was open. She stated that on prior occasions, the victim had complained to her that the Defendant, who lived in the same neighborhood, had followed her and attempted to speak to her. Saulter said she reported the incident to the police. The Defendant was not arrested.

Saulter testified that on October 30, 1999, the victim went to a Halloween party with her friends, while Saulter attended another party. The victim had planned to go to her grandmother’s house after the party, but she decided to go back to her residence instead. Saulter testified that when she returned to the residence at approximately 3:30 a.m., the victim was not there. She then went to sleep believing that the victim was at her grandmother’s house.

Saulter stated that at approximately 6:00 a.m., she was awakened by a neighbor knocking on her front door. The neighbor was holding the victim, who had a sheet wrapped around her. Saulter observed that the victim was scared, bleeding, incoherent, and moaning. Although the victim was wearing a T-shirt, she was not wearing shorts or underwear.

Saulter testified that after the police arrived, the victim was taken to the hospital where she received stitches on her face. She stated that at the time of trial, the victim still had visible scars on her face. As a result of her injuries, the victim was unable to use her hands and arms or attend school for approximately one month. Saulter maintained that the Defendant did not have permission to be inside her home on either occasion.

The victim testified that on August 30, 1999, she was awakened by the Defendant rubbing her buttocks. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and the Defendant’s hand was in her shorts and touching her buttocks. The victim stated that although she did not see the Defendant enter her bedroom, her window, which had a broken lock, was closed when she fell asleep and was open when the Defendant awakened her. When the victim jumped out of her bed and yelled for her mother, the Defendant exited her bedroom through the same window.

1 In accord ance with this court’s policy, we refer to m inor victims of sexual offenses b y their initials.

-2- The victim testified she recognized the Defendant as a neighbor, who, on prior occasions, had followed her and asked her for a date. She stated that after the incident, the Defendant continued to follow her and ask her to “go” with him. The victim asserted she did not give the Defendant permission to be in her bedroom and to touch her. She further stated that after the incident, she began sleeping in her mother’s bed.

The victim testified that on October 30, 1999, she attended a Halloween party and returned to her residence at approximately 11:00 p.m. instead of going to her grandmother’s home as originally planned. She stated that while she was sleeping in her mother’s bedroom, the Defendant entered the room, placed his hands over her nose and mouth, and choked her. The Defendant then drug her by her legs and throat to his duplex, which appeared to be vacant. The victim testified the Defendant told her that he would kill her if she yelled for help. The Defendant took her to a bedroom, threw her on the floor, removed her shorts and underwear, and forced her to engage in penile/vaginal intercourse. The Defendant then drug the victim back to her residence and placed her inside through her bedroom window. The victim stated the Defendant told her that he was “sorry”; that he believed she was “grown”; and that she should not tell anyone.

The victim testified the Defendant then pulled her back outside through the same window. She stated that at the time, she was wearing all of her clothes and was not bleeding. She further stated she had no memory of what occurred next.

The victim testified that when she regained consciousness, she was lying in her backyard. She was injured, bleeding, and missing her shorts and underwear. The victim stated that because she was unable to stand and walk, she attempted to crawl to her front door in order to awaken her mother. She attempted to knock on the door with a bottle, but she dropped the bottle and broke it. A neighbor heard the victim, covered her with a sheet, and retrieved her mother. The victim stated she was taken to the hospital where she received medical treatment, including stitches on both sides of her face.

The victim testified police officers came to her residence the next afternoon, and she identified the Defendant from a photograph array as the man who assaulted her. The officers returned two days later, and she identified the Defendant in a different photograph array as the man who also entered her bedroom in August.

Officer Thomas Avery testified that on August 30, 1999, at approximately 3:30 a.m., he received a call to the victim’s residence.

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State of Tennessee v. Andrea Spencer, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-andrea-spencer-tenncrimapp-2003.