State of Tennessee v. Benjamin Monroe

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 7, 2009
DocketM2007-02196-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Benjamin Monroe (State of Tennessee v. Benjamin Monroe) 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. Benjamin Monroe, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE June 18, 2008 Session

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. BENJAMIN MONROE

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Wilson County No. 06-1066 John D. Wootten, Jr., Judge

No. M2007-02196-CCA-R3-CD - Filed January 7, 2009

Appellant pled guilty in the Wilson County Criminal Court to one count of vehicular homicide, one count of vehicular assault, and one count of leaving the scene of the accident. In exchange for the guilty pleas, Appellant received sentences of three years, two years, and one year, respectively. The trial court held a sentencing hearing to determine the manner of service of the sentence. The trial court ordered Appellant to serve eight months of the sentence day-for-day, followed by ten years of probation. Appellant seeks review of the sentence on appeal. We determine that the trial court erroneously deprived Appellant of good conduct credits by ordering him to serve eight months of the sentence day-for-day. Consequently, we reverse that portion of the sentence and remand to the trial court for entry of an order deleting the requirement that the sentence be served day-for-day. The remainder of the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

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

JERRY L. SMITH , J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which NORMA MCGEE OGLE, and ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , JJ., joined.

G. Frank Lannom and Melanie R. Bean, Lebanon, Tennessee, for the appellant Benjamin D. Monroe.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; PrestonShipp, Assistant Attorney General; Tom P. Thompson, Jr., District Attorney General, and Laura Bush, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

On June 29, 2006, Appellant was the driver of a vehicle containing three passengers, Cortez D. Foster, Roger D. Maddalina, and Jeremy T. Donelson. Appellant was arrested late that night after a single vehicle accident on Curd Road in Mt. Juliet left one of the passengers dead and the other two passengers injured. At the time of the accident, Appellant was enlisted as a member of the United States Army on full-time active duty. He was involved in Ranger training and was on a two-week pre-deployment leave in anticipation of deployment to Iraq.

In November of 2006, Appellant was indicted by the Wilson County Grand Jury for one count of vehicular homicide by intoxication, one count of vehicular homicide by recklessness, two counts of vehicular assault, and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.

In June of 2007, Appellant pled guilty to vehicular homicide by recklessness in exchange for a three-year sentence. Appellant also pled guilty to vehicular assault in exchange for a two-year sentence. Finally, Appellant entered a best interest plea to leaving the scene of an accident in exchange for a one-year sentence. The manner of service of the sentence was to be determined at a later date by the trial court.

At the plea acceptance hearing, the following facts were recited by the prosecutor:

[Appellant] and a gentleman by the name of Roger Maddalina, . . . and eventually Cortez Foster and Jeremy Donelson, both minors, wound up with them proceeding to go to [Appellant’s] house at which time there was an auto accident which resulted in the death of Mr. Foster and severe injury to Mr. Donaldson [sic]. He suffered a head injury, in a coma for 30 days down at Vanderbilt, went from there to a rehabilitation place, and those injuries were extensive.

. . . . Mr. Maddalina gave a statement in which he indicated that there had been a shot and a half of Yeager [sic] drank by the defendant prior to the incident.

This defendant was interviewed at which time he stated that there had been four beers - he had had four beers prior to the incident. He was not located at the scene, Judge, this defendant. He left the scene and was not located until some three hours and forty-five minutes later. He walked back to the scene at this time and he was interviewed, a blood test taken five hours later, which was .05.

. . . .[T]he bottom line is that the State feels like in discussing [the vehicular homicide by intoxication charge] with the family, this is a fair settlement of those facts. The alcohol part could go.

The reason for the best interest plea, this particular defendant - as I indicated, Mr. Maddalina, who was the passenger in the vehicle, he goes to a house to seek help. This defendant comes to that house, and they’re out there on the porch and this defendant leaves and we don’t see him for some - again, until three hours and forty- five minutes later.

-2- The discussion between Counsel, Judge, is that he is going to claim that he had a concussion at this time. Obviously, the State would contend that he didn’t, and what we have agreed to is that this is a best interest plea, but that the plea as to recklessness based on the speed of the vehicle, those are straight up pleas and the vehicular assault, that is a straight up plea, and that would be the facts that the State would put forward.

The trial court held a sentencing hearing at a later date. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court heard testimony from several witnesses.

Avana Sisco, who was responsible for preparing Appellant’s presentence report, explained to the trial court that Appellant had a “very good home environment” that would support the conditions of a sentence that involved release into the community.

One of the officers for the Lebanon Police Department, Kenneth Dewayne Smith, testified at the sentencing hearing. He responded to the accident when Appellant returned to the scene. Officer Smith reported that Appellant had the odor of alcohol about his person and that his eyes were red and bloodshot. Officer Smith also stated that Appellant was slurring his words. About three months prior to the sentencing hearing, Officer Smith had seen Appellant drinking alcohol, even though he was underage at the time.

Tabitha Foster, the mother of the deceased victim, testified at the hearing. She explained to the trial court that her son’s death had affected everyone in her family both mentally and emotionally. Mrs. Foster and her daughter were still receiving counseling at the time of the hearing. Cortez Foster’s grandmother, Shirley Foster, also testified. She stated that the loss of her grandson was “awful” and “overwhelming.” Mrs. Foster described Appellant as a coward for leaving the scene of the accident and was disappointed in Appellant for drinking and driving.

Jadonna Simpson, the mother of victim Jeremy Donelson, testified that prior to the accident, her son loved playing sports and being with people. After the accident in which he suffered a broken femur, broken ankle, broken wrist, facial fractures, a broken clavicle, spinal fractures, and a brain injury, Mr. Donelson is unable to do many of the things that he used to love.

As a result of the accident, Mr. Donelson was in a coma for several weeks. When he awoke from the coma, Mr. Donelson had to relearn how to walk, talk, and eat. At the time of the sentencing hearing, Mr. Donelson was still wearing a leg brace and attending speech therapy.

Dr. Richard Fishbein testified for Appellant. He reviewed Appellant’s medical records to ascertain the nature of the injuries Appellant received in the crash. Dr. Fishbein opined that Appellant received a closed head injury from the accident. Appellant’s actions after the accident and the statements that he made to authorities were consistent with a concussion.

-3- Appellant had several character witnesses testify at the sentencing hearing. Officer Mark Pack of the Nashville Police Department testified that he had known Appellant for five and a half years.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blakely v. Washington
542 U.S. 296 (Supreme Court, 2004)
State v. Clark
67 S.W.3d 73 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2001)
State v. Nunley
22 S.W.3d 282 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1999)
State v. Bunch
646 S.W.2d 158 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Taylor
744 S.W.2d 919 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1987)
State v. Carter
254 S.W.3d 335 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2008)
State v. Dowdy
894 S.W.2d 301 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1994)
State v. Ashby
823 S.W.2d 166 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Zeolia
928 S.W.2d 457 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
State v. Moss
727 S.W.2d 229 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Williams
920 S.W.2d 247 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1995)
State v. Williamson
919 S.W.2d 69 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Benjamin Monroe, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-benjamin-monroe-tenncrimapp-2009.