STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JAMIE N. GRIMES

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 22, 2013
DocketM2012-00530-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JAMIE N. GRIMES (STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JAMIE N. GRIMES) 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. JAMIE N. GRIMES, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE June 18, 2013 Session

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JAMIE N. GRIMES

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2008-C-3179 Monte D. Watkins, Judge

No. M2012-00530-CCA-R3-CD Filed October 22, 2013

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, Jamie N. Grimes, was convicted of selling .5 grams or more of cocaine within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, a Class A felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-17-417, -432. The trial court classified the Defendant as a Range II, multiple offender, and sentenced him to twenty-five years. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends (1) that this offense should have been mandatorily joined with another offense for which he had previously been tried and convicted; (2) that his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated; (3) that the indictment against him was defective because it failed to cite to the drug-free school zone statute; (4) that the State improperly withheld its “contract” with the confidential informant used in this case; (5) that the trial court erred by allowing the jury to view a transcript of an audio recording of the offense; (6) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction; and (7) that his sentence is void because the trial court checked the box for a release eligibility of thirty-five percent on the judgment form rather than the box for 100% of the minimum sentence as mandated by the drug-free school zone statute. Following our review, we affirm the Defendant’s conviction and sentence. However, we remand the case to the trial court for correction of a clerical error regarding the Defendant’s release eligibility.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed; Case Remanded

D. K ELLY T HOMAS, J R., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which N ORMA M CG EE O GLE and A LAN E. G LENN, JJ., joined.

Mark Chapman (at trial and on appeal); and Dwight E. Scott (on appeal), Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jamie N. Grimes. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Brent C. Cherry, Senior Counsel; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Hugh T. Ammerman, III, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Detective Justin Fox of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department testified that on the afternoon of November 10, 2006, he conducted an undercover drug buy using a confidential informant. Det. Fox testified that he had used this particular confidential informant several times before, that she was “reliable,” and that she was ultimately paid $200 for her participation in the drug buy. The confidential informant called the Defendant and arranged to buy two ounces of cocaine from him for $1,400. The Defendant called the confidential informant back a short time later and changed the location of their meeting.

Det. Fox testified that he searched the confidential informant and found no money or contraband on her. Det. Fox equipped the confidential informant with an audio recording device. Det. Fox also gave the confidential informant “buy” money, which had previously been photocopied, and a set of digital scales. Det. Fox testified that he saw the Defendant drive by in a black, 2003 F-150 pickup truck with a Tennessee Titans vanity plate. According to Det. Fox, the truck was registered to the Defendant. Det. Fox testified that he watched the confidential informant walk up to the truck and get in on the passenger side.

Det. Fox testified that once the confidential informant got into the truck, the Defendant drove away. The Defendant then parked a short distance away from where he had picked up the confidential informant. Det. Fox testified that he could see Fall-Hamilton Elementary School from where the Defendant had parked. At no point did Det. Fox or any of the other officers observing the transaction see anyone else approach or get into the Defendant’s truck. Det. Fox testified that he only heard the Defendant and the confidential informant on the audio recording of the drug buy.

At trial, the audio recording of the drug buy was played for the jury. On the recording, the confidential informant could be heard having a phone conversation with the Defendant as she approached his truck. The Defendant was worried that the confidential informant was working for the police. Once inside the Defendant’s truck, the confidential informant could be heard counting out the money. The Defendant and the confidential informant could also be heard discussing the price and weight of the cocaine. Det. Fox identified the Defendant’s voice as being the man’s voice heard on the recording.

-2- Det. Fox testified that the confidential informant walked directly back to his car after she got out of the Defendant’s truck. When she got into Det. Fox’s car, the confidential informant had a bag of white powder and a bag of white rocks. All of the “buy” money that Det. Fox had previously given the confidential informant was gone. Both bags were eventually taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and tested. The white powder tested positive for cocaine and weighed 27.9 grams. The white rocks also tested positive for cocaine and weighed 25.7 grams.

David Kline of the Metropolitan Planning Department testified that the distance from where the Defendant parked his truck to Fall-Hamilton Elementary School was approximately 235 feet. Steven Keel, director of school security for the Metropolitan Nashville Public School System, testified that on the day of the drug buy, Fall-Hamilton was an operational elementary school. Based upon the foregoing, the jury convicted the Defendant of selling .5 grams or more of cocaine within 1,000 feet of an elementary school.

ANALYSIS

I. Mandatory Joinder

The Defendant contends that this offense should have been mandatorily joined with another offense for which he had previously been tried and convicted. The Defendant argues that his actions on November 10, 2006, were part of the same criminal episode as his possession with intent to sell 300 grams or more of cocaine on December 8, 2006. The State responds that the two offenses, which occurred almost a month apart and at different locations, were not part of the same criminal episode.

Prior to his trial for this offense, the Defendant was convicted of possession of 300 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell for an offense that occurred on December 8, 2006. State v. Bobby Lee Robinson and Jamie Nathaniel Grimes, No. M2009-02450-CCA- R3-CD, 2011 WL 6747480 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 22, 2011), perm. app. denied, (Tenn. May 17, 2012). On that day, the same confidential informant used in this case arranged to purchase cocaine from the Defendant and two co-defendants. Id. at *1-2. However, unlike this case, the officers arrested the Defendant and his co-defendants before the sale could take place. Id. at *2-3. The officers recovered approximately 160 grams of crack cocaine from the Defendant’s truck. Id. at *3. The Defendant also consented to a search of his home where police discovered “a little over 300 grams” of cocaine. Id. at *3-4.

Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 8 provides for two types of joinder of offenses: mandatory and permissive. Mandatory joinder is required when two or more offenses are “(A) based on the same conduct or arise from the same criminal episode; (B) within the

-3- jurisdiction of a single court; and (C) known to the appropriate prosecuting official at the time of the return of the indictment(s) . . . .” Tenn. R. Crim. P. 8(a)(1).

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JAMIE N. GRIMES, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-jamie-n-grimes-tenncrimapp-2013.