State of Tennessee v. Johnny Villalobos

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 26, 2010
DocketW2009-00449-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Johnny Villalobos (State of Tennessee v. Johnny Villalobos) 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. Johnny Villalobos, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON Assigned on Briefs November 10, 2009

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOHNNY VILLALOBOS

Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. 08-02508 W. Otis Higgs, Judge

No. W2009-00449-CCA-R3-CD - Filed April 26, 2010

A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Johnny Villalobos, of robbery, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range I offender to four years in the workhouse. On appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

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

J.C. M CL IN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOHN E VERETT W ILLIAMS and R OBERT W. W EDEMEYER, JJ., joined.

Harry E. Sayle III, (on appeal), and William Johnson (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Johnny Villalobos.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Cameron L. Hyder, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Colin Campbell, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

Background On April 15, 2008, a Shelby County grand jury indicted the defendant for aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. The parties presented the following proof at a four day trial in December 2008.

State’s Proof. Jan Francisco Segura Gonzalez, the victim in this case, testified that, around 4:00 a.m. on January 12, 2008, he was at Daniel Martinez’s house when the defendant and another person asked for a ride to the apartments at Sycamore View Road and Macon Road, which were about fifteen minutes away. Mr. Segura 1 said that he had never seen either the defendant or the other person before that day. During the drive to the apartments, Mr. Segura drove his truck, and the defendant rode in the front passenger’s seat, while the other person sat behind Mr. Segura. As they approached the apartments, the defendant told Mr. Segura that they wanted his money. Once they reached the apartments, the person in the backseat drew a pistol and aimed it at Mr. Segura’s head and back. They demanded that Mr. Segura get out of the truck, and the defendant turned the engine off, took the keys out of the ignition, and told his companion to kill Mr. Segura. Mr. Segura identified the defendant in the courtroom as the man who robbed him.

After he got out of his truck, Mr. Segura called his friend, Mr. Martinez, to pick him up. He and Mr. Martinez unsuccessfully looked for his truck. He did not consider calling the police because he does not speak English. Mr. Segura did not see his truck again until January 15, 2008. He identified a picture of his truck, noting that the rims were different than they had been on January 12. He also identified a picture of a weapon, which was the same shape and color of the weapon used by the defendant’s companion, and a photo-lineup given to him by a police officer, on which he had circled the defendant’s picture.

On cross-examination, Mr. Segura testified that he had been at Mr. Martinez’s house for about thirty minutes before the defendant and his companion asked for a ride. The destination was out of his way because he lived near White Station. He was the only one of the three in the truck to get out after the defendant told him to stop. He called Mr. Martinez on his cell phone and did not recall telling anyone that he had to look for a phone to make the call. Mr. Segura said that he provided the statement he gave to the police through an interpreter. He agreed that he did not report the theft to the police until he recovered his truck on January 15. Mr. Segura explained that his friend Daniel Valles spoke English, but he did not see Mr. Valles during the time between January 12 and 15.

Mr. Segura said that he did not turn on a light inside his truck. The light from a lightpole provided enough light to see the outlines of the individuals and the weapon, but he could not see any distinguishing features of the person in the backseat other than he had darker skin than the defendant. He did not notice anything distinguishable about the man in the backseat, and he was not able to tell what clothing either man wore. Mr. Segura testified that the men did not take his wallet, but they took $500 from him. He did not recall saying anything differently at the preliminary hearing and agreed that the translator might have misinterpreted him at the preliminary hearing.

On re-direct examination, Mr. Segura said that he had not been able to identify anyone as the person with the defendant on January 12.

1 This court will follow the naming conventions of the witnesses’ culture throughout this opinion.

-2- Miguel Pasillas Aguilar testified that he lived with Mr. Segura and three other individuals at 1361 Gherald Road. He had known Mr. Segura for four years. He identified a picture of Mr. Segura’s Ford F-150 and stated that the truck had a unique paint job. Mr. Pasillas testified that Mr. Segura woke him up in the early morning hours of January 12 by tapping on his window. Mr. Segura’s house key was on the same key ring as his truck key, which the defendant had taken, and Mr. Segura could not enter the house. Mr. Segura informed him that someone had stolen his truck.

On January 15, around 11:30 a.m., Mr. Pasillas was returning home from his job, accompanied by Javier Potee, when he saw Mr. Segura’s truck traveling in the opposite direction on Airways Boulevard. Mr. Pasillas turned around and followed the truck. Mr. Pasillas testified that he followed the truck for twenty to twenty-five minutes and called a friend, “Danny,” who spoke English so that “Danny” could call the police. Mr. Pasillas testified that he got a good look at the driver of the truck because when he pulled alongside the truck, the window was down, and Mr. Pasillas yelled for the driver to stop. Mr. Pasillas said the driver was the only person in the truck. He identified the defendant as the driver of the truck. The defendant stopped the truck in the neighborhood, got out, and ran away. Mr. Pasillas and Mr. Potee returned the truck to Mr. Segura and Mr. Pasillas’ residence. When the police arrived at the residence, they had the defendant in the back of a patrol car.

On cross-examination, Mr. Pasillas confirmed that Daniel Valles called the police for him after they saw Mr. Segura’s truck. He saw four patrol cars in the area after they retrieved the truck. Mr. Pasillas said that Mr. Segura told him on the morning of the robbery that he and Daniel Martinez were going to call the police. Mr. Pasillas said that on January 15, when he told the defendant to get out of the truck, they were both in their vehicles but had stopped the vehicles and had the windows down. Mr. Pasillas testified that they were not driving at high speeds and denied that either he or Javier Potee fired a gun. He clarified that, when following Mr. Segura’s truck, he called his roommate, Hosea, so that Hosea could call Daniel Valles, who spoke English. He did not personally speak with Daniel Valles until they had recovered the truck and returned to 1361 Gherald Road, at which time Daniel Valles called 9-1-1 from his cell phone. On re-direct examination, Mr. Pasillas testified that neither he nor Mr. Potee were armed on January 15.

Jessica Matlock testified that she lived at 4255 Bayliss Avenue with her mother, stepfather, and her two young children. She was standing on her front porch on January 15, 2008, when police officers approached her, asking whether she had seen anything suspicious. When she replied that she had not, they told her to watch out for an armed and dangerous man. Ms. Matlock testified that she had not heard any gunshots that day nor seen anyone running through her neighborhood.

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Johnny Villalobos, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-johnny-villalobos-tenncrimapp-2010.