State of Tennessee v. Larry Jereller Alston, Kris Theotis Young, and Joshua Edward Webb

465 S.W.3d 555, 2015 Tenn. LEXIS 360
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedMay 5, 2015
DocketE2012-00431-SC-R11-CD
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 465 S.W.3d 555 (State of Tennessee v. Larry Jereller Alston, Kris Theotis Young, and Joshua Edward Webb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court 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. Larry Jereller Alston, Kris Theotis Young, and Joshua Edward Webb, 465 S.W.3d 555, 2015 Tenn. LEXIS 360 (Tenn. 2015).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARON G. LEE, C.J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which CORNELIA A. CLARK, GARY R. WADE, JEFFREY S. BIVINS, and HOLLY KIRBY, JJ, joined. JEFFREY S. BIVINS, J., filed a separate concurring opinion, in which HOLLY KIRBY, J„ joined.

We granted review in this case to determine whether a jury instruction based on our decision in State v. White, 362 S.W.3d 559 (Tenn.2012), must be given when a defendant is charged with the offenses of kidnapping and aggravated burglary. The defendants threatened the victim with guns and took her purse as she was getting into her car outside of her residence. The defendants forced the victim to enter her home and followed her inside. They forced the victim to sit on her couch while they ransacked her home. Police apprehended the defendants as they attempted to flee. The defendants were indicted for aggravated robbery of the victim’s purse, aggravated burglary of the victim’s home, especially aggravated kidnapping, and possession of a firearm with the intent to go armed dining the commission of a dangerous felony. A jury convicted the defendants of all charges. The trial court set aside the guilty verdicts for especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, finding that these convictions, in conjunction with the aggravated robbery convictions, violated principles of due process. The trial court also dismissed the firearms convictions. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and reinstated the verdicts. Upon appeal, we remanded the case to the Court of Criminal Appeals for consideration in light of our holding in State v. Cecil, 409 S.W.3d 599 (Tenn.2013), which made our holding in White applicable to cases in the appellate process. On remand, the intermediate appellate court reached the same result. We hold that a kidnapping charge accompanied by an aggravated burglary charge does not, standing alone, warrant a White jury instruction. However, the trial court erred by not giving a White jury instruction based on the especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges, but the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

[558]*558I. Facts and Procedural History

On April 15, 2010, Larry Jereller Alston, Kris Theotis Young, and Joshua Edward Webb (collectively “the Defendants”) accosted Carolyn Sue Maples (“the victim”) outside of her Knoxville residence, taking her purse at gunpoint. The Defendants then forced the victim to enter her house and followed her inside. They pushed the victim onto a couch, told her not to move, and began ransacking the residence. They emptied the contents of her pocketbook onto a table, and one of them demanded the personal identification number for her bank card. Police arrived shortly thereafter and apprehended the Defendants as they attempted to flee. The Defendants were indicted for aggravated robbery of the victim’s purse,2 aggravated burglary of the victim’s home,3 especially aggravated kidnapping, and possession of a firearm with the intent to go armed during the commission of a dangerous felony.

During a three-day trial in October 2011, eight witnesses testified for the State. Ashley Dawn Hill, a neighbor of the victim’s, testified that on April 15, 2010, she was sitting on her front porch on Chicago Avenue when she saw three men walking down the middle of the street. As they approached the victim’s house, the men unsuccessfully tried to stop a vehicle. Ms. Hill saw the men walk up to the -victim as she was getting into her car and heard one of the men say, “Excuse me.” Ms. Hill looked down momentarily and then heard the victim scream. When she looked up, she saw one of the men reach into the victim’s car and grab her purse. The victim got out of her car and ran to her house, and the men followed her inside. At that point, Ms. Hill telephoned 911. The jury heard a recording of Ms. Hill’s 911 call, which was consistent with her trial testimony.

The victim testified that on April 15, 2010, around 1:45 p.m., she left her home to get into her car, which was parked on the street, and saw three men, later identified as the Defendants, walking toward her. As she was getting into the car, one of the men asked if she knew a certain girl. The victim told him that she did not and turned to get into the car. She testified, “The next thing I know there were guns to my head.” One of the men demanded that she give them her pocketbook and “get to the house.” She recalled that two of the men had pistols and the other had a sawed off shotgun stuffed down his pants. As she put it, “the big one,” later identified as Mr. Young, was the one who took her purse. After obtaining the purse, the men then “pushed [the victim] to go open the door to the house.” The victim was frightened and shaking so badly that it was difficult to unlock the door, but once she did, the men pushed her inside.

Once inside the house, the men pushed the victim onto the living room couch and told her “not to move.” One of the men said, “Don’t let her out,” and they then began ransacking her home. As the victim recalled, “They wanted my money; they wanted my jewelry; they wanted anything I had.” The men dumped the contents of her pocketbook onto a table, taking $140 cash and her bank card. One of the Defendants demanded that she give him her “bank number.” Confined to the couch, [559]*559she complied with his demands. Several minutes later, as one of the Defendants was carrying a flat-screen television out the front door, he noticed that the police had arrived. Upon seeing the police, the man shouted, dropped the television, and ran toward the kitchen. As he ran away, the victim escaped out the front door.

Officer Amanda Bunch of the Knoxville Police Department (“KPD”) was the first officer to arrive at the scene. She testified that on April 15, 2010, around 1:40 p.m., she responded to a call from Chicago Avenue indicating that “three males [had] force[d] a lady back into her house at gunpoint.” When Officer Bunch arrived, she took position behind a tree in front of the victim’s house and waited for backup. From her location, she could see movement inside the house. Around the same time as her backup arrived, the front door of the house opened and a black male carrying a television began to exit. Upon noticing the police, the man dropped the television and ran back into the house. At that point, two officers went to the back of the residence, while Officer Bunch moved closer to the front; taking a position behind a Jeep. She could still see movement in the house and began shouting, “[G]et on the ground; get on the ground.” At which point, the victim approached the door, saying, “Hit's me; it’s me.” Officer Bunch motioned for the victim to come out of the house, and the victim ran out.

Also responding to the scene were KPD Officers Timothy Riddle, Jonathan Stevens, Dean Ray,' and Russell Whitfield, who all testified at trial. As these officers explained, Mr. Alston was initially taken into custody at the back of the house, while Mr. Young and Mr. Webb remained inside. They were apprehended when Officer Ray released a police dog inside the house, driving the two of them out. Police searched Mr. Alston and recovered $110 in cash and the victim’s bank card. On Mr. Webb, police found two five-dollar bills, a lighter, his wallet, a gold-type of bracelet, and a prescription pill bottle bearing the victim’s name. Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
465 S.W.3d 555, 2015 Tenn. LEXIS 360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-larry-jereller-alston-kris-theotis-young-and-joshua-tenn-2015.