State of Tennessee v. Marcus Tramane Green

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 28, 2003
DocketM2002-01810-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Marcus Tramane Green (State of Tennessee v. Marcus Tramane Green) 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. Marcus Tramane Green, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE February 12, 2003 Session

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MARCUS TRAMANE GREEN

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County No. 40100307 John H. Gasaway, III, Judge

No. M2002-01810-CCA-R3-CD - Filed April 28, 2003

The defendant, Marcus Tramane Green, appeals the sentence imposed by the Montgomery County Circuit Court following his guilty pleas to especially aggravated robbery, a Class A felony, and aggravated burglary, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced him to respective concurrent terms of seventeen years as a Range I, violent offender and four and one-half years as a Range I, standard offender to be served in the Department of Correction. The defendant contends that his sentences are excessive, arguing that the trial court misapplied enhancement factors and failed to apply certain mitigating factors. We affirm the effective seventeen-year sentence imposed by the trial court.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Circuit Court Affirmed

JOSEPH M. TIPTON, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOE G. RILEY and THOMAS T. WOODALL, JJ., joined.

R. Todd Hansrote, Clarksville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Marcus Tramane Green.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; John Wesley Carney, Jr., District Attorney General; and C. Daniel Brollier, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

This case arises out of the April 12, 2001 beating of Charlie Rye and taking of money and a television from his home. Around 7:50 a.m. on May 8, 2001, the defendant gave a statement to law enforcement relating that on the day in question, codefendants Robert Downey and Barbi Brown told him they knew a man with a lot of money. Downey and Brown returned a couple of hours later and asked if he was ready to go. Brown drove the trio to the victim’s trailer. Downey looked through the window in the trailer’s door and did not see anyone. Downey forced the door open and went to the back of the trailer. The defendant remained in the trailer’s doorway. The defendant heard a noise, walked to the back, and saw Downey hit the victim several times. Downey told the defendant to check the victim’s pants for money, but the defendant did not do so. Downey took money from the pants, a television, and a container of coins. The defendant left the trailer followed by Downey, who put the television, money, and coins in the car. The three drove away, split the money, and took the defendant home. The defendant reported that he received $1000 and the codefendants each got $1200. He said he declined the container of coins.

The defendant pled guilty to especially aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in exchange for the state dismissing three additional counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, theft of property valued over $1000, and attempted first degree murder. The parties also agreed that the sentences would run concurrently and would not exceed twenty years. Otherwise, the trial court was to determine the length of the sentences.

The defendant’s sentencing hearing immediately followed that of codefendant Brown, who had also pled guilty to especially aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. The parties agreed that the trial court should consider the testimony of Brown, the victim’s son, and the victim from Brown’s sentencing hearing as well as the defendant’s and codefendant Downey’s written statements to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department.

Nineteen-year-old Barbi Michelle Brown testified that at the time of the offenses she, Downey, and the defendant were all jobless and needed money. She said she “hung out” with Downey and the defendant frequently and described twenty-three-year-old Downey as having the dominant personality in their group. She said she mentioned to Downey that she knew where they could get money, and he said they should do it. She said she picked the victim because she knew he would likely have money and did not think about the fact that he only weighed one hundred pounds. She said that after she suggested the crime, Downey then brought the defendant in on the offenses and began planning how to get the money. She said that at one point, Downey said he was going to hit the victim but that she told him they did not need to make their presence known in the victim’s home. She said that Downey assented and dropped the matter.

Brown testified that they went to the victim’s house around 2:00 a.m. and that she believed the victim would be asleep. She said she did not intend for the victim to be harmed and did not know that the victim had been beaten until the next day. Brown said that she was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana that night and that she got a little over $1000 in proceeds from the robbery. On cross-examination, she said she did not remember saying that the victim would be an “easy lick.” The prosecutor confronted her with her written statement, and she acknowledged saying that it was discussed beforehand that Downey would hit the victim, knock him out, and take the money.

James Neal Rye, the victim’s son, testified that he found the victim on the morning after the offenses. He noticed the victim’s trailer door was open and could see the victim’s wallet laying out. He heard a moan and found the motionless victim lying in a fetal position. The victim was bruised and bloody with a swollen head, and Mr. Rye could barely recognize him. Blood was on the bed linens and the wall. When Mr. Rye attempted to touch the victim, the victim began moaning, fighting, and speaking incoherently. The victim received medical care for about three months, including four to five days in intensive care and a month in a rehabilitation center. The victim was

-2- in a coma for four days following the attack, and at one point, the doctor told the victim’s family that he would die if they could not repair his collapsed lungs. Mr. Rye testified that the victim still did not remember things and used the wrong words in expressing himself. He said the victim now lived with Mr. Rye’s family because they feared he might be victimized again if he were to live alone. He said Brown was his wife’s niece, she had been to the victim’s house on several occasions, and she knew the victim carried a large amount of cash.

Charles Rye testified that before the offenses, he was independent and lived alone in his home. He said he was sixty-six years old, and, at the time of the crimes, he weighed 102 to 103 pounds. He said that he did not remember anything about the night of the offenses and that $3200 had been taken from him. He said that he remembered being in the recovery and rehabilitation sections of the hospital and that he came out of rehabilitation after one and one-half months. He said that he continued to get names confused and that his head often “spun.”

Codefendant Robert Taylor Downey gave a statement to law enforcement at 11:23 p.m. on May 8, 2001. This statement essentially tracks the defendant’s statement of how the offenses occurred, except Downey said that when he entered the victim’s room, the victim awoke and said something to him. He said he hit the victim six times. He said he gave the victim’s pants to the defendant who took money from them and also got a bucket of money. Downey said he got the victim’s television and ran to the car.

The defendant’s mother, Antoinette Watson, testified at the sentencing hearing. Ms. Watson testified that before the offenses, the defendant lived with his girlfriend in a trailer across the street from her. She said that at the time of the offenses, the defendant was nineteen years old and his girlfriend was pregnant with the defendant’s son.

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44 S.W.3d 501 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2001)
State v. Fletcher
805 S.W.2d 785 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1991)
State v. Adams
864 S.W.2d 31 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1993)
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. Nix
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State v. Butler
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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Marcus Tramane Green, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-marcus-tramane-green-tenncrimapp-2003.