State of Tennessee v. Michael Anthony Tharpe

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedNovember 9, 2023
DocketW2022-01219-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Michael Anthony Tharpe (State of Tennessee v. Michael Anthony Tharpe) 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. Michael Anthony Tharpe, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

11/09/2023 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON Assigned on Briefs October 3, 2023

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MICHAEL ANTHONY THARPE

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Henry County No. 16399, 16568 Donald E. Parish, Judge ___________________________________

No. W2022-01219-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________

The Appellant, Michael Anthony Tharpe, was convicted at a bench trial of burglary of a vehicle, retaliation for past action, theft of property, assault of an officer, evading arrest, and coercion of a witness. In this consolidated appeal, he challenges: (1) the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting four of his convictions; and (2) the trial court’s imposition of partial consecutive sentences. Upon our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

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

CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, JR., and J. ROSS DYER, JJ., joined.

Steven L. West, Huntingdon, Tennessee (on appeal) and Kaylee C. Houston, Paris, Tennessee (at trial) for the Appellant, Michael Anthony Tharpe.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Caroline Weldon, Assistant Attorney General; Neil Thompson, District Attorney General; and Rebecca Griffey, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

On August 27, 2020, the Appellant stole items, including a cell phone, from Jessica Phillips’ car while it was parked in her driveway. He was arrested the following week with the cell phone in his possession. While incarcerated at the Henry County jail, he mailed Phillips a letter. He claimed to be Phillips’ former co-worker with whom she had a sexual affair and threatened to release a video if she testified against him. At the Appellant’s preliminary hearing on October 27, 2020, Lieutenant Tony Elkins testified for the State. At the end of the hearing, the Appellant shouted across the courtroom and threatened to harm him. Based on these incidents, a Henry County grand jury indicted the Appellant for burglary of a vehicle and retaliation for past action in Docket No. 16399. The grand jury, however, returned a no true bill for coercion of a witness stemming from the letter Phillips received.

The Appellant was later released on bail. On February 19, 2021, the Appellant walked onto Martin Moreno’s porch, picked up a bike, and carried it down the porch stairs. Moreno’s wife confronted him through a Ring security system, and he left the bike in Moreno’s yard. On March 18, 2021, Officer Edward Fitzgerald attempted to arrest the Appellant at the courthouse on an outstanding warrant. The Appellant pushed Officer Fitzgerald and ran out of the building. During the altercation, Officer Fitzgerald injured his knee. Based on these incidents, a Henry County grand jury indicted the Appellant for aggravated burglary, theft of property, assault of an officer, escape, and evading arrest in Docket No. 16568. In the same indictment, the grand jury indicted the Appellant for coercion of a witness based on the letter Phillips received, for which it had previously returned a no true bill.

After the Appellant waived his right to a jury trial, the two cases were tried simultaneously before the trial court on August 4, 2021. The court acquitted the Appellant of aggravated burglary and escape, but convicted him as charged for the remaining offenses. The proof relevant to the issues raised in this appeal is summarized below.

Burglary of a Vehicle. Jessica Phillips testified that she called law enforcement on August 27, 2020, after discovering that someone had been in her car. The front passenger door was not fully closed, and all of her belongings “had been thrown around.” There were a number of items missing, including her son’s cell phone, a book of CDs, a lug key, laser parts, and deodorant. She had four security cameras at her house that captured the incident. At some point, the police showed her a cell phone, which she identified as belonging to her son. She again identified the cell phone as her son’s at trial. She knew it was his because “[t]he crack at the bottom [was] significant.”

Lieutenant Elkins testified that he responded to Phillips’ house to investigate the burglary of her car. He reviewed the security footage and identified the Appellant, whom he had known for “[s]everal years,” as the man shown entering Phillips’ car. The man arrived on a bike, and he had just seen the Appellant on a blue mountain bike “a day or two” before the incident. He saw the side of the man’s face and knew it was the Appellant. When he arrested the Appellant the following week, the Appellant had a bike similar to the one seen on the security footage, and a duffel bag containing several phones. On cross- examination, he acknowledged that the security footage was black and white, but maintained that the man’s bike appeared blue. When Lt. Elkins was later recalled, he -2- testified that the bike in the footage was the same bike he saw the Appellant riding a day or two before the incident, and the same bike the Appellant had when Lt. Elkins arrested him.

The security footage was played and entered into evidence. The footage shows a man arriving at Phillips’ house on a bike and searching through her car.

The Appellant testified that he was in Huntingdon when the burglary of Phillips’ car occurred. He spent the majority of the month there because his grandmother and two aunts passed away. On cross-examination, he claimed that Lt. Elkins was lying about seeing him a day or two before the incident.

Coercion of a Witness. Phillips testified that prior to the preliminary hearing, she received a letter in the mail. The letter was from someone claiming to be a friend of the Appellant and to have worked with Phillips at PML, her previous employer. The person said that they and Phillips had “slept together,” and that the video of the sexual interaction would be released if she “[went] through with it.” She panicked and called the police. Nothing in the letter, other than her having previously worked at PML, was true.

The letter, postmarked October 19, 2020, was entered into evidence. The letter said that the writer’s name was T.H., and that they worked with Phillips at PML “at one time.” T.H. and Phillips had sex, and T.H. “had a friend record [them].” That friend “is charged with a car burglary in which the car belongs to [Phillips]” and “let it be known that he will expose [them] having sex[.]” The letter then said, “I’m not trying to scare you into coercion, but please don’t be selfish in making your decision. I have a wife and kids and I don’t need this shit.” Though the listed return address was 415 Lake Highway in Paris, Tennessee, the envelope was stamped “mailed from the Henry County Correctional Facility.”

Corey Teague testified that around October 19, 2020, he shared a cell with the Appellant at the Henry County jail. He witnessed the Appellant “write a letter to a young lady . . . about a videotape of her having relations with Tyler Herndez” to “misdirect her.” For the return address, the Appellant wrote T.H. and a Lake Highway address. He confirmed that this letter was the letter entered into evidence. The Appellant told Teague “[h]e was going to make bond, and he was going to go after her.” On cross-examination, Teague acknowledged that he wrote a letter to the State requesting a “ninety-day split” sentence for his pending violation of probation and assault charges in exchange for his testimony against the Appellant. He also acknowledged that he was on probation for sale of methamphetamine and had a history of theft convictions.

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Related

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443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
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382 S.W.3d 289 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2012)
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350 S.W.3d 883 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Nelson
275 S.W.3d 851 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2008)
State v. Majors
318 S.W.3d 850 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Campbell
245 S.W.3d 331 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2008)
State v. Rice
184 S.W.3d 646 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Bland
958 S.W.2d 651 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1997)
State v. Holder
15 S.W.3d 905 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1999)
State v. Thomas
158 S.W.3d 361 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Imfeld
70 S.W.3d 698 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Thompson
519 S.W.2d 789 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1975)
Caruso v. State
326 S.W.2d 434 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1958)
Byrge v. State
575 S.W.2d 292 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1978)
State v. Hatchett
560 S.W.2d 627 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Adams
973 S.W.2d 224 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1997)
State of Tennessee v. James Allen Pollard
432 S.W.3d 851 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Michael Anthony Tharpe, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-michael-anthony-tharpe-tenncrimapp-2023.