State of Tennessee v. Patrick Pope

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 25, 2010
DocketM2009-01473-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Patrick Pope (State of Tennessee v. Patrick Pope) 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. Patrick Pope, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs June 22, 2010

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. PATRICK POPE

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Maury County No. 16944 Robert L. Jones, Judge

No. M2009-01473-CCA-R3-CD - Filed August 25, 2010

Appellant, Patrick Pope, was indicted by the Maury County Grand Jury in March of 2007 for aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping. After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty on all counts. Appellant was sentenced to an effective sentence of eleven years. After a hearing on the motion for new trial, the trial court entered a judgment of acquittal on the conviction for aggravated kidnapping. The trial court denied the remainder of the motion for new trial, and Appellant has appealed. On appeal, the following issues are presented for our review: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions; (2) whether the accomplice testimony was adequately corroborated; (3) whether the trial court properly sentenced Appellant. After a review of the record, we determine that the accomplice testimony was adequately corroborated by direct and circumstantial evidence, that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions, and that the trial court properly sentenced Appellant to an effective sentence of eleven years. Accordingly, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.

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

J ERRY L. S MITH, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which T HOMAS T. W OODALL and J.C. M CL IN, JJ., joined.

Rhonda Hooks-Kendricks, Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Patrick Pope.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Clark B. Thornton, Assistant Attorney General; Mike Bottoms, District Attorney General, and Daniel J. Runde, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On July 28, 2006, Shirley and Hugh Hazard were asleep in their bedroom located at 216 Gardendale in Columbia, Tennessee. Mrs. Hazard had fallen asleep in her bedroom chair and awoke to hear a “racket” in the kitchen. The sounds that she heard led her to believe that someone was in their home. Mr. Hazard was bedridden and relied on a wheelchair to move around as as well oxygen that was suppled by a machine that was located in the hallway outside their bedroom.

Mrs. Hazard continued to hear noises and sat up “half dozed” as two men appeared in her bedroom. She was not wearing her glasses but could see that the two men had what appeared to be t-shirts tied around their faces. The men were also wearing shorts and tennis shoes. Both of the men had guns. Mrs. Hazard described the men as one being “bigger” with “a tattoo on his belly” that looked like “vines growing” or “wiggly-looking things.”

The men demanded money, guns, and drugs. Mrs. Hazard assured the men that they “didn’t have any” but told the men, “if you can find it, you can have it.” The larger man kept the gun in one hand and had what appeared to be a sock on his other hand. He used the sock to pull open drawers and wipe down surfaces after he touched them. The larger man was the one who looked through the house, while the other man “stood back and watched.”

The larger man asked where the phone was located and pulled the cord out of the wall with his foot. The larger man told Mrs. Hazard that they were going to take her car. He demanded to know where the keys were located. Mrs. Hazard told him where the keys were located. After the man with the tattoo found the keys, he made sure they were the right keys. Mrs. Hazard confirmed that he had found the correct keys, and the man put them in his pocket.

Mrs. Hazard was afraid to move and told the men to “go ahead and shoot us.” Mr. Hazard told the men that they were “old and sick” and would “be better off dead.” The men told them they were not going to shoot them because it was not their “time.”

The men left the bedroom, and Mrs. Hazard could hear the oxygen machine switch to “on.” One of the men told them that he was “turning it back on.” Soon after that she heard the men leave. Mrs. Hazard looked out of the window to see the men driving away in her car, a green Saturn. Mrs. Hazard ran next-door and called her son.

-2- In addition to the car, the men took Mrs. Hazard’s purse, a billfold, a cell phone, a Uniden wall phone, a camera, and various prescription medications. Mrs. Hazard was unable to identify Appellant as the man with the tattoo. Mr. Hazard died approximately two-and-a- half weeks after the incident.

Officer John Ussery of the Columbia Police Department responded to a call at 7:22 a.m. on July 26, 2006, at the Hazard residence on Gardendale. After talking with the victims, Officer Ussery was able to determine that the suspects had entered the home through a rear window to a sunroom. The screen had been removed. Officer Ussery described the condition of the house as ransacked.

Officer Scott Knudsen received a “be on the lookout for” a green Saturn on the morning of July 26, 2006. Officer Knudsen located a car matching that description in the yard of 606 West Fourth Street. Outside the vehicle he noticed two dark-complected, African-American men. One of the men had tattoos on his stomach. The men were between five feet seven inches and six feet tall. The men were gone by the time that he confirmed that this was the missing car. Officer Knudsen received permission from the owner of the residence for consent to search the property. A Uniden telephone was found in a trash can near the car and a green Gatorade bottle was found inside the car in the center console. Mrs. Hazard had told police a bottle of lemon-lime Gatorade had been taken from her refrigerator. Officer Knudsen could not identify Appellant as one of the men standing near the car. Officer Knudsen secured the scene and the car was eventually dusted for fingerprints.

A few days after the incident, Appellant, also known as “Patman” or “Pacman,” and Darius Hawkins were developed as persons of interest. Mr. Hawkins came into the police department for an interview accompanied by his mother. Mr. Hawkins gave a very detailed statement that he and Appellant were involved in the incident. The police attempted to get Appellant to come in for an interview. He agreed to come into the office but never showed up. After juvenile petitions were taken out against Appellant, he turned himself in and requested an attorney.

Appellant was eventually indicted by the Maury County Grand Jury in March of 2007 for aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping.

At trial, Darius Hawkins testified against Appellant. According to Mr. Hawkins, the two men spent the night at Mr. Hawkins’s mother’s house on the night of the incident. They left the house around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and started walking. Appellant gave Mr. Hawkins a .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol before they left the house. Appellant was carrying a .380 semiautomatic pistol. Mr. Hawkins stated the conversation was about “pulling a lick” or “going to do a robbery.” Appellant had the idea for the activity.

-3- Just before dawn, the men randomly chose to burglarize the victims’ home. They took a screen off of a window and went inside the house. Mr. Hawkins stated that they started searching for “some money, or something” inside the house when they heard a noise. When Mr. Hawkins turned around, Appellant was gone. Mr. Hawkins exited the house through the window and met Appellant walking up the street. They agreed to return to the house to “do it this time.”

The men again entered the house through the window in the sunroom. They had their pistols in their hands and had tied their t-shirts around their faces. Mr.

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