State of Tennessee v. Timothy A. Crowell

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 16, 2018
DocketM2016-01980-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Timothy A. Crowell (State of Tennessee v. Timothy A. Crowell) 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. Timothy A. Crowell, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

08/16/2018 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs November 14, 2017

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TIMOTHY A. CROWELL

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2014-A-332 Cheryl A. Blackburn, Judge ___________________________________

No. M2016-01980-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________

A Davidson County Criminal Court Jury found the Appellant guilty of aggravated robbery. The trial court sentenced the Appellant as a Range II, multiple offender to eighteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Appellant contends that (1) the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce proof from a portion of a surveillance video that was not preserved for trial; (2) the trial court erred by allowing a State’s witness to testify regarding hearsay evidence; (3) the trial court erred by allowing a photograph lineup that had not been introduced as evidence to be taken into the jury deliberations room; (4) the evidence is not sufficient to sustain his conviction of aggravated robbery; and (5) the length of his sentence is excessive. On appeal, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

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

NORMA MCGEE OGLE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, P.J., and ALAN E. GLENN, J., joined.

Emma Rae Tennent (on appeal), Kristen Neff and Chase Cunningham (at trial), Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Timothy A. Crowell.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; James E. Gaylord, Senior Counsel; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Leandra Varney and Megan King, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

I. Factual Background In January 2014, a Davidson County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the Appellant with the October 19, 2013 aggravated robbery of Public Storage.1 At trial, Tiffany Michelle Jewkes O’Donnell testified that in September 2013, she was twenty- four years old and had moved from Dallas, Texas, to Nashville. In October 2013, she was working as a “relief manager” for Public Storage in Nashville. The company had multiple locations in the city, and O’Donnell2 was not assigned to a specific location. On October 19, 2013, she was working from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the store located at 408 Welshwood Drive. It was her first time at that location. O’Donnell said that generally, only one person worked at a store at a time.

O’Donnell said that around noon, she saw a customer park a white Chevrolet Impala in front of the office door. The customer, whom O’Donnell identified as the Appellant, entered the store and stood at the counter separating the office area from the customer area. O’Donnell stood up and faced the Appellant, who was standing on the opposite side of the counter. O’Donnell said that the office had good lighting and that she and the Appellant were standing approximately two feet apart. The Appellant asked O’Donnell about storage units, and for the next three to five minutes, they discussed the prices of the units. O’Donnell had a clear view of the Appellant during their conversation, and she found nothing alarming about their interaction. The Appellant told O’Donnell he had to go outside to get his wallet. She turned to her computer to get the paperwork ready and did not watch him leave.

When the Appellant re-entered the store, O’Donnell was behind the counter looking at a computer screen. The Appellant walked behind the counter, stood beside her, and pointed a black gun at the right side of her head. The gun was “[k]ind of” touching her head. O’Donnell did not want to anger the Appellant by staring at him, but she listened to his voice, glanced at him, saw his clothing, and was able to confirm he was the same man who had just asked about a storage unit. The Appellant demanded all the cash but told her he did not want any checks. O’Donnell gave the Appellant the cash from the petty cash drawer, but the Appellant then told her to give him the money from the safe, and she complied. O’Donnell said the safe was underneath the desk, which was behind the counter and could not be seen from the front of the counter. O’Donnell estimated that the Appellant took a total of $560. After obtaining the money, the Appellant walked out of the store, and O’Donnell immediately ran to the door and locked it. She watched the Appellant get into a white Impala and leave. O’Donnell said that

1 In count one of the same indictment, the Appellant was charged with the aggravated robbery of the same Public Storage on October 11, 2013. Prior to trial, the trial court granted the Appellant’s motion to try the counts separately. The instant case concerns count two. 2 Presiding Judge John Everett Williams has taken the position that referring to witnesses by their last names, without common titles such as Mr. or Mrs., is disrespectful. However, in referring to witnesses without their titles, we mean no disrespect to the witnesses. -2- after the Appellant returned to the store, the incident lasted approximately two or three minutes. The Appellant did not wear anything to block or conceal his face.

O’Donnell said that around 12:10 p.m., she called 911 and reported the robbery. She told the 911 operator that the Appellant “was wearing a brown [workout] suit with stripes and he was 5’9”, average weight.” She also said the Appellant was an African American male, and he was driving a white car. The police arrived at the store approximately fifteen minutes later. At that time, she told the officers that the Appellant weighed around 220 pounds, that he was in his forties, and that he was driving a white Impala. The officers asked if she could identify the robber, and she responded affirmatively.

O’Donnell said that the store had no security cameras. The police attempted to collect fingerprints from the store. O’Donnell recalled that the Appellant “just kind of lean[ed] up on” the counter, and crossed his arms on the counter but did not touch the counter with his fingers. She did not see whether he touched the door when he entered and exited the store. To enter the store, a customer had to pull on the door and had to push the door to exit.

O’Donnell said that four days after the robbery, she identified the Appellant from a photograph array. At the time of the identification, she stated she was “a hundred percent positive” of the identification. She stated that she had identified the Appellant as the perpetrator during a prior hearing and that she was sure of her identification at that time and at the time of trial.

O’Donnell said that she was working as a property manager with Public Storage at a different location and that she had access to the store’s rental records. She found a record reflecting that the Appellant had rented a storage unit at the Welshwood Drive location on September 12, 2013, and that he had vacated the storage unit on October 4, 2013. O’Donnell said that she did not rent the unit to the Appellant and that she had never seen him before the robbery.

On cross-examination, O’Donnell acknowledged she was so upset during the 911 call that she initially gave the 911 operator her home address instead of the store’s address. She told the operator that the robber was “a black man driving a white car” and that he was wearing a “brown sweat suit,” which was possibly “Phat Farm” brand. She told the operator that he was 5’8” or 5’7” tall and average weight. She did not mention that the Appellant had facial hair. O’Donnell told the operator that the car had four doors but that she did not know the make or model of the car. She did not write down the license plate number of the Appellant’s vehicle as he drove away.

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Timothy A. Crowell, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-timothy-a-crowell-tenncrimapp-2018.