State of Tennessee v. Tracy Frank Leonard

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 28, 2002
DocketM2001-00368-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee v. Tracy Frank Leonard (State of Tennessee v. Tracy Frank Leonard) 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. Tracy Frank Leonard, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE July 18, 2001 Session

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TRACY F. LEONARD

Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County No. 40494 Robert W. Wedemeyer, Judge

No. M2001-00368-CCA-R3-CD - Filed August 28, 2002

The defendant, Tracy Frank Leonard, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder, felony murder, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, rape, and theft over $1,000. The trial court merged the convictions for first degree premeditated murder and felony murder and also merged the convictions for especially aggravated kidnapping into a single conviction. The defendant received a life sentence for the first degree murder, twenty-five years for especially aggravated kidnapping, eight years for rape, and two years for theft over $1,000. The trial court ordered that the sentences for especially aggravated kidnapping and rape be served consecutively to the life sentence and consecutively to each other. The sentence for the theft is to be served concurrent with the sentence for rape. The effective sentence is, therefore, life plus thirty-three years. In this appeal as of right, the defendant alleges (1) that the trial court erred by admitting the testimony of several witnesses; (2) that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions for especially aggravated kidnapping and rape; (3) that the trial court erred by restricting his right to cross-examination of witnesses; (4) that the trial court erred by failing to grant a new trial based on the State’s failure to disclose exculpatory evidence; (5) that the trial court erred by failing to grant a mistrial; (6) that the trial erred in its instructions to the jury; (7) that the trial court misapplied certain enhancement factors to his sentences for especially aggravated kidnapping and rape; and (8) that the cumulative effect of the trial court’s errors denied him the right to a fair trial.1 We affirm the convictions and judgments for first degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping where the victim suffers serious bodily injury, rape, and theft over $1,000. We conclude the sentences imposed were proper. The defendant’s conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping accomplished by the use of a deadly weapon is reversed and remanded for a new trial because of the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury as to lesser-included offenses.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed in Part; Reversed and Remanded in Part

1 Because of the relationship between the issues, we choo se to ad dress them in a n ord er differe nt from that in which they were p resented in the briefs. JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOSEPH M. TIPTON , J., joined. GARY R. WADE, P.J., not participating.

Carrie Kersh, Clarksville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Tracy F. Leonard.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General; John Wesley Carney, Jr., District Attorney General; and C. Daniel Broiller, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.

OPINION

On November 19, 1996, Crystal Jarrett, who was working at the Econo Lodge motel located at 201 Holiday Road in Clarksville, observed the victim, Cherilyn Leonard, enter the motel lobby at approximately 8:30 a.m. and sit in a chair. Seconds later, the defendant entered the lobby and sat next to the victim. Shortly thereafter, the victim approached the front desk and asked whether there was a pay telephone in the motel. Ms. Jarrett informed the victim that there was no pay telephone, but permitted her to use the house telephone located near the public restrooms. The victim walked toward the phone and the defendant “followed right on her tail.” According to Ms. Jarrett, the defendant “stood about eight inches” from the victim as she made a telephone call. Ms. Jarrett recalled that “the phone slammed on the hook” and the defendant then dragged the victim out of the lobby. While being pulled from the lobby area, the victim remarked to Ms. Jarrett that she and the defendant “would be checking out,” giving her room number as 211. The victim added that Ms. Jarrett “could call the police now.” After the victim and defendant exited the lobby, Ms. Jarrett heard a woman shouting. Before Ms. Jarrett could telephone the police, she heard a gunshot. According to Ms. Jarrett, the victim ran into the motel vestibule then “her arm hit the glass door and she fell backward against the bookcase and then [the defendant] was right there on her and then he shot her.” Ms. Jarrett heard the victim scream once. Ms. Jarrett conceded that she did not observe the first gunshot, but had watched as the defendant “hovered over” the victim. Ms. Jarrett testified that after the defendant shot the victim, he looked at her “very angry.” His expression then turned to one of fear and he ran out the door.

Jerry Tams, a resident of Florida who was staying at the Econo Lodge on the morning of the shooting, stated that he was preparing to leave the motel when he heard “a little bit of noise” coming from the lobby. When he turned to look, he saw “a gentleman with his arms around a girl.” Mr. Tams overheard the girl say “something to the effect of oh, no please stop” before the couple fell to the ground. Mr. Tams recalled the subsequent events as follows:

She broke his hold. He was able to get his left knee on her and hold her down with his left hand and as that was going on, she was still screaming, please stop, please stop, or something like that. And I saw him reach into his right pocket and pull out a black semi-automatic weapon and shoot her with it. . . . As he got the weapon out of his pocket, he chambered the bullet into the barrel and held the gun down and

-2- pulled the trigger once. I believe he tried to pull the trigger again and [the gun] misfired because he rechambered another bullet.

After Mr. Tams saw the victim run into the lobby followed by the defendant, he heard more gunshots from inside the lobby. Fearful for his family, Mr. Tams hurried his wife and son into their camper. Shortly thereafter, the defendant exited the motel, looked around, and walked very quickly away from the motel. Mr. Tams recalled that, prior to the shooting, he had seen the victim and the defendant sitting together in the motel lobby. He testified that the victim was “smiling and laughing.” Deborah Jean Tams provided essentially the same account as her husband Jerry. She added that the defendant appeared angry, but not nervous, during the incident.

Clarksville Police Officer John Douglas testified that he was parked at a Texaco Station approximately one hundred yards away from the motel when he received a report of the shooting. Upon arriving at the motel, he checked its perimeter to determine if the defendant was still on the premises but discovered no one.

Officer Timothy Saunders, who was working for the Clarksville Police Department, participated in a search of room 211. No personal property belonging to either the defendant or the victim was found during the search.

Luigi Agostini, a United States Army Criminal Investigation Agent, testified that the defendant surrendered to authorities at Fort Campbell two days after the shooting. According to Agostini, the defendant “looked like he had been out for quite a while, he was dirty and he was also injured.” At the time of his surrender, the defendant was driving a red Honda automobile. A search of the vehicle yielded a Glock .45 caliber handgun, two plastic bags containing .45 caliber ammunition, and seven magazines loaded with .45 caliber ammunition in the front passenger seat. Additionally, the vehicle contained camping gear, fishing line and hooks, plastic flex-type handcuffs, a roll of duct tape, eleven condoms, and a jar of Vaseline.

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. Tracy Frank Leonard, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-tracy-frank-leonard-tenncrimapp-2002.