State v. Brooks

909 S.W.2d 854, 1995 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 701
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 23, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 909 S.W.2d 854 (State v. Brooks) 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 v. Brooks, 909 S.W.2d 854, 1995 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 701 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

TIPTON, Judge.

The defendant, Isaac Houston Brooks, III, was convicted by a jury in the Madison County Circuit Court of various offenses arising from his taking of a pickup truck and his pursuit by the police. The offenses and his sentences are as follows:

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1. Theft of over $10,000 of property (Class C felony) 7 years
2. Aggravated assault (Class C felony) 7 years
3. Vandalism over $1,000 damage (Class D felony) 4 years
4. Vandalism over $1,000 damage (Class D felony) 4 years
5. Felony reckless endangerment (Class E felony) 3 years
6. Driving under the influence (Class A misdemeanor) 11 mo., 29 days
7. Vandalism under $500 damage (Class A misdemeanor) 11 mo., 29 days
8. . Vandalism under $500 damage (Class A misdemeanor) 11 mo., 29 days
9. Vandalism under $500 damage (Class A misdemeanor) 11 mo., 29 days
10. Criminal impersonation (Class B misdemeanor) 6 months
11. Disobeying traffic signal (Class C misdemeanor) 30 days

The felony sentences were based upon the defendant being found to be a Range II multiple offender. The trial court ordered that all sentences were to be served concurrently except for the theft sentence, making an effective sentence of fourteen years in the custody of the Department of Correction. The defendant was also assessed fines total-ling $17,075.

The defendant appeals as of right and contends the following:

(1) The evidence was insufficient to convict him of five offenses of vandalism, particularly as to the amount of damage needed to sustain felony convictions and as to the necessary mental state.
(2) The evidence was insufficient to convict him of criminal impersonation.
(3) The evidence was insufficient to convict him of theft of the truck as opposed to joy riding.
(4) A police officer’s opinion of the amount of damage to the officer’s patrol ear should have been excluded from the evidence.
(5) The defendant should have been allowed to admit his out-of-court statement to an investigator into evidence.
(6) His convictions for aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment constitute plain error by violating his right against double jeopardy.
(7) He should have been sentenced as a Range I offender and should have received concurrent sentences.

We reverse the theft conviction for plain error in the failure to instruct the jury on the offense of joyriding. The remaining convictions are upheld, but the sentences on the felonies are vacated because of the defendant’s improper designation as a Range II multiple offender. The case is remanded for *857 a new trial on the theft charge and resen-tencing on the remaining felonies.

On the evening of July 30, 1992, Shirley Severe arrived home from a babysitting job at approximately 10:00 p.m. Shortly thereafter, the defendant, a friend of Ms. Severe’s boyfriend’s uncle, stopped by and asked if he could ride with her and her brother-in-law to pick up her truck at her boyfriend’s place of work. Ms. Severe and the defendant picked up the truck, a 1990 maroon Nissan pickup, at approximately 12:15 a.m., and the defendant asked if he could ride with Ms. Severe to a local nightclub known as The Harbor. The two stopped by the defendant’s home so that he could change his shirt and arrived at the club at approximately 12:50 a.m.

As Ms. Severe started to park, the defendant asked her if she was going to pay for his admission into the club. She declined and told the defendant that she was going in to tell a friend that she was not going to stay and that she would be right back. The defendant asked her to leave the keys so that he could listen to the radio. Warning the defendant not to drive her truck, Ms. Severe left the keys and her purse in the vehicle.

After being inside only a few moments, Ms. Severe returned to find her truck gone. According to Ms. Severe, she walked up the street and happened to find an off-duty policeman. She immediately advised him that “this guy” had stolen her truck and that she was going to his house to see if he had taken it home. The officer offered her a ride, and the two of them went to the defendant’s home only to find that he was not there. Ms. Severe then returned to the club and told an employee to get an officer who had gone inside. She reported the stolen vehicle to the officer and gave him a description of the truck.

Officer Johnson, who took the report, immediately put out a radio notice for the vehicle. Officer Jeff Whitworth, another officer with the Jackson Police Department, was headed northbound on the bypass when he heard the radio communication, and he spotted the reported vehicle heading southbound. He got behind the truck and ran a check on the license plate number. After verifying ownership, he got closer to the vehicle and observed that it slowed down. Noting that two males were in the truck, he radioed for a backup. He waited to activate his siren and lights until he saw Officer Rodney Ezelle and when Officer Ezelle pulled in behind Officer Whitworth, the pursuit began.

Officer Whitworth testified that the truck immediately accelerated, reaching speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour. According to the officer, the truck often crossed the dividing fine, proceeding north in the southbound lane. At an intersection it passed through a traffic light that was red. The defendant then drove to the outskirts of town.

Meanwhile, other officers joined in pursuit. Officers Jeff Austin and Rex Curry fell in behind Officer Ezelle. Both officers corroborated Officer Whitworth’s version of the incident, testifying that the defendant’s vehicle swerved from lane to lane and ran through a red light.

The defendant turned the truck into a dead-end road at which time it struck a highway sign that landed in the back window of Officer Whitworth’s patrol car. The defendant then spun the truck around in the yard of a house, returned to the roadway, and struck Officer Austin’s vehicle, which was parked in the middle of the road. The defendant accelerated again and fishtailed. Officer Ezelle stopped his patrol ear further down the road and stood outside the vehicle. According to the officers, the defendant headed toward Officer Ezelle, and the officer ran into a cotton field. Officer Ezelle testified that the vehicle appeared to be coming directly toward him, so he drew his weapon. The defendant then veered toward the left and struck Officer Ezelle’s patrol car. It continued into two other yards, striking the porch of a house and bouncing off. The defendant attempted to return to the road but was stopped by a hedgerow ditch.

After the truck came to a stop, the defendant and his passenger were arrested and *858 taken to the police station.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
909 S.W.2d 854, 1995 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brooks-tenncrimapp-1995.