State v. Dennis Daughtry

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 21, 2000
DocketW1999-00792-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Dennis Daughtry (State v. Dennis Daughtry) 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. Dennis Daughtry, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DENNIS W. DAUGHTRY

Direct App eal from the C riminal Cou rt for Shelby C ounty No. 97-11314;98-04587 Arthur T. Bennett, Judge

No. W1999-00792-CCA-R3-CD - Decided June 21, 2000

The Defendant, Dennis W. Daughtry, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell or deliver. Pursuant to his plea agreement, he received a fine of $2,000 and two concurrent eighteen month sentences, with the manner of service to be determined by the trial court. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court denied the Defendant's requests for alternative sentencing and judicial diversion and ordered the Defendant to serve his eighteen month sentences in the local workhouse. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant argues that he should have been granted alternative sentencing and/or judicial diversion. We modify the manner of service of each of the Defendant's sentences to ninety days incarceration with the remainder served on supervised probation, and we affirm the trial court's denial of judicial diversion.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Trial Court Modified.

WELLES, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which TIPTON, J., and LAFFERTY, SR. J., joined.

Robert M. Brannon, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dennis W. Daughtry.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Tara B. Hinkle, Assistant Attorney General, William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General, and Robert Brannon, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

The Defendant, Dennis W. Daughtry, was indicted by the Shelby County Grand Jury in September 1997 for unlawful and knowing manufacture of marijuana, unlawful and knowing possession with intent to sell marijuana, and unlawful and knowing possession with intent to deliver marijuana. In March 1998, he was indicted on two new counts: unlawful and knowing possession with intent to sell marijuana and unlawful and knowing possession with intent to deliver marijuana. The record reveals that on March 17, 1999, the Defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful and knowing possession of marijuana with intent, but it does not specify whether the possession was with intent to sell the marijuana or with intent to deliver the marijuana. The record does reveal that one count arose from the first indictment and the other count arose from the second indictment. Both counts were Class E felonies. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the Defendant received two concurrent eighteen month sentences. The manner of service of those sentences, however, was to be determined by the trial court. The Defendant petitioned the trial court for alternative sentencing and judicial diversion, but after an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the Defendant's petitions and ordered the sentences served in the local workhouse. The Defendant now argues that the trial court erred in denying his petitions and ordering him to serve his sentences in incarceration. We agree that the Defendant was entitled to alternative sentencing, and we modify his sentences to service of ninety days incarceration followed by supervised probation. We affirm the trial court's denial of judicial diversion.

The evidence at the sentencing hearing revealed that on May 6, 1997, the Defendant “got drunk” and accidentally shot himself while “playing” with a gun. When police officers responded to the emergency call, they found some marijuana and a pipe on the Defendant's entertainment center. The officers subsequently obtained a search warrant and searched the Defendant's house, where they found five to ten small marijuana plants growing in a storage closet. The officers also discovered $377 cash, fluorescent grow lamps, a book on how to grow marijuana plants, drug paraphernalia, and a set of triple-beam scales. When asked why he had the scales, the Defendant explained, “I had some to check it and make sure I didn't get ripped off as far as what I got, and then I sold some to support what I did too.”

Several months later, on August 24, 1997, police officers answered a domestic violence call at the Defendant's home. The officers obtained consent from the Defendant to search the home, where they found almost a pound of marijuana. They also found another set of scales.

The Defendant testified that he re-supplied himself with marijuana and scales because he suffered from an addiction to marijuana. He stated that he and his girlfriend together would smoke about an ounce of marijuana a day. He said that he had the marijuana for his own personal use and that he sold some of the marijuana to support his habit. When questioned by the trial judge, the Defendant admitted that he also sold some of the marijuana to make a profit. He also admitted that he continued to smoke marijuana until two months prior to his sentencing hearing. He informed the interviewers from Community Corrections that he could not pass a drug test because he was still using marijuana four or five times a month. The Defendant testified that he quit smoking marijuana about a week after meeting with personnel from Community Corrections and that he was working on overcoming his addiction. He said that he would like counseling to help him with his problem.

The Defendant is employed by American Building Maintenance. He is married, and he has a child. When asked why the judge should grant him probation instead of jail time, the Defendant stated, “I don't think he should waste taxpayer's money putting me behind bars when I could stay out and . . . work on getting my life back together and being a member of the community.”

After hearing the evidence, the trial judge made several comments regarding the Defendant's testimony. He seemed most concerned about the Defendant selling marijuana and replenishing his

-2- supply after the police first confiscated it. He also felt that the Defendant was not being completely truthful with the court until forced into certain testimony. These thoughts were expressed in the following statements made by the trial judge: [H]is problem that he had smoking marijuana did not cause him to go out and get a whole batch of it to sell. See, that showed he just didn't have a problem that he was smoking it so much. He went out and got a larger amount that he had when they caught him the first time to sell it. The problem wasn't him smoking it so much. He wanted to continue to selling [sic] to make money, apparently, and that's what he did. See, that's the way it went. It wasn't a situation where they went back and he had a small amount that he had in that house, and he was using because he couldn't get off it. He had his -- he had his shipment back in there for sale, and the money all over the house. Marijuana all in the refrigerator and places. See that destroys that argument. The Court had problems believing him. He didn't want to come out with the truth. In fact, I had to go through what the truth should have been based on what he finally came out with if he was being candid with the Court. He was not. He was trying to minimize what he was doing. I was so hooked on this marijuana, and that's why it was there, and that's why it was there the second time. He may have been hooked on it some, but he was in the big business of selling it too while being hooked, if he was hooked.

The trial judge then made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law: The Court finds that the defendant did not tell the truth under oath. He told part of the truth. That's a finding of this Court.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Lane
3 S.W.3d 456 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Sam Neely
1 S.W.3d 679 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1999)
State v. Hammersley
650 S.W.2d 352 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Bonestel
871 S.W.2d 163 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1993)
State v. Harris
953 S.W.2d 701 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
State v. Bingham
910 S.W.2d 448 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1995)
State v. Anderson
857 S.W.2d 571 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1992)
State v. Dowdy
894 S.W.2d 301 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1994)
State v. Hicks
868 S.W.2d 729 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1993)
State v. Ashby
823 S.W.2d 166 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Davis
940 S.W.2d 558 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1997)
State v. Fletcher
805 S.W.2d 785 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1991)
State v. Thomas
755 S.W.2d 838 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1988)
State v. Zeolia
928 S.W.2d 457 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
State v. Hartley
818 S.W.2d 370 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1991)
State v. Jenkins
733 S.W.2d 528 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1987)
State v. Michael
629 S.W.2d 13 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1982)
Stiller v. State
516 S.W.2d 617 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Dennis Daughtry, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dennis-daughtry-tenncrimapp-2000.