State v. Dobbins

265 S.W.3d 419, 2007 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 9, 2007 WL 57075
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 5, 2007
DocketM2005-01987-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 265 S.W.3d 419 (State v. Dobbins) 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. Dobbins, 265 S.W.3d 419, 2007 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 9, 2007 WL 57075 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J„

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which THOMAS T. WOODALL and JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, JJ., joined.

Aggrieved of his conviction of driving under the influence (DUI) following a bench trial in the Davidson County Criminal Court, the defendant, Melvin B. Dobbins, appeals and presents the issues: (1) whether, after hours, a public park was an area “generally frequented by the public” for purposes of the DUI statute; and (2) whether the evidence supported a finding that the defendant also drove his vehicle on a public street. Following our review, we affirm the DUI conviction.

Testifying in a bench trial, Nashville Metropolitan Police Officer Timothy De-derick recalled that, while he was on routine patrol about 2:00 a.m. on September 21, 2003, he drove.into the parking lot of Rose Park, a Metropolitan Nashville public park, because he “usually [got] a lot of [after-hours] car stops up there.” He testified that a sign at the entrance of the park indicated that the park closed at either 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. and that in the late-night or early-morning hours, police officers typically found from two to four cars per night in the parking lot. On some nights, a car would be parked there almost every hour when the officers checked the lot. Again typically, the officers arrested or cited the occupants and/or drivers for criminal trespass. The officer testified that Rose Park was located in a high-crime and drug trafficking area.

Officer Dederick testified that the parking lot was un-gated and had only one access road that served as both the entrance and exit. This road led directly to Ninth and Olympic Streets, which are public thoroughfares.

On his September 21, 2003 patrol, Officer Dederick noticed a car parked at the “far end” of the parking lot, and as the officer drove toward the car, its headlights came on, and “it started up and started to drive off towards the entrance of the park again.” The officer activated his blue lights, stopped the car, and discovered the defendant in the driver’s seat. When the officer approached the driver’s side door, he detected “a very strong smell of alcoholic beverage coming from inside the interior of the car there from Mr. Dobbins.” Officer Dederick testified also that the defendant’s “eyes were very watery,” his clothes were “very disheveled,” and his speech was “very slurred.”

The defendant “about fell over” in an attempt to get out of the car. After getting out, the defendant braced himself against the car. Officer Dederick testified that the defendant stated that he had consumed four beers that evening. The officer initiated the walk-and-turn field sobriety test with the defendant; he suspended the test for the defendant’s safety, however, because the defendant was “very unsteady on his feet [and] had a hard time standing up.” Officer Dederick acknowledged that the defendant told him that the defendant had difficulty with balance due to a medical condition.

Officer Dederick testified that he formed an opinion that the defendant was too im *421 paired to operate a motor vehicle and arrested him, as is pertinent to this appeal, for DUI and criminal trespass.

On cross-examination, the officer admitted that, after the closing time, the park was not generally frequented by the public. The officer remembered no beverage containers or other evidence of alcohol in the defendant’s car.

The defendant neither testified nor offered any other witnesses in his defense.

After finding that the defendant was intoxicated and impaired when Officer De-derick found him, the court convicted the defendant of DUI based upon alternative findings concerning the situs of the defendant’s DUI: (1) The parking lot was frequented by the public, even after the park closed; and (2) the defendant drove to Rose Park on the public streets in an intoxicated condition. Although the court commented that the trespass charge was “sort of incongruous,” it convicted the defendant of criminal trespass. The latter conviction is not challenged on appeal.

The defendant challenges on appeal the sufficiency of the evidence supporting both DUI theories upon which the trial court relied.

When an accused challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, the appellate court considers the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, Tenn. R.App. P. 13(e); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 324, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2791-92, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), regardless whether the conviction is based upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence, State v. Winters, 137 S.W.3d 641, 654-55 (Tenn.Crim.App.2003). The appellate court neither re-weighs the evidence nor substitutes its inferences for those drawn by the trier of fact. Winters, 137 S.W.3d at 655. The credibility of the witnesses, the weight and value of the evidence, and all other factual issues raised by the evidence are resolved by the trier of fact. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tenn.1978). The appellate court affords the State the strongest legitimate view of the evidence contained in the record as well as all reasonable and legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. Id.

These rules apply to findings of guilt based upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence. Winters, 137 S.W.3d at 654. Although a criminal offense may be established exclusively by circumstantial evidence, Duchac v. State, 505 S.W.2d 237 (Tenn.1973), an accused may be convicted exclusively on circumstantial evidence only when the facts and circumstances are so strong and cogent as to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save the guilt of the defendant, State v. Crawford, 225 Tenn. 478, 482, 470 S.W.2d 610, 612 (1971). In other words, “[a] web of guilt must be woven around the defendant from which he cannot escape and from which facts and circumstances the jury could draw no other reasonable inference save the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 484, 470 S.W.2d at 613.

Tennessee Code Annotated section 55-10-401 proscribes DUI. As is pertinent to the present case, this Code section provides:

(a) It is unlawful for any person to drive or to be in physical control of any automobile or other motor driven vehicle on any of the public roads and highways of the state, or on any streets' or alleys, or while on the premises of any shopping center, trailer park or any apartment *422 house complex, or any other premises which is generally frequented by the public at large,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
265 S.W.3d 419, 2007 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 9, 2007 WL 57075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dobbins-tenncrimapp-2007.