State v. Ervin

939 S.W.2d 581, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 685
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 30, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by113 cases

This text of 939 S.W.2d 581 (State v. Ervin) 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. Ervin, 939 S.W.2d 581, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 685 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Kenneth W. Ervin, appeals as of right from a judgment of the trial court revoking his community corrections sentence and increasing his total sentence by one (1) year. The appellant candidly admits that he “clearly violated the rules of his Community Corrections contract in several respects.” He presents the following issue for review: “[Wjhether or not the trial court acted within its discretion in resentencing the Appellant to five years instead of the four years to which he was originally sentenced.” After a thorough review of the record, the briefs submitted by the parties, and the law governing the issue raised by the appellant, it is the opinion of this Court the judgment of the trial court revoking the appellant’s sentence should be affirmed. This case is remanded to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing for the reasons stated in this opinion.

The record reflects that the appellant entered pleas of guilty to seven (7) offenses on May 17, 1994. The trial court imposed the following sentences on July 19,1994:

1) indictment number C-8086, theft under $500, a sentence of confinement for eleven months and twenty-nine days in the Blount County Jail;

2) indictment number C-8087, attempt to commit aggravated burglary, a Range I sentence consisting of confinement for four (4) years in the Department of Correction;

3) indictment number C-8088, aggravated burglary, a Range I sentence of confinement for four (4) years in the Department of Correction;

4) indictment number C-8089, theft under $500, confinement for eleven months and twenty-nine days in the Blount County Jail;

5) indictment number C-8252, aggravated burglary, a Range I sentence of confinement for four (4) years in the Department of Correction;

6) indictment number C-8253, theft over $10,000, a Range I sentence of confinement for four (4) years in the Department of Correction;

*583 7) indictment number C-8254, theft over $1,000, a Range I sentence of confinement of four (4) years in the Department of Correction.

All of the sentences were to be served concurrently.

The judgments in the felony cases provided that the appellant was to serve one (1) year in the Blount County Jail. The balance of the sentences was to be served pursuant to a community corrections program.

On April 19, 1995, a revocation warrant was sought for the appellant’s arrest. The warrant alleged that the appellant failed to comply with the curfew requirement; he tested positive for marijuana; and he had been expelled from two facilities where he had been placed pursuant to the program. The appellant was subsequently arrested pursuant to the warrant. An evidentiary hearing was conducted by the trial court on May 30,1995. The court revoked the appellant’s community corrections sentence at the conclusion of the hearing. The court increased the sentences on indictment numbers 8088 and 8252 from four (4) years to five (5) years. The effective sentence imposed was five (5) years.

The trial court did not explain why the sentences were increased. After finding that the appellant had violated the terms of his community corrections sentence, the trial court stated:

So, his sentence in 8252 and 8088 is modified and increased under the Tennessee Code to five years. He is given 62 days jail credit for the time that he was on Community Corrections plus jail credit, of course, for the—against this five-year sentence for the year that he’s already served and the time that he’s been in custody since he was picked up, all as required by law.

I.

When a trial court revokes a community corrections sentence, the court has the authority to resentence the accused. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-36-106(e)(3) provides:

The court shall also possess the power to revoke the sentence imposed at any time due to the conduct of the defendant ..., and the court may resentence the defendant to any appropriate sentencing alternative, including incarceration, for any period of time up to the maximum sentence provided for the offense committed, less any time actually served in any community-based alternative to incarceration.

The purpose of this statute is to permit a trial court to impose a new sentence if the nature, circumstances, and frequency of the accused’s violations warrant a different type of alternative sentence or incarceration. However, the provisions of the statute do not permit a trial court to arbitrarily establish the length of the new sentence. The statute should not be used by trial courts for the sole and exclusive purpose of punishing an accused for violating provisions of a community corrections sentence.

A sentence imposed pursuant to this statute may exceed the length of the sentence initially imposed by the trial court. This practice does not offend the Double Jeopardy Clause of either the United States Constitution or the Tennessee Constitution. State v. Griffith, 787 S.W.2d 340, 341-42 (Tenn.1990); see also State v. Patty, 922 S.W.2d 102, 103-04 (Tenn.1995).

II.

The Tennessee Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989 and the Community Corrections Act of 1985 are in pari materia. See State v. Taylor, 744 S.W.2d 919, 920 (Tenn.Crim.App.1987). Consequently, when a trial court opts to impose a sentence which exceeds the length of the initial sentence based on a breach of the terms of the sentence, the trial court must conduct a sentencing hearing pursuant to the Tennessee Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989. See Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 40-35-209(a) and -210(a) through (e).

If the trial court opts to enhance the sentence, the court must state its reasons for imposing a new sentence on the record. Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 40-35-209(c) and - 210(0—(g). TenmCode Ann. § 40-35-209(c) provides in part that the record of the sentencing hearing “shall include specific find- *584 mgs of fact upon which application of the sentencing principles was based.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-210 provides in part:

(f) Whenever the court imposes a sentence, it shall place on the record either orally or in writing what enhancement or mitigating factors it found, if any, as well as findings of fact as required by § 40-25-209.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
939 S.W.2d 581, 1996 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ervin-tenncrimapp-1996.