State v. Hicks

835 S.W.2d 32, 1992 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 49
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 23, 1992
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 835 S.W.2d 32 (State v. Hicks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of 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. Hicks, 835 S.W.2d 32, 1992 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 49 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

BYERS, Presiding Judge.

Each of the appellants was convicted of facilitating a Class A felony (murder in the first degree) and of possessing intoxicants in a county institution. Hicks and Womac were also found guilty of introduction of an intoxicant into the county jail.

Hicks and Womac were each sentenced to serve twenty-five years on the offense of criminal facilitation and six years on each of the counts involving intoxicants in the county jail. They were ordered to pay fines of fifty thousand dollars on the facili[35]*35tation charges. For possession of intoxicants, the jury fixed fines of five thousand dollars. For introducing intoxicants into jail, fines of ten thousand dollars were set. Each of their sentences was run consecutively for a total of thirty-seven years each.

Lawson was sentenced to twenty-five years on the criminal facilitation charge and was fined fifty thousand dollars. He received six years on the possession of an intoxicant and was fined five thousand dollars. His sentences were run consecutively for an effective sentence of thirty-one years.

The appellants have assigned sixteen issues on this appeal. We reverse and dismiss the convictions for introducing an intoxicant into the county jail as to Hicks and Womac and affirm the judgments of the trial court in all other matters.

The evidence shows the three appellants set upon an inmate named Nunley in the county jail and beat, kicked, bludgeoned, and otherwise abused him. Some of this was done simultaneously by all and some was done separately by each of the appellants. Although the evidence shows the inmate died as a result of the trauma inflicted upon him by the appellants, there is no way to separate out and determine which of the three delivered the blow or blows that inflicted the most likely cause of death — injuries inflicted by blunt blows to the head. In addition to the head injuries which were the immediate cause of death, there were multiple injuries to the deceased, including fractured ribs and deep abrasions and contusions.

It is the theory of the appellants that they cannot be guilty of criminal responsibility for facilitation of a felony under T.C.A. § 39-11-403, because there is no evidence any of them knew of any intent on the part of another to commit murder in the first degree, which they insist is essential for a finding of guilt on this offense. T.C.A. § 39-11-403 is as follows:

39-11-403. Criminal responsibility for facilitation of felony. — (a) A person is criminally responsible for the facilitation of a felony if, knowing that another intends to commit a specific felony, but without the intent required for criminal responsibility under 39-11-402(2), the person knowingly furnishes substantial assistance in the commission of the felony.
(b) The facilitation of the commission of a felony is an offense of the class next below the felony facilitated by the person so charged.
T.C.A. § 39-11-407 provides:
39-11-407. Defenses excluded. — In a prosecution in which a person’s criminal responsibility is based upon the conduct of another, the person may be convicted on proof of commission of the offense and that the person was a party to or facilitated its commission, and it is no defense that:
(1) The other belongs to a class of persons who by definition of the offense is legally incapable of committing the offense in an individual capacity; or
(2) The person for whose conduct the defendant is criminally responsible has been acquitted, has not been prosecuted or convicted, has been convicted of a different offense or different type or class of offense, or is immune from prosecution.

The Sentencing Commission Comments to section 407 state the following policy determination for the offense of facilitation:

This section reflects a policy determination that, in a case involving multiple offenders, a conviction should be sustained where there is sufficient evidence to support it, regardless of whether there is a failure of proof in another case involving other people. Thus, the defendant may be convicted whether the other parties to the offense are convicted, acquitted, or incapable of criminal responsibility.

The trial judge instructed the jury that the offense defined in T.C.A. § 39-11-403 was a lesser included offense of murder. The Sentencing Commission Comments which follow this section state:

A defendant charged as a party may be found guilty of facilitation as a lesser [36]*36included offense if the defendant’s degree of complicity is insufficient to warrant conviction as a party. The lesser punishment is appropriate because the offender, though facilitating the offense, lacked the intent to promote, assist or benefit from the offense.

The Supreme Court of Kentucky in Luttrell v. Commonwealth, 554 S.W.2d 75 (Ky. 1977), held Kentucky’s criminal facilitation statute was a lesser included offense of attempted murder and said:

Under these circumstances criminal facilitation is a lesser included offense because it has the same elements except that the state of mind required for its commission is less culpable that [sic] the state of mind required for commission of the other offenses ... [A] reasonable juror could conclude that [the appellant] acted as a facilitator. Consequently, at the new trial [he] is entitled to instructions on criminal facilitation of attempted murder and assault in the second degree.

Luttrell at 79.

It seems clear that T.C.A. § 39-11-403 can be a lesser included offense of a greater charge, and such offense may be given in a charge to the jury where its application is fairly raised by the evidence in the case or, where by the nature of the offense charged, T.C.A. § 39-11-403 would logically be seen as a lesser included offense.

We are of the opinion, however, we need not make our decision on the basis of whether T.C.A. § 39-11-403 is a lesser included offense in this case. The evidence in this case shows there was a concert of action among the appellants to inflict injury and death upon the victim. The beating of the victim lasted at least twenty minutes. It was halted sporadically and resumed after some comments by the perpetrators. Each of the appellants was responsible for his own conduct and was culpably responsible for the conduct of the others under the provisions of T.C.A. § 39-11-402(2) which provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
835 S.W.2d 32, 1992 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 49, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hicks-tennctapp-1992.