State v. Holland

860 S.W.2d 53, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 288
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMay 5, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by306 cases

This text of 860 S.W.2d 53 (State v. Holland) 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. Holland, 860 S.W.2d 53, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 288 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

WHITE, Judge.

This is an appeal as of right filed pursuant to Rule 3 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure by William Earl Holland, the appellant. Holland was convicted by a Tip-ton County jury of aggravated rape and especially aggravated burglary. 1 The trial judge sentenced Holland to twenty-five years as a range one offender on the aggravated rape conviction and to twenty years as a range two multiple offender on the aggravated burglary conviction and ordered the sentences served consecutively.

Two issues are raised on this appeal. Fust, Holland questions the sufficiency of the evidence to convict him on the charge of especially aggravated burglary. Second, Holland challenges the trial court’s order of consecutive sentences. We are compelled to modify the verdict on the especially aggravated burglary charge in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated Section 39-14-404(d) and consequently to modify the sentence and fine on that count. All other aspects of the trial court’s rulings are affirmed.

In April, 1991, the victim, a school teacher, was home overseeing some home improvements. Holland appeared in her yard with some painters. The victim believed he was working with them. 2 Throughout the day as the victim worked on various projects, Hol *56 land appeared to help her. At times he was inside her home, as were several other workers. In the early evening, Holland entered the home with Fletcher Dickerson, one of the hired workers. The victim paid Dickerson for his work, and he and Holland left the home. A few minutes later, Holland knocked on the door. When the victim answered the door, Holland said he needed to retrieve Dickerson’s truck keys. 3 The victim gave him the truck keys and locked the door behind him.

Shortly thereafter, Holland knocked again on the victim’s door. According to the victim, she went to the door, opened it, and Holland walked inside. 4 After Holland came inside the house, he told the victim he wanted to watch television with her. She told him she had school work to do and asked him to leave.

Holland became angry, cursed the victim, grabbed her right arm, and dragged her through the house to the bedroom. He beat her about the face and head, knocked her glasses and wig off, and began choking her. The victim began praying loudly. Holland then knocked her head into the door facing, began trying to remove her slacks, and threatened to kill her if she did not stop praying.

Eventually Holland removed the victim’s pants, pantyhose, and underwear, pushed her onto the bedroom floor, and undressed himself. He penetrated the victim vaginally 5 but finally stopped as the victim prayed louder. After the penetration, Holland brought the victim toilet paper, instructed her to clean herself, dressed himself, and left.

The victim locked the door, called 911, her priest, and her mother. She was eventually taken to the hospital where she remained overnight. 6 Medical personnel and law enforcement observed bruises on the victim’s face, neck, upper arms, abdomen, and thighs and a “huge knot” on her forehead. While attempting to maintain control, the victim was obviously in a great deal of pain when law enforcement arrived and was dizzy. Three weeks after the attack the victim returned to her teaching duties. She testified that, at the time of trial, she continued to suffer from serious physical problems and stress related to the rape.

Two of the workmen hired by the victim testified that they were approached by Holland who was looking for work. Joseph Win-berry told Holland he did not need any other workers. Later when he saw Holland working in the yard, he commented that Holland had gotten a job. Holland told Winberry that he was not going to charge the victim for his work.

Fletcher Dickerson was also approached by Holland looking for work. He advised Holland that he did not need any help. Although he saw Holland working at the house, Dickerson did not hire him. 7 When Dickerson left, he asked Holland to go and get his truck keys. After the rape, the victim telephoned Dickerson and asked for Holland’s full name. She told Dickerson not to hire Holland because he had just raped her.

*57 Holland denied the charges. 8 He testified that the victim hired him, first, to do yard work, and eventually, to clean the carpet, and paid him for the work he performed. Holland admitted that he returned to the victim’s home to retrieve Dickerson’s truck keys, but claimed that he left before Dickerson, visited the victim’s neighbor, then went to the store and returned to the neighbor’s. He denied returning to the victim’s home at any time after retrieving the truck keys.

The victim’s neighbor, Buster Cleaves, confirmed that Holland had visited him two times on the day of the attack. His memory was that the first visit was about two or three o’clock in the afternoon and the second visit was at “gray dark.” He did not know where Holland went when he left.

Holland’s mother testified that her son was living with her at the time of the attack. She remembered that on the day of the attack Holland came home at five minutes after seven o’clock, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Based upon this evidence the jury, who had ample opportunity to view the witnesses during their testimony, credited the testimony of the victim, discredited that of Holland, and returned guilty verdicts on both counts of the indictment. The trial judge approved the verdicts.

At sentencing, the court reviewed the pre-sentence report and the enhancement and mitigating factors filed by both parties and heard the argument of counsel. The court found that the enhancement factors 9 greatly outweighed the mitigating factors 10 and sentenced Holland to twenty-five years, as a standard offender on the aggravated rape and to twenty years, as a multiple offender on the especially aggravated burglary. The court then ordered that the sentences be served consecutively since the defendant had an extensive criminal record, had no hesitation about committing the crime, and had been released from the penitentiary days before this incident.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence on the Especially Aggravated Burglary Conviction

A jury verdict approved by the trial judge resolves all conflicts in favor of the state, removes the presumption of innocence, and replaces it with a presumption of guilt. State v. Williams, 657 S.W.2d 405, 410 (Tenn.1983). Thus, on appeal, the state is entitled to the strongest legitimate view of the evidence and all reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832

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Bluebook (online)
860 S.W.2d 53, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-holland-tenncrimapp-1993.