State v. Johnson

980 S.W.2d 410, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 851
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 20, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 980 S.W.2d 410 (State v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 980 S.W.2d 410, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 851 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

L.T. LAFFERTY, Special Judge.

Following a bench trial, the appellant, Antonio Johnson, was convicted of the unlawful possession of cocaine, a Class A misdemean- or. The trial court sentenced the defendant to serve sixty (60) days, day for day, and pay a fine of $2,500. The trial court suspended the sixty (60) day sentence and placed the defendant on supervised probation for eleven (11) months and twenty-nine (29) days. Following a direct appeal, this Court found that the trial court had abused its discretion in sentencing the defendant and remanded the case for resentencing pursuant to judicial diversion. State v. Antonio Johnson, Williamson County, 1996 WL 724780, No. 01C01-9601-CC-00014 (Tenn. Crim.App., Nashville, December 13, 1996). In resentencing the defendant, the trial court imposed judicial diversion but retained the conditions of probation from the original judgment.

The defendant presents one issue for review: “Whether the trial court erred by imposing a fine as part of a sentence entered under authority of Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-313.” After a thorough review of the record, the briefs submitted by both parties, and the law governing the issue presented for review, it is the opinion of this Court that the sentence imposed by the trial court should be affirmed.

A.

When an accused challenges the length and manner of service of a sentence, it is the duty of this Court to conduct a de novo review on the record with a presumption that the “determinations made by the court from which the appeal is taken are correct.” Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-401(d). This presumption is “conditioned upon the affirmative showing in the record that the trial court considered the sentencing principles and all relevant facts and circumstances.” State v. Ashby, 823 S.W.2d 166, 169 (Tenn.1991). The presumption does not apply to the legal conclusions reached by the trial court in sentencing the accused or to the determinations made by the trial court which are predicated upon uncontroverted facts. State v. Butler, 900 S.W.2d 305, 311 (Tenn.Crim.App.1994); State v. Smith, 891 S.W.2d 922, 929 (Tenn.Crim.App.1994), per. App. Denied (Tenn.1994); State v. Bonestel, 871 S.W.2d 163, 166 (Tenn.Crim.App.1993). However, this court is required to give great weight to the trial court’s determination of controverted facts because the trial court’s determination of these facts is predicated upon the witnesses’ demeanor and appearance when testifying.

The party challenging the sentences imposed by the trial court has the burden of establishing that the sentences are erroneous. Sentencing Commission Comments to Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-401; Ashby, 823 S.W.2d at 169; Butler, 900 S.W.2d at 311. In this case, the defendant has the burden of illustrating that the sentences imposed by the trial court are erroneous.

The record indicates that during the resen-tencing hearing the trial court failed to articulate the conditions. The trial court merely stated “put on 11/29 supervised probation, report by mail, on ordinary conditions and drug screens.” Therefore, the standard of review on appeal is de novo without a pre[412]*412sumption of correctness. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-402(d).

B.

The defendant argues that judicial diversion is similar in purpose to pretrial diversion, therefore, this Court’s holding in State v. Alberd, 908 S.W.2d 414 (Tenn.Crim.App. 1995), controls.1 Additionally, the defendant asserts the trial court lacked authority to impose a fine in conjunction with judicial diversion.

(1)

Pretrial diversion and judicial diversion are similar in nature but differ statutorily. The pretrial diversion statute is located in Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-15-101, seq. The judicial diversion statute, however, is located in Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-313, and was incorporated in the Sentencing Act of 1989. Under pretrial diversion, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-15 — 105(a), a defendant who meets certain criteria, enters into a memorandum of understanding with the District Attorney General, whereby both parties agree that the prosecution of certain crimes will be suspended for a specified period, not to exceed two (2) years from the filing of the memorandum. The parties agree that the defendant will be supervised by an appropriate agency, department, program, group or association and at the conclusion of the supervised period, if no violations of the memorandum of understanding are proven, the trial court may dismiss the prosecutions with prejudice.

The judicial diversion statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-313(a)(l)(A) states:

“If any person who has not previously been convicted of a felony of a Class A misdemeanor is found guilty or pleads guilt to a misdemeanor which is punishable by imprisonment of a Class C, D or E felony, the court may, without entering a judgment of guilty and with the consent of such person, defer further proceedings and place the person on probation upon such reasonable conditions as it may require, and for a period of time not less than the period of the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor with which the person is charged, or not more than the period of the maximum sentence of the felony with which the person is charged....
(2) ... If, during the period of probation, such person does not violate any of the conditions of the probation, then upon expiration of such period, the court shall discharge such person and dismiss the proceedings against the person. Discharge and dismissal under this subsection is without court adjudication of guilt, but a non-public record thereof is retained by the court solely for the purpose of use by the courts in determining whether or not, in subsequent proceedings, such person qualifies under this subsection, or for the limited purposes provided in subsection (b). Such discharge and dismissal shall not be deemed a conviction for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime or for any other purpose, except as provided in subsection (b). Discharge and dismissal under this subsection may occur only once with respect to any person.”

In State v. Alberd, 908 S.W.2d 414

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Bluebook (online)
980 S.W.2d 410, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-tenncrimapp-1998.