State v. Meeks

867 S.W.2d 361, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 503
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 5, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by123 cases

This text of 867 S.W.2d 361 (State v. Meeks) 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. Meeks, 867 S.W.2d 361, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 503 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

TIPTON, Judge.

The defendants, Billy Murrell Meeks, Danny Ray Meeks and Debra Meeks, appeal as of right from convictions they received in a jury trial in the Grundy County Circuit *364 Court. Billy Meeks was convicted of aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and extortion for which he received an effective sentence of thirty-nine years in the Department of Correction. Danny Meeks was convicted of the same offenses and received an effective sentence of forty-eight years in the Department of Correction. Debra Meeks was convicted of conspiracy to commit both aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery and of extortion for which she received concurrent sentences totalling eight years. Billy and Danny Meeks are brothers and Danny and Debra Meeks are husband and wife.

The defendants raise the following issues for consideration:

(1) Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to justify the defendants’ convictions.
(2) "Whether Billy Meeks was entitled to a severance because of the prejudicial effect of evidence of Danny Meeks’ criminal history.
(3) "Whether items seized from Danny and Debra Meeks’ residence should have been suppressed as evidence because they resulted from the execution of a search warrant which failed to describe the items to be seized and which was based upon a knowingly false affidavit.
(4) Whether evidence of the victim’s out-of-court statement that Billy Meeks was a perpetrator should have been excluded.
(5) "Whether records of a telephone company computer program used to trace telephone calls should have been excluded.
(6) "Whether it was error for the prosecutor to argue that the state could not obtain the defendants’ voice exemplars and for the trial court to refuse to instruct the jury that the state could require such exemplars.
(7) Whether separate convictions for aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery are warranted from the evidence relative to double jeopardy and due process concerns.
(8) Whether Billy and Danny Meeks should have received consecutive sentences.

The case relates to the abduction and robbery of Roger Phipps and the subsequent extortion of him and his wife, Lisa. The central factual issue from the defendants’ perspective was the identity of the perpetrators.

Roger Phipps, the victim, testified that on Sunday, November 26, 1989, he had left his parents’ house around 6:15 P.M. and was driving to his home, a trailer, where he lived with his wife and four-month-old child. It was dark outside and was very foggy with drizzling rain. About half way down his driveway, a tree blocked his path and he got out to move it. When he was in front of his truck, two men ran toward him, each carrying a black, long-barrel revolver. The two men wore ski masks covering their faces except for their eyes. They had hoods over their heads and masks and wore heavy coats. The victim identified a hood obtained from Debra and Danny Meeks’ house as identical to that of one of the assailants.

The men yelled at him to get down on his knees and both men struck him on the head several times with their guns, with one gun discharging at the time of a blow. He was almost knocked out by the beating. The victim testified that the taller, slimmer man said, “You’re going to die” and “Get on your knees, or you’re going to die, we’re going to kill you.” The shorter, stocky man led the victim to the truck while the slimmer man moved the tree. The stocky one drove toward the victim’s house while the slimmer one held a gun to the victim’s head. At the house, the driver got out and the victim heard glass breaking, a gunshot, and then more glass breaking.

As to what happened at the trailer, Lisa Phipps testified that a man wearing an off-white color ski mask covered by a camouflage-colored hood came to the door and tried to get in. When she would not let him in, he shot through the door. He yelled for her to open the door and broke the glass in her living room windows. She stated that he extended his upper body into her living room and pointed a gun at her. She ran to the bedroom to hide her child and she heard more glass breaking. She called her father- *365 in-law, Jack Phipps, and her burglar alarm went off. The man left.

The victim testified that they drove to a place on the mountain where the men tied his hands and wrists behind his back with plastic wire-tie straps and his feet with a white, nylon rope. He identified the straps which were used and identified a strap obtained from Debra and Danny Meeks’ property as similar to them. Also, he identified nylon rope obtained from a bedroom in Debra and Danny Meeks’ house as similar to the one used to tie his feet.

The slimmer man took his wallet, credit cards, some checks, $27.00 in cash, and a bank card. At their request, the victim divulged his bank card and unlisted telephone numbers. The slimmer man, still pointing a pistol, asked the victim if his family had money and if his family would contact the police, mentioning the sum of $200,000. The victim’s shirt was ripped open and used to gag him, while a camouflage net covered his head.

One of the men took a knife and stroked it up and down the victim’s stomach and back and forth across his chest. The man pulled the victim’s head back and drew the knife across his throat. At some point, the stocky man drove off in the truck toward Pelham, after which each time a car passed nearby, the remaining assailant pointed a gun at the defendant and threatened him with death if he made any noise.

As to what was occurring while the victim was held captive, Bobby Jack Northcutt testified that he saw Danny Meeks around 7:00 P.M. using the pay phone at Wonder Cave Market in Pelham. He said one of the cars in the parking lot was a blue Plymouth Charger. Lisa Phipps testified that a woman called her around 7:30 P.M. and warned her, “Get the law out of it, you’ll be contacted.” She said that after receiving this telephone call, Officer Stacy Williams installed a recording device on her telephone. Shirley Phipps, the victim’s mother, testified that a woman called her house and told her, “Shirley, get the law out of this now or Roger dies.” Officer Williams testified that he found the victim’s truck about a mile from the Pelham community, which was ultimately determined to be about seven miles from where the victim was being held captive. Officer Larry Davis stated that the Wonder Cave Market was about a ten-minute drive from the place where the victim was held captive.

The victim testified that during his captivity, he engaged the remaining, slimmer assailant in conversation. Ultimately, a ear appeared and the assailant left. Before he left, though, he told the victim, “You always remember Mr. Beauregard.”

The victim worked himself free of the restraints and began walking. Around 11:00 P.M., he stopped Officer Billy Scissom’s police car and was taken to some other officers and then home. Ultimately, he went to the jail and talked to various people there including the sheriff.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
867 S.W.2d 361, 1993 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-meeks-tenncrimapp-1993.