State v. Thorpe

614 S.W.2d 60, 1980 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 350
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 17, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 614 S.W.2d 60 (State v. Thorpe) 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. Thorpe, 614 S.W.2d 60, 1980 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 350 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION

DAUGHTREY, Judge.

The State appeals from the trial court’s dismissal of a three-count presentment charging the defendant, Darrell Thorpe, with contracting to fix a criminal case (count one), fixing a criminal case (count two), and conspiracy to fix a criminal case (count three). In dismissing the presentment, the trial court found that counts one and two were barred by the relevant statute of limitations, and that count three was fatally defective because it failed to allege any overt act accomplished in the furtherance of the conspiracy. The State challenges the validity of this ruling, as well as the trial court’s authority to dispose of the case on the basis of agreed stipulations of fact. We conclude that the trial court’s determination was legally correct, and we thus affirm the judgment entered below.

The presentment was returned by the Knox County Grand Jury on June 11, 1979, charging Thorpe as follows:

The Grand Jurors for the State of Tennessee upon their oaths, present That
[61]*61DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, a professional bondsman, acting for himself and as agent for Volunteer Bonding Company, did on diverse days between January 19, 1978 and the date of the finding of this Presentment, did unlawfully negotiate, transact, deal and agree with Clell Ownby, a person charged with the offense of Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant, Tennessee State Warrant Number 32429, in the General Sessions Court for Knox County, Tennessee, a criminal offense and in violation of the criminal statutes of the State of Tennessee; and did charge, demand, and contract for; accept, collect, and receive a sum of money, a fee, compensation, and consideration from Clell Ownby directly upon the said DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS promise, offer, representation, and holding out through inducement that the said DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, a professional bondsman and agent for Volunteer Bonding Company, could and would attempt to effect, procure, bring about, arrange, and fix the disposition, dismissal, and compromise of the said Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge and prosecution aforementioned, against the said Clell Ownby and that the said DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, could and would attempt to stop, prevent, construct, impede, interfere with, retard, and delay the prosecution of the Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge against the said Clell Ownby, in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-1407 and against the peace and dignity of the State.

SECOND COUNT:

And the Grand Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present that DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, a professional bondsman, and while acting as agent for Volunteer Bonding Company, did on diverse days between January 19, 1978 and the date of the finding of this Presentment, in the State and County^' aforesaid, with the intent, purpose and design of effecting, procuring, bringing about, arranging for and fixing the disposition and compromise and prosecution of a Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge against Clell Ownby, a person charged with the offense of Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant, Tennessee State Warrant Number 32429 in General Sessions Court for Knox County, Tennessee, by advising and stopping, preventing, obstructing, impeding, interfering with, regarding and delaying the prosecution of the said Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge against Clell Ownby by unlawfully, falsely and fraudulently instructing the said Clell Ownby not to appear for the trial on the date set on State Warrant Number 32429, and did fraudulently arrange for and fix the disposition and did compromise the prosecution of the said Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge against Clell Ownby by allowing a Final Judgment Upon Forfeiture of the Bond on the said Clell Ownby to be entered by the said General Sessions Court for Knox County, Tennessee; and the said DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, did thereby fraudulently prevent, obstruct, impede, interfere with, retard and delay the prosecution and the processes of law in respect thereof, of the said Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant charge against Clell Ownby, in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-1409 and against the peace and dignity of the State.

THIRD COUNT:

And the Grand Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present that DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, a professional bondsman acting for himself and as agent for Volunteer Bonding Company, did on diverse days between January 19, 1978 and the date of the finding of this Presentment, in the State and County aforesaid, unlawfully and corruptly did conspire with Clell Ownby and other to the Grand Jurors unknown, each acting in concert with the other, to obstruct justice and the due administration of the law, in violation of Tennessee Code [62]*62Annotated, Section 39-1101; that is to say, that the said DARRELL THORPE, ALIAS, did corruptly conspire with Clell Ownby and other to the Grand Jurors unknown each acting in concert with the other, to obstruct justice and the due administration of the law by corruptly conspiring, planning and agreeing to procure the dismissal, reduction and disposition, other than as provided by law in such cases, of a case pending in the General Sessions Court of Knox County, Tennessee, styled State of Tennessee v. Cleii Ownby, Docket No. 32429, wherein the said Clell Ownby was charged with the offense of Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant, contrary to the Statute and against the peace and dignity of the State.

At the pretrial hearing on Thorpe’s motion to dismiss, an agreed two-part “stipulation” was entered on the record. It consisted of two exhibits, each setting out the offering party’s understanding of the evidence to be presented at trial. Thus, the prosecution’s portion of the “stipulation” amounted to a summary of the facts which the Assistant District Attorney anticipated proving at trial.

On appeal, the State first asserts that the trial judge committed error by relying upon the above-described factual stipulations as a basis for his ruling on the defendant’s motion to dismiss. The State maintains that a motion to dismiss an indictment or a presentment may only be granted in cases in which the instrument is defective on its face and that no “extraneous” evidence may be relied upon for the purpose of establishing an infirmity.

It is true that prior to the advent of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, a motion, quash could be granted only in cases in which the defect appeared on the face of the indictment. As our Supreme Court stated in McKeldin v. State, 516 S.W.2d 82 (Tenn.1974):

Under Tennessee criminal procedure an indictment may be attacked by Motion to Quash only where the defect appears upon the face of the indictment. Where it is invalid for any other reason, the extraneous matter must be presented by Plea in Abatement (citations omitted) ....

McKeldin, supra, at 83.

Since McKeldin, however, the distinction between motions to quash and pleas in abatement has been eliminated. In 1975 the legislature amended T.C.A. § 40-2301, by deleting that section and substituting in its stead the following:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Curtis Dwayne Staggs v. State of Tennessee - Dissenting
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2016
State v. Sherman
266 S.W.3d 395 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2008)
State of Tennessee v. Clarence W. Carter
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2002
State v. Cureton
38 S.W.3d 64 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2000)
State v. Jimmy Ray Cureton
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2000
State of Tennessee v. Robert Allen McKenzie
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1998
State v. Messamore
937 S.W.2d 916 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1996)
State v. Davidson
816 S.W.2d 316 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Mencer
798 S.W.2d 543 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1990)
State v. Tidwell
775 S.W.2d 379 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1989)
State v. Hix
696 S.W.2d 22 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
614 S.W.2d 60, 1980 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thorpe-tenncrimapp-1980.