Terrance Cecil v. State of Tennessee

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 12, 2011
DocketM2009-00671-CCA-R3-PC
StatusPublished

This text of Terrance Cecil v. State of Tennessee (Terrance Cecil v. State of Tennessee) 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
Terrance Cecil v. State of Tennessee, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs August 24, 2010

TERRANCE CECIL v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Maury County No. 13621 Jim T. Hamilton, Judge

No. M2009-00671-CCA-R3-PC - Filed September 12, 2011

Petitioner, Terrance Cecil, was found guilty by a Maury County jury of possessing twenty-six grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell, a Class B felony, and was sentenced to serve ten years in the Department of Correction as a Range I standard offender. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed the judgment. See State v. Terrance Cecil, No. M2004-00161-CCA-R3-CD, 2004 WL 3044896 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 30, 2004) app. denied (Tenn. May 23, 2005). Petitioner timely filed a petition for post-conviction relief. The post-conviction court granted relief to the extent of setting aside the sentence and granting a new sentencing hearing. The State has not appealed from that order. Petitioner has appealed from the post-conviction court’s denial of the relief requested by Petitioner to set aside his conviction. After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that Petitioner failed to prove that he suffered any prejudice from any alleged deficiencies by his counsel. Since the prejudice prong was not proven, we need not address the alleged deficiencies of counsel. Accordingly, the judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

T HOMAS T. W OODALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which J OSEPH M. T IPTON, P.J. and A LAN E. G LENN, J., joined.

Larry Samuel Patterson, Jr, Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Terrance Cecil.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Matthew Bryant Haskell, Assistant Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General, and Brent Cooper, Assistant District Attorney General or the appellee, the State of Tennessee. OPINION

In this appeal, the only grounds for post-conviction relief asserted by Petitioner are that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by: (1) failing to file, and present proof, regarding a motion to suppress statements he made to law enforcement officers, based on the grounds that his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1964) were violated; and (2) failing to file, and present proof, regarding a motion to suppress the seizure of Petitioner, as well as the seizure of cocaine from Petitioner’s person and from the inside of a “teddy bear” found in the backseat of the vehicle stopped by police in which Petitioner was a passenger. Petitioner asserts the basis of the motions to suppress would be that all items were seized in violation of his rights guaranteed by the United States and Tennessee Constitutions to be protected from unlawful searches and seizures.

To place Petitioner’s claims in proper perspective, before summarizing testimony at the post-conviction hearing, we set forth the facts of the case as stated by this court in the opinion on direct appeal from his conviction. Petitioner is referred to as “the defendant.”

This case relates to the defendant's arrest on July 9, 2002, with 3.8 grams of cocaine tucked behind his scrotum and 24.3 grams of cocaine inside a teddy bear on the back seat of the car in which he was riding. The defendant was sitting on the front passenger seat, Kevin Ingold was driving the car, and Cameron Alexander was sitting on the rear seat with the teddy bear when the three men were stopped by a police officer.

Cameron Alexander testified that on July 9, 2002, he asked Mr. Ingold to help him get an ounce of cocaine. Mr. Alexander said he wanted merely to make some extra money and was not in the regular business of selling drugs. He said Mr. Ingold agreed to get an ounce of cocaine for him and made a telephone call. He testified that afterward, he and Mr. Ingold drove to an apartment building, picked up the defendant, and headed for the “east side” of Columbia, Tennessee. He said that during the drive he handed the defendant $1000.00 in cash to purchase the ounce of cocaine and that the defendant took the money. He said they dropped the defendant off in front of a house and then drove to a different location and parked, waiting for the defendant to call. He testified that approximately five or ten minutes later the defendant called, and they returned to the house to pick him up. He said the defendant entered the car, sat on the front passenger seat, and handed him the drugs. Mr. Alexander testified that he placed the drugs inside a teddy bear that he had brought with him for this purpose and that the three men started driving away. He said within five to ten minutes, police officers signaled

-2- them to pull over. He said the police officers grabbed the defendant, searched him, and placed him in handcuffs. Mr. Alexander said he heard the defendant tell the officer, “The white boy had the dope in the backseat.” He said the officers then removed Mr. Ingold and himself from the car. Mr. Alexander testified that he made no deals with the state regarding his testimony.

On cross-examination, Mr. Alexander admitted that the arrest terrified him and that he would do “anything in the world” to avoid going to jail, which included lying. He said that he was not lying during his testimony, however. He admitted that he spoke with the district attorney and reiterated that the state did not offer him a deal in exchange for his testimony.

Sergeant Thomas Ehret, of the Columbia Police Department, testified that he was working as supervisor of the crime suppression unit on July 9, 2002, and that they were experiencing heavy drug traffic on the east and west sides of Columbia at that time. He said that he was driving an unmarked police car and that unmarked cars only look for violations of the law and do not stop vehicles unless an emergency arises. Departmental policy requires the officer in an unmarked car to call for a marked police car if the officer observes a violation of the law and, until the marked unit arrives to make the stop, the officer in the unmarked car only continues to observe the suspect(s).

Officer Ehret testified that the incident involving the defendant began when he observed a grey vehicle stopped on West 9th Street in front of the house where a man known as “Nay-Nay” lived. He said “Nay-Nay” was a drug dealer, and the police had made narcotics raids of the house on several occasions. He said the defendant emerged from “Nay-Nay's” house and entered the grey vehicle which drove away, and Officer Ehret followed it. He said the vehicle proceeded to roll through a stop sign, at which point he called for a marked police car to stop the vehicle for the traffic violation. He testified that the officers driving marked cars were busy so he continued following the grey vehicle, which dropped the defendant off at a different house and then stopped at Fairview Park. He said the vehicle sat for approximately ten minutes before the occupants drove back to the place they left the defendant, picked him up, and drove away. He said no one exited or entered the car while it was stopped. He said approximately ten or fifteen minutes later, Officer Morgan arrived in a marked police car and stopped the grey vehicle. Officer Ehret remained in his car and observed the arrest. On cross-examination, he testified that he did not see the defendant with cocaine or carrying anything that appeared to be cocaine.

-3- Officer Vince Morgan testified that on July 9, 2002, Officer Ehret observed a grey vehicle committing several traffic violations and called for a marked police car to stop the vehicle. Officer Morgan said he located the vehicle and stopped it.

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Terrance Cecil v. State of Tennessee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/terrance-cecil-v-state-of-tennessee-tenncrimapp-2011.