State v. Crowe

• Citation: 168 S.W.3d 731
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee v. Anthony CROWE.
• Decision Date: 16 August 2005
• Court: Supreme Court of Tennessee

Page 731

168 S.W.3d 731

STATE of Tennessee v. Anthony CROWE.

Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Jackson.

April 5, 2005 Session.

June 23, 2005.

Order Denying Petition for Rehearing August 16, 2005.

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Karen T. Fleet, Bolivar, Tennessee (at trial and on appeal); Pamela Dewey-Rodgers, Selmer, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, Anthony Crowe.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Rachel E. Willis, Assistant Attorney General; Elizabeth T. Rice, District Attorney General; and Jerry W. Norwood, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which E. RILEY ANDERSON, ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., JANICE M. HOLDER, and WILLIAM M. BARKER, JJ., joined.

The defendant, Anthony Crowe, entered a plea of nolo contendere to facilitation of first degree murder and received an eighteen-year sentence. After imposition of the sentence, but before the judgment became final, the defendant filed a motion to withdraw his plea alleging that the plea was not supported by a factual basis and that the plea had not been voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly entered. The trial court denied the defendant's motion, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. We granted permission to appeal to consider whether the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to withdraw. Although we conclude that Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(f) does not mandate that a plea of nolo contendere be supported by a factual basis, we also conclude that the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to withdraw because the defendant established that his plea had not been voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly entered. Thus, permitting withdrawal of the plea is necessary to correct manifest injustice. Tenn. R.Crim. P. 32(f). Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals, grant the defendant's motion to withdraw his plea, vacate the conviction of facilitation of first degree murder, and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Procedural and Factual Background

On February 11, 2002, the McNairy County Grand Jury returned a single-count indictment charging the defendant, Anthony Crowe, and co-defendant Tommy Poe with first degree murder for the June 26, 2001, killing of Bobby Joe Smith. Plea negotiations ensued, and on June 24, 2002, the defendant entered a nolo contendere plea to facilitation of first degree murder,¹ and co-defendant Poe entered a guilty plea to second degree murder.

At the plea submission hearing, the prosecuting attorney summarized the State's proof. We quote from this summary at length as follows:

Your Honor, if this case went to trial, among the State's proof would be that on or about June 26, 2001, that Mr. Crowe and Mr. Poe, along with another individual, Ruby Borden, went — had been together that day. They all know each other[,] and they knew Bobby Joe Smith. On this particular day, Ms. Borden, they were all up at the house. So, she goes down to Mr. Smith's house. I think the proof would be that she went down there to attempt to get what I believe the testimony was weed or marijuana.

I believe the proof would be that Mr. Poe and Mr. Crowe stayed down at another person's house waiting for her to return. By the time she got back down there — I think Mr. Poe was her boyfriend — and by the time she had gotten back down there, I believe the proof would be that [Mr. Poe] had gotten kind of upset because she hadn't gotten back in a time that he thought would be appropriate.

After she had gotten back and told them she didn't bring any weed or anything, through some conversation among them and activity, the three of these people got in the car. Ms. Borden drove them back down to Mr. Smith's house, which wasn't all that far down there. When they got down there, I believe Ms. Borden's testimony would be that the three of them got out of the car, that Mr. Poe, when he got out, he had a ball bat.

They went up to the door[.] [S]he knocked or summoned Mr. Smith to the door. When he opened the door, Mr. Poe hit him with this bat. I believe the proof would be that as that was happening, then Ms. Borden jumps in the car and drives off up to another neighbor's house not too far away who they all knew. I believe the proof would be that about this time, a call went in to 911 that there was a commotion going on over at Mr. Smith's house, and that call would have come from the next door neighbor who heard some racket and stuff over there.

As a result of that telephone call, the police went pretty quickly out to Mr. Smith's house, and this is around midnight. When the police had gotten out there — there was different ones went different places — when they got out there, they found Mr. Smith lying in the floor there just right inside the door, bruised and battered, and his throat had been cut severely and there was blood all over the floor there.

At some point, I think the neighbor or someone had [seen] that vehicle leave there, and they recognized that vehicle as being one that Ms. Borden and Mr. Poe rode in. So, as a result of that information, the police were actually looking for Mr. Poe and [Ms. Borden] and I think they [were] having some conversation on the radio, which happened to be picked up on a scanner. The proof would also be that before the police had gotten there, that Mr. Crowe and Mr. Poe had come up from out of the woods up there at the house where Ms. Borden was, and by that time the lady that lived there had come there.

There was a lot of screaming and crying and carrying on. There was blood all over Mr. Poe. I believe the proof would be that Mr. Poe made some statements up there acknowledging what had happened down there at the house, and that then their names were coming over the scanner. Mr. Crowe's name wasn't mentioned in the radio report.

At some point [Mr. Crowe] leaves on foot. Mr. Poe and Ms. Borden leave this house in the car . . . and go off down a field road in a pasture down there. By the time the police get all of this information and everything, they go down and they find Mr. Poe and also Ms. Borden down there in this field or pasture or down the road there, so they're taken into custody.

I believe the proof would be that before they left while they were up there at the house, that Mr. Poe had requested and had been provided with some clothes, and that he had changed clothes and taken off the ones that had blood all over them. I believe the proof would be that the police recovered the bloody clothes on that. Some time later, Mr. Crowe had gone over to a house.

The police had gotten information about [Mr. Crowe's] whereabouts. . . [,]so he was taken into custody some hours after the initial event. The State's proof with regard to Mr. Crowe would be that at some point after he was taken into custody he gave a statement to the police, and I'm calling them police, but it's TBI and deputies and everything, but he gave a statement that basically . . ., he acknowledged that he went down there, and was down there when this happened.

I think in his statement he denies [having] any prior knowledge that there was going to be a homicide committed, that he basically — I think what he said was there was a fight broke out down there, that he saw Mr. Poe with a knife, and with a hold of [sic] Mr. Smith, and he turned his head.

When he looked back, Mr. Smith's [lying] there with his throat cut. So, they — and also in his statement he states that Mr. Poe had given him a billfold. He denied getting anything out of the billfold or carrying it away from the scene. I believe his testimony was he laid it on the table or on a stove or something there in the area.

This billfold was never found, or any other items out of the house were never found. So, the State would also call other witnesses that would also testify to any conversation they heard them make. There would also be some scientific evidence that would be presented that would substantiate some of the State's theory with regard to some of the things that happened.

And with regard to this, the State has agreed that as Your Honor has stated, that only a jury can determine what the facts are after they've been presented from the witness stand. So, naturally we don't know what the jury is going to do, but taking all this into consideration, the State has made this proposal, and they're willing to enter into the plea as agreed.

The only piece of evidence that I would introduce as an exhibit would be a copy of the front page of the autopsy report where Mr. Smith was taken to the medical examiner's office. The autopsy was performed, and the cause of death was multiple injuries including blunt force trauma to the head and incised wounds to the neck, which caused injuries to the vital organs and major blood vessels causing bleeding and death. If I could just mark that as an exhibit, that will conclude the State's proof.

When the court asked the defendant's counsel "do you stipulate those are the facts," counsel responded, "Yes, sir. That is substantially what Mr. Crowe's position is."² The trial court then jointly questioned the defendant and Poe under oath. In response to questioning, the defendant, a twenty-eight-year-old high school graduate, indicated that he understood his rights, that he had discussed the case and his possible defenses with his attorney, and that he was satisfied with the legal representation that his attorney had provided. The trial judge informed the defendant of the fifteen-to twenty-five-year sentencing range for facilitation of first degree murder and advised the defendant that he would be eligible to seek parole after serving thirty percent "of whatever sentence the Court imposes." However, the trial court did not...