State v. Derring
| Decision Date | 16 January 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. W2017-02290-CCA-R3-CD,W2017-02290-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MARTINOS DERRING |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County
Defendant, Martinos Derring, was convicted by a jury of robbery, theft, felony evading arrest, and evading arrest. The trial court sentenced Defendant to a total effective sentence of fourteen years, eleven months, and twenty-nine days. Defendant appealed, asserting various challenges to his convictions and effective sentence. On appeal, we determine that the trial court should have merged Defendant's convictions for robbery and theft and committed a clerical error by marking the box rendering Defendant infamous for misdemeanor evading arrest. For those reasons, we reverse and remand to the trial court for entry of amended judgment forms. In all other respects, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Remanded.
Stephen Bush, District Public Defender; Phyllis Aluko (on appeal) and Sam Christian (at trial), Assistant District Public Defenders, for the appellant, Martinos Derring.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Johnathan H. Wardle, Assistant Attorney General; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Kevin McAlpin, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINIONOn August 16, 2014, Martha Sneed, the victim, worked her normal second shift at KIK Custom Products in Memphis. She got off work around midnight and decided to stop at Walgreens to rent a movie from the Redbox located outside the store. She parked her 2002 burgundy Nissan Maxima, walked up to the Redbox, and opened the Redbox application on her phone to see if she had a code for a free movie. As she was "standing there, [she] heard this little click" behind her. She did not turn around immediately but heard a voice say, "Give me your keys." When she turned around, she saw a "young man standing there in front of [her] with a gun, demanding the keys to [her] car." She was shocked. The victim described the man as black, around "five-six, five-eight in height." She noticed that he was wearing a dark shirt and had a bandana across his face. The victim had a set of keys in her pocket and another set of keys inside her purse on the seat of the car. She told the man that the keys were in the car. The man walked to the car and did not see the keys, so he walked back over to her and again demanded the keys. She gave him the set of keys that were in her pocket. The victim begged the man for her purse and told him that there was no money in it. The man "pointed the gun out of the window and just drove off."
The victim called the police. She went to the police station several hours after the event and gave a statement to police. In the statement, she estimated the perpetrator to weigh between one hundred ten to one hundred twenty pounds. She was unable to positively identify the man in a photographic lineup because his face had been covered. Surveillance video from Walgreens captured the encounter, but the quality of the video was characterized as poor. The video was entered into evidence and viewed by the jury.
Officer Parker Culver of the Memphis Police Department responded to the call about the robbery. When he arrived at Walgreens, he took a report for "robbery and carjacking" of the victim's car. He immediately reported the description of the vehicle to police in order to get the information out "as quick as possible."
Officer Christopher Winsett of the Memphis Police Department was on the nighttime task force on the night of the incident. He heard the broadcast come over the radio with a description of the vehicle. He was on duty in a precinct located south of the location where the car theft occurred. Officer Winsett explained that he "like[d] to catch people" and "anticipated that the car would come back to [his] area," so he drove to the "Crump exit" on "northbound 55." After sitting in his patrol car on the right-hand side of the road for about five to ten minutes, he saw a maroon Nissan Maxima drive by. He followed the car but did not immediately turn on his blue lights "for officer safety and for the safety of the suspect." Officer Winsett did not see the suspect throw anything out of the car. He used his radio to determine if there were other officers in the area and to confirm that he was indeed pursuing the car that had been stolen from the victim. He followed the car through several intersections before finally turning on his lights and sirens at the intersection of Mississippi Boulevard, "Lauderdale," and "Georgia." Officer Winsett observed the car "accelerate as fast as the car could go." The car travelled for about three or four hundred yards before it "disregarded the stop light at Mississippi andDanny Thomas" and "T-boned" another car. The other car, a Buick LeSabre, was hit on the passenger side and "continued through the iron gate fence there of the Foote Homes apartment complex, and crashed into one of the buildings there." The stolen Nissan ended up in the middle of the intersection. Officer Winsett stopped his patrol car and "jumped out immediately." The suspect got out of the Nissan and started running. Officer Winsett gave chase. The suspect took off, jumping the fence at Foote Homes. Officer Winsett was not able to jump the fence so he "ran back probably to thirty feet, back to an opening in the fence, a doorway or opening" before chasing the suspect into the complex. Officer Winsett was able to give out a broadcast of the suspect's description. Officer Winsett lost sight of the suspect and decided to head back toward the intersection when he "heard over the radio that one of the other officers had caught him" on "Danny Thomas," just south of "Vance." When Officer Winsett reached the location where the suspect was apprehended he confirmed "[a] hundred percent" that it was the same person he saw get out of the Nissan. Officer Winsett identified Defendant as the person that was arrested.
Lieutenant Brian Rickett heard the broadcast about the robbery and vehicle theft. Lieutenant Rickett took note of the vehicle description and pulled into a parking lot on "Crump." Several minutes later he saw the Nissan Maxima going "eastbound up Crump." When Lieutenant Rickett started to pull out of the parking lot, he noticed that the car was already being followed by a Memphis police officer. Lieutenant Rickett fell in behind the other police car. The two officers followed the car "down the street a little ways past Danny Thomas." As they approached the intersection of "Mississippi" and "Crump," Lieutenant Rickett heard the other officer give the tag number to dispatch over the radio to learn whether the car was the stolen Nissan Maxima. At a "series of intersections" near "South Lauderdale right there where it intersects Booker T. Washington School," the officer in front "tried to initiate a traffic stop when [they] were approaching the stop sign." As soon at the blue lights were activated, Lieutenant Rickett observed the car take off at a "high rate of speed" before running a red light and hitting a vehicle at the intersection of "Mississippi" and "Danny Thomas." Lieutenant Rickett stopped his vehicle about twenty-two feet away from the car and observed Defendant "frantically trying to get out of the car." Defendant turned and looked at Lieutenant Rickett before starting to run. Lieutenant Rickett followed Defendant in his car until Defendant jumped the fence. At that point, Lieutenant Rickett lost sight of Defendant but was able to notify other officers by radio of the direction in which Defendant was heading. Two to three minutes later, Lieutenant Rickett heard a broadcast that Defendant was in custody. When he arrived at the location where Defendant was arrested, Lieutenant Rickett was 100% certain that Defendant was the person he saw "bail out of the car after it was wrecked."
Officer James Walton was on duty for the Memphis Police Department in the early morning hours and heard the broadcast related to the robbery and carjacking. Hereceived information that several officers were in pursuit of a car, that there was a wreck, and that a suspect was running on foot. Officer Walton was nearby, so he headed south on Danny Thomas to assist in the search. As he approached the apartment complex, someone on the radio commented, "You passed him." There was a squad car immediately in front of Officer Walton, and he was not sure to whom the person on the radio was addressing. Officer Walton "hit the brakes," and "a person ran into the side of [his] squad car" between the front passenger door and the front tire from the direction of Foote Homes. It was the Defendant. Defendant was in handcuffs even before Officer Walton could get out of his car.
Defendant was ultimately indicted by the Shelby County Grand Jury for aggravated robbery in Count One, theft of property valued over $1000 in Count Two, felony evading arrest in a motor vehicle in Count Three, and misdemeanor evading arrest in Count Four. At trial, the victim explained that she had owned the car for about two and a half years at the time it was stolen. She paid $13,000 for the car when she bought it and had just paid off the car. The insurance company classified the car as totaled. According to the victim, the car was worth $5000, but she only received $4000 from her insurance company because of her $1000 deductible.
Defendant did not present any proof at trial. After hearing the State's proof, the jury found Defendant guilty of the lesser included offense of robbery in Count One, theft of property valued at $1000 or more in Count Two, felony evading arrest Count Three, and...
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