State v. Leberry, No. M2003-01228-CCA-R3-CD (TN 3/28/2005)
| Decision Date | 28 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. M2003-01228-CCA-R3-CD.,M2003-01228-CCA-R3-CD. |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RONNELL JASON LEBERRY. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Hugh Poland (at trial); and Mark Olson (on appeal), Clarksville, Tennessee, for the appellant.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Richard H. Dunavant, Assistant Attorney General; John W. Carney, Jr., District Attorney General; Arthur Beiber, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Robert W. Wedemeyer, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which David H. Welles, and Norma McGee Ogle, JJ., joined.
A Montgomery County jury convicted the Defendant, Ronnell Jason Leberry, of aggravated assault, extortion, especially aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of facilitation to commit aggravated rape. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of thirty-two years and six months. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on accomplice testimony; (2) he was denied a unanimous jury verdict; (3) the trial court erred by failing to recuse itself; (4) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions; (5) he was denied his right to an impartial jury because certain jurors considered evidence not admitted at trial; (6) the trial court erred by failing to recuse the Assistant District Attorney General at trial; (7) he was denied the right to a fair trial because he was required to wear leg-shackles during the trial; (8) he was denied a fair trial due to the racial composition of the jury; and (9) the trial court erred by enhancing the Defendant's sentences and ordering consecutive sentencing. After thoroughly reviewing the record, we affirm all of the Defendant's convictions. Further, we hold that the trial court improperly enhanced the Defendant's sentences in light of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. ___, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004), and we reduce the Defendant's sentences in accordance with this opinion to an effective sentence of twenty-eight years.
This case arises from sexual offenses that occurred against the victim, J.B,1 on May 15, 2000. With respect to these crimes, the Defendant was indicted for seven counts of aggravated rape, aggravated assault, extortion, and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and he was convicted of aggravated assault, extortion, especially aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of facilitation of aggravated rape. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of thirty-two years and six months.
The following evidence was presented at the Defendant's trial. The victim testified that she worked at a computer parts store around the time of this crime, and she usually car-pooled to work with her roommate, Lynequia Hawkins, or a member of Hawkins's family, or her friend, Demetris ("Dee") Grant. The victim testified that Grant had a boyfriend named "Chug," who she identified as the Defendant. She explained that the Defendant is Hawkins's brother.
The victim said that she usually drove her own car to work, which was a 1990 Mustang. On Saturday, May 13, 2000, she was scheduled to work, and she car-pooled to work with Hawkins. The victim testified that she was also supposed to take Grant to work, but she did not do so. She said that, on the next day, Sunday, May 14, 2000, she spent the day at her mother's and then returned to her apartment around 11:00 p.m. She explained that, when she returned home, Hawkins's mother's truck was outside, and she thought it was unoccupied. A short time later, she saw Grant and the Defendant get out of the truck, and Grant said that "she was going to kick [the victim's] ass" because the victim did not take her to work. The victim said that Grant told her "to go inside to talk," and, when she went into her apartment with Grant, the Defendant was there too. She testified that Grant swore at her, hit her in the face with a closed fist, and kicked her. She said that the Defendant talked to Grant, but she did not know what they said. The victim testified that either Grant or the Defendant then told her to undress. She testified that Grant said that she would hurt the victim with a knife, that the victim described as having a serrated blade, if the victim did not do what they said. The victim said that she undressed because she was scared that she was "going to die."
The victim said that the Defendant and Grant took turns "heat[ing] up a fork over the stove and burn[ing] [her] breasts and [her] vagina" while she was lying on her back on the floor. She testified that one breast "had a fork burn on the nipple and the other one was just below the nipple." The victim testified that either the Defendant or Grant inserted a mop handle into her vagina. She said that she did not remember any specific conversations between the Defendant and Grant, but she remembered them swearing. The victim testified that Grant and the Defendant forced her, by threatening her life, to "write a note saying that [she] owed [them] two hundred and fifty dollars and until [she] got them that money, then [her] car was as collateral." She said that she did not think that she owed either the Defendant or Grant any money. The victim said that she did not know if her clothes were on at this time, but she remembered that either the Defendant or Grant told her to get dressed, and she put all her clothes on except for her bra, which she left on the kitchen floor.
The victim testified that she, Grant, and the Defendant left the apartment. She said that Grant drove the Defendant's mother's truck, and the Defendant followed Grant, driving the victim's car with the victim in the passenger's seat. She explained that she got into her car with the Defendant because the attackers again threatened her life. She said that she and the Defendant followed Grant to a gas station, Scott's Market, but, because there was a police officer at the gas station, the Defendant kept driving. The victim testified that the Defendant circled back to the gas station, but Grant was not there, and the Defendant drove to Grant's apartment. When they arrived, the Defendant yelled that "if anybody wanted their d*** sucked or to have sex, to come there." The victim said that there were men who heard the Defendant, and these men went with her and the Defendant inside Grant's apartment. She said that, once inside the apartment, the Defendant and Grant again threatened her and told her to undress, which she did. She said that, after undressing, she was forced to have oral sex with multiple men, who were sitting on a piece of furniture. She said that there was a light on in the kitchen, where she could see both the Defendant and Grant, but there were no lights on in the living room, so she could not see how many men she had oral sex with. The victim said that she only stopped having oral sex with the men because "[the Defendant] asked them all if they w[ere] all satisfied and they said `yes.'" The victim said that she was in the kitchen, and she vomited on Grant because she "was burned and [she] was sick and [she] was scared." Grant yelled at the victim to "clean it up," and Grant had a "pail of water and a mop and [the victim] cleaned [the vomit] up with that."
The victim testified that, while in Grant's apartment naked, she was forced to do jumping jacks, sit-ups, and to stand in the corner with one leg raised, all of which she did because her life was threatened. She said that the Defendant and Grant told her to get dressed and to leave, which she did. The victim said that she did not know anyone in the apartment complex, but a man who she did not know took her home. When she got home, her mother and stepfather were there, and she told them, while crying, that she had been raped. The victim said that her parents told her that they were going to call the police, and she told them not to because she was scared that the Defendant and Grant would come and get her. The victim testified that her mother and stepfather took her to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital, but she had no memory of this hospital visit. She said that she was in pain for months after this incident and explained that "[t]he breasts, they healed quick[er] than [the] vagina did." The victim testified that her memory of the entire incident is "not very good" because she has "blocked it out of [her] mind." On cross-examination, the victim testified that, at the time of the incident, she had only known the Defendant for a couple months, and she had previously had intercourse with him. She conceded that she had previously testified that Grant burned her breasts and picked up the knife.
James Bryant Huggins, the victim's stepfather, testified that he had known the victim for almost three years. He said that, on Monday, May 15, 2000, the victim arrived at his house in the early morning and knocked at the door. Huggins said that the victim was shaking, crying, and scared, and, when he saw that she was crying, he woke up the victim's mother. He said that, after he awoke the victim's mother, the victim told them that she had been raped, and the victim's mother told her to call the police. Huggins said that the victim refused because she said that her attackers would kill her if she called the police. He said that he and the victim's mother convinced the victim to go to the emergency room.
Lynequia Hawkins testified that she is the Defendant's sister. She testified that, at the time of the offenses, she and the victim had been roommates for six months, and they car-pooled to work together. She said that Grant was the Defendant's girlfriend in May of 2000. Hawkins testified that...
To continue reading
Request your trial