State v. Lee
| Decision Date | 13 February 2023 |
| Docket Number | W2022-00626-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WENDOLYN LEE |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
STATE OF TENNESSEE
v.
WENDOLYN LEE
No. W2022-00626-CCA-R3-CD
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, Jackson
February 13, 2023
Assigned on Briefs February 1, 2023
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County Nos. 17-03262, C1705602 Chris Craft, Judge
Following a trial, the jury convicted Wendolyn Lee, Defendant, of rape, statutory rape by an authority figure, and incest. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Defendant to twelve years with 100% service for rape and five years as a Range I standard offender for both statutory rape by an authority figure and incest. The court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, for a total effective sentence of twenty-two years, and ordered Defendant to be on community supervision for life for the rape and incest convictions. The court also sentenced Defendant to a consecutive term of 210 days for multiple counts of direct criminal contempt of court. On appeal, Defendant claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, that Tennessee courts lack territorial jurisdiction to try the indicted offenses, that the rape charge was untimely because "adult rapes must be reported within three years," that he did not receive a speedy trial, that the jury was prejudiced because Defendant's other stepdaughter testified in rebuttal that she was raped by Defendant, and that the court erred by not allowing Defendant to represent himself. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed
Phyllis Aluko, District Public Defender; Robert Trent Hall, Assistant District Public Defender (pretrial); James Jones, Jr., Bartlett, Tennessee (pretrial); Ross A. Sampson, Assistant District Public Defender (at trial); and Wendolyn Lee, Memphis, Tennessee, pro se (pretrial and on appeal).
Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Steve Mulroy, District Attorney General; and Leslie Byrd and Abby Wallace, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which TIMOTHY L. EASTER and KYLE A. HIXSON, JJ., joined.
OPINION
ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., JUDGE
Procedural History
On July 25, 2017, the Shelby County Grand Jury indicted Defendant for the rape and statutory rape of his stepdaughter, T.M., and for incest.[1] Assistant District Public Defender Robert Trent Hall was appointed to represent Defendant at the February 22, 2018 arraignment. On April 10, 2018, an order was entered allowing Mr. Hall to withdraw and allowing James Jones, Jr., to "substitute as counsel."[2] On May 11, 2018, Mr. Jones filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction claiming that Tennessee courts did not have territorial jurisdiction over the indicted offenses because any alleged crimes occurred while Defendant and T.M. lived in West Memphis, Arkansas.
Hearing on the Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction
On July 10, 2018, a hearing was held, during which proof was presented that T.M. and Defendant lived at three separate addresses in Shelby County during the dates alleged in the indictment. The trial court found that Defendant "was arrested on November 11, 2016, for committing sexual offenses on his stepdaughter." The court noted that the affidavit of complaint alleged that Defendant had vaginal-penile sex with T.M. over thirty times while they were living together in Shelby County and that Defendant impregnated T.M. when she was sixteen years old. Defendant admitted that he was the biological father of T.M.'s then four-year-old child. The trial court found that "the two indictments[3] appear on their face to have no other procedural defects, and so it appears that the indictments give this court jurisdiction over [D]efendant's alleged crimes" and orally denied the motion.
After the trial court denied the motion to dismiss the indictment, Defendant moved to represent himself. After a hearing, the court orally granted Defendant's motion to proceed pro se.
Motion to Recuse
On August 14, 2018, before the trial court could enter a written order denying the motion to dismiss the indictment, Defendant filed a handwritten, pro se "Motion to Recuse Judge." On August 30, 2018, the trial court entered an "Order Denying Motion to Recuse" in which it summarized the allegations of Defendant's pro se motion as follows:
(1) that the District Attorney asked the alleged victim to come to Memphis
(2) that the alleged victim stated [Defendant] assaulted her 10 years ago when she was 14, so that this court has no jurisdiction
(3) that this court stated that "he don't care what state it happened in," (4) [that D]efendant has "a[n] 80 million dollar law suit filed against [the trial judge] in Federal Court and many complaints filed,"
(5) that the state investigators, the[] TBI, FBI, United States prosecutor and State of Tennessee Attorney General state that this court has no jurisdiction due to the victim['s] statement alleging that the crime happened in Arkansas,
(6) that the federal prosecutor stated that this court hated [D]efendant and has a "personal vendetta" against him, that his daughter has recorded all of the TBI, federal and state prosecutor statements,
(7) that this court allowed the alleged victim to come into court with outstanding warrants against her for "arm[ed] robbery and [at]tempted murder in Jackson, Mississippi," after first ordering her arrested, but then allowing her to leave,
(8) that the alleged victim has criminal charges pending against the Memphis District Attorney in Grenada, Mississippi, and that
(9) the TBI stated that this court and the District Attorney are working together in an unlawful prosecution.
In the August 30, 2018 order, the trial court found that claims 1, 2, 5, and 8, whether true or false, presented no reason for recusal and that claims 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 were "absolutely untrue." Defendant appealed the trial court's denial of the recusal motion
pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 10B. By order entered on September 6, 2018, this court denied the request for relief and dismissed the appeal.
Defendant's Motion to Represent Himself
The trial court delayed entry of a written order denying the motion to dismiss the indictment until a transcript of the recusal hearing was received and a written order denying the motion to recuse had been filed. Following a hearing on November 27, 2018, the court granted Defendant's motion to proceed pro se, but appointed James Jones, Jr., as advisory counsel.
Defendant filed numerous pro se motions, claiming again that Tennessee courts did not have territorial jurisdiction and seeking dismissal of the indictment pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-6-205 and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court found that the motion to dismiss had been previously decided and denied the motions again. On July 27, 2021, the court allowed Mr. Jones to withdraw as counsel and again appointed the District Public Defender to represent Defendant.
Notice of Intent to Use Evidence of Other Crimes
The State filed a notice "pursuant to Rule 404(b), T[ennessee] R[ules of] E[vidence], of its intent to use certain evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts for the purpose of rebuttal of accident or mistake, intent, and/or proving a common scheme or plan of rape." The notice stated that Defendant "is also charged with rape and incest" of his stepdaughter, D.Y., which occurred between October 22, 2010, and October 22, 2017.
Jury Trial
Sergeant Ivan Lopez. Sergeant Lopez testified that he was a detective in the Memphis Police Department (MPD) Domestic Violence Unit during October of 2016, and that he was assigned to investigate a shooting that was alleged to have occurred at a residence on East Street in Memphis. The complainant, D.Y., came to the Domestic Violence Unit office accompanied by Defendant and alleged that T.M., her half-sister, shot at her while she was in her house. Defendant became angry when Sergeant Lopez told him to remain in the waiting room while he spoke with D.Y. alone. D.Y. said that T.M. shot at her at their house on East Street. She stated that she was not injured and that there was no damage to the house. Sergeant Lopez told D.Y. and Defendant that there was not enough evidence for a warrant and suggested that D.Y. seek an order of protection. Defendant became "very upset" and "stormed out" with D.Y.
Sergeant Lopez spoke with T.M., who stated that the shooting allegation was not true and that Defendant was trying to get custody of her child. T.M. said Defendant was the father of her four-year-old child and that Defendant had been molesting T.M. since she was fourteen. Sergeant Lopez contacted the MPD Sex Crimes Unit, and after speaking with the supervisor, he transferred the case to the Sex Crimes Unit.
On cross-examination, Sergeant Lopez said there was a female adult with D.Y. and Defendant when they sought the warrant. He said that he did not know who the person was at the time but that he now knew that it was E.M., Defendant's wife and T.M.'s and D.Y.'s mother.
T.M. T.M. testified that she was born on January 19, 1996, and was twenty-five years old at the time of the trial. She said that her mother is E.M., Defendant is her stepfather, D.Y. is her half-sister, and she has two half-brothers. She said Defendant and her mother married while they were living in Memphis when she was nine or ten years old. She said that the family moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, when she was fourteen and that Defendant began vaginally raping her with his penis. She said the family moved back to Shelby County when she was fifteen or sixteen and lived in a townhouse...
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