State v. Robinson
| Decision Date | 29 March 2023 |
| Docket Number | W2022-00459-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MONTREAL PORTIS ROBINSON |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Assigned on Briefs December 20 2022
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Madison County No. 17-242 Kyle C Atkins, Judge
A Madison County jury found the Defendant, Montreal Portis Robinson, guilty of felony murder in the perpetration of a theft, especially aggravated kidnapping, robbery, and theft of property. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions. We conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support the Defendant's convictions for especially aggravated kidnapping and robbery. However, we also conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support the Defendant's convictions for theft and felony murder in the perpetration of a theft. Accordingly, we dismiss the theft charge, and we modify the Defendant's conviction for felony murder to that of second degree murder as a lesser-included offense. We respectfully remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, including the entry of a modified judgment and a sentencing hearing on the conviction for second degree murder.
Tenn R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Circuit Court Affirmed in Part, Modified in Part, and Dismissed in Part; Case Remanded
Alexander D. Camp (on appeal) and Joshua B. Dougan (at trial), Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Montreal Portis Robinson.
Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jerry Woodall, District Attorney General; and Nina W. Seiler and Bradley F. Champine, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
TOM GREENHOLTZ, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., and ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, JR., JJ., joined.
On May 1, 2017, the Madison County Grand Jury returned a seven-count indictment against the Defendant, Mr. Montreal Portis Robinson, and co-defendant, Mr. Corinthians Darnez Person. The grand jury charged them with committing the following offenses against the victim, Mr. Louis Martez Jones:
Generally the State alleged that the Defendant, co-defendant Mr. Person, and two other people kidnapped and killed the victim after Mr. Person stole the victim's car. The State argued that Mr. Person and the Defendant then traveled to Oklahoma City, where Mr. Person planned to use the victim's car to pay off a drug debt. Before trial, Mr. Person agreed to plead guilty to the offense of second degree murder, and the trial began against the Defendant alone on April 2, 2018.[1]
A. DISCOVERY OF MR. JONES
Between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. on June 4, 2015, Ms. Sheila Deberry was driving slowly on Betty Manley Road near Jackson, Tennessee. She noticed something in a nearby field, parked, and got out of her car. Although she did not go into the field, she believed she saw a dead body. She called 911 and stayed at the scene until law enforcement arrived fifteen or twenty minutes later.
Anthony Heavner, the Chief of Police for the City of Portland Police Department, testified that on June 4, 2015, he was a patrol commander for the Madison County Sheriff's Office. He responded to Betty Manley Road around 10:00 a.m. and was the first officer at the scene. Upon his arrival, two bystanders directed him to the body lying in the field. Chief Heavner checked the body for signs of life but detected none.
The victim was born in 1991 and was twenty-three or twenty-four years old at the time of his death. At the time of his death, the victim lived with his parents and brother on Roxy Cove in Jackson. The victim was a supervisor for Goodwill Industries, and as a "side job," he purchased and resold shoes.
B. THE CRIMES
The events giving rise to this case started with Mr. Corinthians Person, whose nickname was "Low Rent." Mr. Person testified at trial that he was twenty-two years old and was the victim's cousin. Mr. Person acknowledged that at the time of trial, he was serving a six-year sentence for two counts of robbery. He further admitted that he had been indicted for the same charges as the Defendant and that the State had offered him a plea bargain of thirty years with potential release eligibility after serving eighty-five percent of his sentence in exchange for his truthful testimony at the Defendant's trial.
In June 2015, Mr. Person usually lived with his girlfriend, Ms. Kenya Roberts, in Ripley, but he occasionally stayed at his mother's house on Old Denmark Road in Madison County. Mr. Person said that he and the Defendant were "[a]cquaintances" and that in June 2015, they had known each other for less than a year. Mr. Person did not know where the Defendant lived and had never tried to visit him.
Mr. Person said that he, Mr. Greg Bond, and Mr. Toodie Wilson owed a $40,000 drug debt to someone named Diego. Mr. Person wanted the victim to call his cousin, Mr. Greg Bond, because Mr. Greg Bond "didn't really want to be involved" and "was really trying to sideline and frame" Mr. Person.
On June 3, 2015, Mr. Person called the victim, and they agreed to meet at a motel in Jackson. Mr. Person and Mr. Tiquarius Cole went to the motel around 10:00 a.m., and Mr. Cole had a nine-millimeter pistol. The victim arrived around 12:30 p.m. in a Chevrolet Caprice, and when he entered the room, Mr. Cole patted him down. The three then discussed Mr. Greg Bond, but when the victim declined to help-he wanted to stay out of the situation-the situation "went south."
Mr. Person went to the bathroom, and while there, he heard Mr. Cole ask the victim, "Are you ready to go to sleep?" The victim responded, "No," and Mr. Person heard "tussling." Exiting the bathroom, he saw the men fighting over Mr. Cole's gun. Mr. Cole hit the victim with the gun on the right side of the head, causing a gash in his head.
The victim owned two cars: a white 1994 Chevrolet Caprice and a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro with an orange or red stripe on the hood. At some point during the encounter at the motel, the victim called his father at home. The victim told his father that he was leaving for work, and he asked his father to leave the keys to his other car, the Camaro, outside. The father left the keys underneath a grill on the carport before he went to work that afternoon.
Mr. Person then drove the three men to the victim's house in the victim's Caprice. The victim sat in the front passenger's seat, and Mr. Cole, who still had his pistol, sat in the back seat. At the victim's house, Mr. Cole retrieved the keys to the victim's Camaro from under the grill, and they all returned to the motel in the Camaro, with Mr. Person driving and leaving the Caprice at the victim's house. At trial, Mr. Person explained that he took the victim's Camaro to pay his debt to Diego.
Mr. Cole and the victim stayed at the motel. Mr. Person left, picked up Mr. Demetrius Moore, and stopped at a Royal Street convenience store. While there, Mr. Person saw the Defendant. Mr. Person then drove the Camaro to a McDonald's restaurant, followed by the Defendant and Mr. Moore in a white Jeep Cherokee owned by the Defendant's girlfriend, Ms. Shaterica Billingsley. At the restaurant, the three men discussed the victim.
Mr. Moore and the Defendant left the restaurant in the Jeep. Mr. Person returned to the motel with food for the victim and Mr. Cole. Mr. Person left the food in the room and stepped outside to make a telephone call. He saw a Jackson Police Department police cruiser and left in the Camaro. Mr. Person called Mr. Cole and instructed him to bring the victim to the gas station across the street from the motel.
After they rendezvoused at the gas station, Mr. Person drove them "to the country," meaning Reid Road in rural Madison County. There, they met the Defendant, who was alone in the Jeep. The victim sat alone in the Camaro while the other three men stood outside the vehicles and talked. The Defendant said, "[W]e got to kill [the victim]." Mr. Person could not recall why the Defendant wanted to kill the victim. At that point, Mr. Person had not seen the Defendant with a weapon. Mr. Person said they did not need to kill the victim because Mr. Person had the victim's car.
While the victim was in the car, Mr. Person, Mr. Cole, and the Defendant opened the car door to speak with the victim. The victim told them that he had $10,000 he could pay toward Mr. Greg Bond's debt. Although the Defendant and Mr. Cole wanted the money, Mr. Person said he did not need the money because he had the victim's Camaro.
The group then drove to the victim's house, for the second time that day, to get the victim's money; Mr. Person drove the Camaro, and the Defendant drove the Jeep. During the drive, the Defendant talked to the victim by telephone and told him, "If you don't go in there and act right, I'm going to come up there and f*ck up your whole family." The victim responded, "You don't need to worry about it."
After they arrived, the victim and Mr. Cole, who still had his gun entered the victim's house, and the...
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