State v. Stodghill

• Decision Date: 27 September 2022
• Docket Number: M2021-01502-CCA-R3-CD
• Parties: STATE OF TENNESSEE v. KEVIN D. STODGHILL
• Court: Court of Appeals of Tennessee. Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. KEVIN D. STODGHILL

No. M2021-01502-CCA-R3-CD

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, Nashville

September 27, 2022

Assigned on Briefs September 13, 2022

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2019-A-644 Monte Watkins, Judge

The defendant, Kevin D. Stodghill, appeals the trial court's imposition of a fully incarcerative sentence for his guilty-pleaded convictions of aggravated assault and aggravated burglary. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Tenn R. App. P. 3; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed

Jeffrey A. DeVasher (on appeal) and Crandall Story (at trial), Assistant District Public Defenders, for the appellant, Kevin D. Stodghill.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Kayleigh Butterfield, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Ross M. Boudreaux, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

James Curwood Witt, Jr., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Robert L. Holloway, Jr., J., joined. John Everett Williams, P.J., Not Participating.^[1]

OPINION

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., JUDGE

The Davidson County Grand Jury charged the defendant with the December 10, 2018 aggravated assault of victim Ollie Petre, aggravated burglary of Mr. Petre's residence, theft of Mr. Petre's property valued at $2,500 or more but less than $10,000, and vandalism of Mr. Petre's property valued at $1,000 or less. The grand jury also charged the defendant with the December 10, 2018 aggravated burglary of the residence of victims Rachel and Jeremy Anderson and theft of the couple's property valued at more than $1,000 but less than $2,500. On August 20, 2021, the defendant, a Career Offender, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated burglary in exchange for a sentence of 12 years for each conviction with a 60 percent release eligibility and dismissal of the remaining charges. The agreement provided for the trial court to determine both the alignment and the manner of service of the sentences.

The State offered the following summary of facts at the guilty plea submission hearing:

Had this matter proceeded to trial, the State's witnesses are available and we believe the testimony would have been that, on December the 10th, 2018 between approximately 12:05 and 12:15, police were dispatched to 2019 Beach Avenue, Apartment B in regards to a burglary in progress. Ollie Petre, the resident, came home to find that his back door was kicked in and the [d]efendant was inside.

When the [d]efendant saw Petre, he lifted a pint glass and told him to get out or he would kill him by hitting him in the head with the glass. Petre told . . . the [d]efendant that it was his home and he needed to leave. [The defendant] said he would kill Petre again and then fled the location. Petre lost sight of the defendant as he ran.

Petre noticed that he was missing his Playstation and a video game after [the defendant] ran. Officers located the [d]efendant in an alley at Ninth Avenue South and Tenth Avenue South. Officers took Petre to the location for a show-up, and he positively ID'd the [d]efendant as the man that was in his residence. On the [d]efendant's person, officers located Petre's Playstation and game. Officers also located several items of jewelry that belonged to [the defendant's] neighbor, Rachel Anderson and Jeremy Anderson who lived at 2013 Beach Avenue, Apartment A. Property was returned to the victims.

The [d]efendant also had on his finger Mr. Anderson's gold class championship ring. All of those events occurred in Davidson County. . . .

The prosecutor also explained that "for the record, the [d]efendant understands that, to get an alternative sentence at a sentencing hearing determined by Your Honor, he would have to qualify for the special needs provision."

At the December 3, 2021 sentencing hearing, Mr. Petre described coming home to find the defendant inside his residence and the defendant's threatening to kill him. He said that the time between the offenses and the hearing had "been an absolute living hell for me." Mr. Petre noted that although the physical property had been returned, he continued to suffer emotionally, particularly following the defendant's release "a few months ago."

Ashley Ray, a client advocate with the public defender's office, testified that she learned that the defendant had been exposed to a significant amount of violence as a child and that he had spent the bulk of his adulthood in confinement of some sort. She noted that the defendant's full scale IQ was 69, well below average, and "that he had some type of chromosomal abnormality." Ms. Ray said that following his release from prison, the defendant spent time in "recovery housing" and "mental health treatment." The defendant was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She acknowledged, however, that the defendant exhibited "[s]ome resistance to treatment" because "he has a view about mental health treatment." Ms. Ray also acknowledged that the defendant had not relapsed into drug or alcohol use following his release.

The defendant expressed remorse for his actions against Mr. Petre and vowed that he "would never do that to nobody else or to him again." He apologized to Mr. Petre. The defendant denied being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offenses, saying that he had consumed "one beer, and that was it." He said that he committed thefts in the past to pay for alcohol and drugs and for "living, having money to live on." The 52-year-old defendant testified that he had spent some 30 years in confinement as a result of his various felony convictions but that he had never participated in community corrections. He said that since his release in May 2021, he had worked at the Twelve Thirty Club as a "maintenance man" and that his job provided him with health insurance and a steady pay check. He attended AA meetings three times per week as permitted by his work schedule. He said that in his spare time he worked with Project Return...