Wilkerson v. State
| Decision Date | 08 December 1961 |
| Citation | 214 Tenn. 1,377 S.W.2d 1,18 McCanless 1 |
| Parties | , 214 Tenn. 1 Calvin E. WILKERSON v. STATE of Tennessee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Ray L. Jenkins, Knoxville, Tenn., for plaintiff in error.
Thomas E. Fox, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Plaintiff in error, Calvin Eugene Wilkerson, was convicted of robbery, accomplished by the means of a dangerous weapon and sentenced to serve twenty years in the State penitentiary.
In the trial court he was represented by two very competent Knoxville lawyers, who were appointed to do this service by the trial judge. After the trial had ended and a conviction procured by the State, this appointed counsel prepared for Wilkerson a narrative bill of exceptions and perfected an appeal. After doing this, this appointed counsel for excellent reasons assigned in a letter to the trial judge withdrew from the case. When the record reached the Clerk's office of this Court, a member of the Court was informed of the fact that the trial counsel had withdrawn, and on this information this Court appointed the present counsel, the Honorable Ray L. Jenkins, to represent the plaintiff in error. This suit is an illustration of what the bar does in exercising all of its facilities, means, energy and knowledge in representing one when he is appointed by the Court to do so. It is remembered that counsel receives absolutely no compensation. From what is hereinafter to be related it will be seen what the present counsel has done to try in every legitimate way to relieve this man from this conviction. This record likewise shows that the trial counsel did all that was possible for them to do.
The assignments of error herein and brief filed on behalf of this man by Mr. Jenkins is one of the best prepared briefs and the most persuasive that the writer of this opinion has read. Frankly, reading this brief without reading the entire record one is almost persuaded on account of the logic, reason and sympathy for the man that is brought forth in the argument.
The first assignment is that the trial court erred in failing to appoint a court reporter in the case. This assignment is fully answered by the opinion of this Court in Beadle v. State, 203 Tenn. 97, 310 S.W.2d 157, and no further comment is necessary to answer this assignment. From what has just been said, it is obvious that the bill of exceptions here is in the narrative form.
The second assignment presents the argument, very persuasively made, that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of the innocence of the accused; while the last assignment is that the sentence is excessive, showing passion, prejudice and caprice on the part of the trial jury.
In answer to these last two assignments of error it thus becomes necessary for us to make a brief review of the facts as shown by this narrative bill of exceptions.
The record shows that the operator of a package beer store in Knox County was robbed about 10:30 P.M. on Saturday night, June 25, 1960. This operator testifies that a man came in his store and ordered a carton of beer, and that when he, the operator, reached to get the beer, the plaintiff in error pointed a pistol at him and demanded the money from the cash register which amounted to about $275.00. He then says that the plaintiff in error also took his wallet which contained about $65.00, and after this was done the plaintiff in error had the operator of the store walk to the back of the store and ordered him to get into the cooler and threatened the operator with death if he left the cooler. The operator of the store did leave the cooler immediately upon plaintiff in error's leaving the store and plaintiff in error shot at him two or three times before he got away in a two-tone automobile which was waiting for him.
Some two or three days later the police officers arranged a lineup of suspects which contained the plaintiff in error as well as his brother (a noted criminal in this section of the State). From this lineup the operator of this package store identified the person who robbed him.
There were some five or six men arranged in this lineup and the plaintiff in error was in the center while his brother was near the opposite end of the lineup. When the operator of the store came to the plaintiff in error he immediately identified him as the one who robbed the store and did not go further according to the record and view the other men in the lineup. The argument is thus very ably made that in view of what transpired afterwards and the long criminal record of the brother who was on the opposite end of the lineup that this was a failure of identification, because if the victim had gone further and seen the brother he would have identified him as the perpetrator of the crime rather than the plaintiff in error. In effect this defense was made at the trial, but the jury did not accept this defense and it is hard for anyone now in view of the broad publicity that the brother had had...
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Webster v. State
...Tenn. 15, 372 S.W.2d 173; State v. Fowler, 213 Tenn. 239, 373 S.W.2d 460; Grant v. State, 213 Tenn. 440, 374 S.W.2d 391; Wilkerson v. State, 214 Tenn. 1, 377 S.W.2d 1; McKinnie v. State, 214 Tenn. 195, 379 S.W.2d 214; Kirby v. State, 214 Tenn. 296, 379 S.W.2d 780; Gann v. State, 214 Tenn. 7......
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State ex rel. Carlson v. State
...of their trial T.C.A. §§ 40--2029--40--2043 were not in effect. Therefore, petitioners were not entitled to a transcript. Wilkerson v. State, 214 Tenn. 1, 377 S.W.2d 1; State ex rel. Wilkerson v. Bomar, 213 Tenn. 499, 502, 376 S.W.2d We have examined a copy of the indictment which is found ......