State v. Courtney Price/Robertson ( 1999 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT JACKSON
DECEMBER 1998 SESSION
FILED
March 30, 1999
Cecil Crowson, Jr.
Appellate C ourt Clerk
STATE OF TENNESSEE, * C.C.A. # 02C01-9804-CC-00115
Appellee, * GIBSON COUNTY
VS. * Honorable Dick Jerman, Jr., Judge
COURTNEY PRICE, a.k.a. * (Two counts of sale of less than .5 gram
cocaine)
COURTNEY ROBERTSON, *
Appellant. *
For Appellant: For Appellee:
J. Diane Stoots John Knox Walkup
Assistant District Public Defender Attorney General & Reporter
107 South Court Square
Trenton, TN 38382 Elizabeth T. Ryan
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Justice Division
425 Fifth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243-0493
Clayburn Peeples
District Attorney General
110 College Street, Suite 200
Trenton, TN 38382
OPINION FILED: _____________________
AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED
GARY R. WADE, PRESIDING JUDGE
OPINION
The defendant, Courtney Price, a.k.a. Courtney Robertson, pled guilty
to two counts of the illegal sale of a controlled substance. He appeals his five-year
sentence to TDOC, claiming the trial court made no findings of fact to support the
enhanced sentence. We affirm the judgment but modify the sentence to four years.
The defendant entered his guilty pleas in 1994. The trial court
originally imposed Range I, concurrent, four-year terms to be served on community
corrections. Later, however, the trial court revoked the community corrections
sentence and ordered the defendant to serve a six-year term in TDOC. The
defendant appealed, arguing that while the revocation was appropriate, the trial
court did not provide any reasons for increasing the sentence from four to six years.
This court concluded that the trial court "summarily sentenced the appellant to six
years, without indicating ... any legal basis for the increased sentence" and
remanded for a new sentencing hearing conducted in conformity with the 1989
Sentencing Reform Act. State v. Courtney Price, a.k.a. Courtney Robertson, No.
02C01-9606-CC-00203, slip op. at 3 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, July 16, 1997).
A new sentencing hearing was held on February 17, 1998. At that
time, the defendant was on parole. Defense counsel advised the trial court that the
defendant "did not wish to pursue this appeal any further." The trial court ruled,
however, that "I don't think you can waive it once you've appealed it." Although a
presentence report had not been requested, the trial court concluded that one was
not necessary. At that point, Marcus Jones, an officer with the Corrections
Management Corporation, was called as a witness for the state. Jones testified that
he sought the revocation because the defendant had not maintained employment
and had failed drug screening tests.
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The trial court imposed sentence as follows:
As I understand the law ... the Court has got the right to
resentence you to any reasonable sentence including
and up to incarceration up to the maximum amount of the
range which is six years. For whatever reason the Court
of Criminal Appeals did not think a six year sentence was
appropriate so I'm going to reduce that to five years. The
thing they didn't seem to like was the reasons that I did
not give for resentencing you and increasing the amount
of time that I gave you. It should have been fairly
obvious to them. What I think they're trying to do, they're
trying to say that you've got to use these enhancement
and mitigating factors and I'm not sure that's what the law
says. They need to reread the law when they look at this
again. The law says that you can do it for any reason if
they don't comply with the terms of the community
corrections program. Mr. Price, I gave you two terms that
you violated. One was to get a job, which you didn't do,
and the other was to not use dope, which you did, and
that's the reason that I increased the sentence. That's
the reason that I took you from the program. I do not
understand why the Court of Criminal Appeals couldn't
understand it. It seemed fairly obvious, but for, the
record, that's why I'm doing it. This doesn't have
anything to do with enhancing and mitigating factors set
out in 40-35-114. They may be trying to say that those
are the only way you can enhance. That's not what the
law says. The law is very plain and if that's what they
think the law says they need to reread the law.
I sentence you to serve five years in the
State Penitentiary.
When there is a challenge to the length, range, or manner of service of
a sentence, it is the duty of this court to conduct a de novo review with a
presumption that the determinations made by the trial court are correct. Tenn. Code
Ann. § 40-35-401(d). This presumption is "conditioned upon the affirmative showing
in the record that the trial court considered the sentencing principles and all relevant
facts and circumstances." State v. Ashby, 823 S.W.2d 166, 169 (Tenn. 1991). The
Sentencing Commission Comments provide that the burden is on the defendant to
show the impropriety of the sentence.
Our review requires an analysis of (1) the evidence, if any, received at
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the trial and sentencing hearing; (2) the presentence report; (3) the principles of
sentencing and the arguments of counsel relative to sentencing alternatives; (4) the
nature and characteristics of the offense; (5) any mitigating or enhancing factors; (6)
any statements made by the defendant in his own behalf; and (7) the defendant's
potential for rehabilitation or treatment. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-35-102, -103, and
-210; State v. Smith, 735 S.W.2d 859, 863 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1987).
The purpose of the Community Corrections Act of 1985 was to provide
an alternative means of punishment for "selected, nonviolent felony offenders in
front-end community based alternatives to incarceration." Tenn. Code Ann. §
40-36-103. The community corrections sentence provides a desired degree of
flexibility that may be both beneficial to the defendant yet serve legitimate societal
aims. State v. Griffith, 787 S.W.2d 340, 342 (Tenn. 1990). That the defendant
meets the minimum requirements of the Community Corrections Act of 1985,
however, does not mean that he is entitled to be sentenced under the Act as a
matter of law or right. State v. Taylor, 744 S.W.2d 919 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1987).
The following offenders are eligible for community corrections:
(1) Persons who, without this option, would be
incarcerated in a correctional institution;
(2) Persons who are convicted of property-related, or
drug/alcohol-related felony offenses or other felony
offenses not involving crimes against the person as
provided in title 39, chapter 2 [repealed], parts 1-3 and
5-7 or title 39, chapter 13, parts 1-5;
(3) Persons who are convicted of nonviolent felony
offenses;
(4) Persons who are convicted of felony offenses in
which the use or possession of a weapon was not
involved;
(5) Persons who do not demonstrate a present or past
pattern of behavior indicating violence;
(6) Persons who do not demonstrate a pattern of
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committing violent offenses; and
(7) Persons who are sentenced to incarceration or on
escape at the time of consideration will not be eligible.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-36-106(a).
Once a defendant violates the terms of his community corrections
sentence, the trial court may revoke the sentence and impose a new sentence:
The court shall also possess the power to revoke the
sentence imposed at any time due to the conduct of the
defendant or the termination or modification of the
program to which the defendant has been sentenced,
and the court may resentence the defendant to any
appropriate sentencing alternative, including
incarceration, for any period of time up to the maximum
sentence provided for the offense committed, less any
time actually served in any community-based alternative
to incarceration.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-36-106(e)(3).
Courts of this state have consistently held that when a trial judge
imposes a sentence which exceeds the length of the initial sentence, the trial court
must conduct a sentencing hearing pursuant to the Tennessee Criminal Sentencing
Reform Act of 1989. See, e.g., State v. Patty, 922 S.W.2d 102 (Tenn. 1995) (the
supreme court applied the 1989 Act to review an increased sentence after
revocation of community corrections); State v. Cooper, 977 S.W.2d 130 (Tenn.
Crim. App. 1998); State v. Ervin, 939 S.W.2d 581, 583 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1996);
State v. Danny Walker, No. 02C01-9706-CC-00218 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson,
Apr. 22, 1998); State v. James Dantes, No. 02C01-9705-CC-00184 (Tenn. Crim.
App., at Jackson, Dec. 15, 1997); State v. Robert Moore, No. 01C01-9608-CC-
00335 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Nashville, Sept. 30, 1997); State v. Twika Teague, No.
03C01-9601-CC-00027 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Knoxville, May 19, 1997). In Ervin, the
late Judge Joe B. Jones explained that the "Tennessee Criminal Sentencing Reform
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Act of 1989 and the Community Corrections Act of 1985 are in pari materia." 939
S.W.2d at 583 (citing State v. Taylor, 744 S.W.2d 25 919, 920 (Tenn. Crim. App.
1987)). If, therefore, the trial court chooses to increase the term of the sentence
after revoking a community corrections sentence, a sentencing hearing must be
conducted in accordance with the mandates of the 1989 Sentencing Reform Act.
See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-35-209(a) and -210(a) through (e). Before the trial
court increases the sentence, it must consider the application of the enhancement
factors enumerated in Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-114. Id. The provision of the
Community Corrections Act allowing for an increased sentence "should not be used
by the trial courts for the sole and exclusive purpose of punishing an accused for
violating provisions of a community corrections sentence." Ervin, 939 S.W.2d at
583.
Here, the record demonstrates the trial court erred by increasing the
sentence because the defendant violated the terms of his community corrections
contract. That is not a lawful basis for increasing the sentence. In consequence,
our review of this case must be de novo without the presumption of correctness.
Ashby, 823 S.W.2d at 169.
To summarize, the defendant pled guilty to two Class C felonies. A
Range I sentence may be from three to six years. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-
112(a)(3). The trial court originally imposed four-year terms. The defendant did not
appeal. The record does not contain a presentence report. There was no proof
offered by the state at the sentencing hearing of the existence of any enhancement
factors. Because the record does not include any basis for the increase of the
sentence from four to five years other than that the defendant violated the terms of
his community corrections contract, the sentence for each conviction must be
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modified from five years to four years.
The judgment of the trial court is so modified.
__________________________________
Gary R. Wade, Presiding Judge
CONCUR:
________________________________
Thomas T. W oodall, Judge
________________________________
John Everett W illiams, Judge
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