TN+Theft+and+Robbery+Cases+4th

The defendant was indicted by a Knox County Grand Jury for two counts of theft and three counts of forgery. On August 3, 1992, the defendant pled guilty to two counts of theft pursuant to a plea agreement. The trial court accepted the defendant’s guilty pleas, sentenced him to two consecutive nine-year sentences, and ordered him to pay restitution. In a subsequent appeal, the defendant appealed the validity of his guilty plea and sentence. In an opinion filed by this Court on June 10, 1998, we affirmed the defendant’s guilty plea and sentence. See State v. John Clark Garrison, Knox County, C.C.A. No. 03C01-9601-CR-00050, 4 (Tenn. Crim. App., filed June 10,  1998, at Knoxville).
 * CASE-IN-POINT: //State v. Davis// (Tenn. Crim. App. 1999):** “The defendant was convicted of theft of property. This offense requires a person, with intent to deprive the owner of property, to knowingly obtain or exercise control over the property without the owner’s effective consent. T.C.A. § 39-14-103. An affirmative defense to theft of property is that the person “[a]cted in the honest belief that the person had the right to obtain or exercise control over the property . . . as the person did.” T.C.A. § 39-14-107(2). The evidence presented at trial, when viewed in a light most favorable to the state, shows the defendant [Davis] picked up a bag labeled ‘Family Dollar’ outside of the Family Dollar Store. The defendant took the property to Harris’ car while his wife exhorted Harris to leave quickly. The defendant opened the bag and discovered it contained over $1,000 in cash and checks. The majority of checks in the bag were made payable to the order of ‘Family Dollar.’ The defendant took a portion of the cash from the bag. His wife then threw the bag out of the car window. The defendant stated to Harris that the bag had been ‘stolen.’ The jury was charged as to the affirmative defense and, by their verdict, rejected it. It was within their prerogative to do so. Unquestionably, the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict.”

__ Scenario: __Gavin Turner is a criminal by profession. Last week, Gavin decided to steal his ex-girlfriend’s Porsche. Every Wednesday night Gavin knows his ex-girlfriend, whose name is Kendra, participates in a running group, so he decides to steal the car after the group has left for their run. Gavin arrives at the park where the group is going to run 15 minutes before hand wearing a black facemask. He sits in his car and watches as the group of about 20 runners or so, along with Kendra. 10 minutes after the group has taken off Gavin goes to work. He is able to unlock the car and begins to hotwire the car. A moment later, Gavin hears someone approaching and looks up. He sees Kendra approaching the car at run. Seconds later Kendra stops after realizing that her car is being carjacked by someone. Kendra then pulls out the pepper spray she had in her pocket and begins to approach Gavin. Gavin, however, pulls out a gun and, disguising his voice, threatens to shoot Kendra if she uses the pepper spray on him. He then tells her to leave or else he will shoot her. Kendra then sprints away as fast as she can. Gavin then finishes hotwiring the car, removes its license plate and replaces it with his own, and then drives away. What would be the classification, grade, and punishment range for this crime?

Local Case II [|Carjacking Case]

__Scenario #2:__ **Terra is the president of a local branch of The bank of Tennessee. She often takes small amounts of money from random bank accounts and transfers it to her own. When asked by the corporate office why the accounts were not matching up she tells the executives that she has no idea and will investigate the issue. Is this a crime? If so what crime is it? What could be the possible reaction of a court, if this really is a crime? **