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State v. Bryant4/1/2005
finding that "he had no hesitation about committing a crime in which the risk to human life is high." See id. (Emphasis added).
Our supreme court disagreed, stating that "` ack of hesitation' is semantically close to `reckless indifference' and signifies a conscious lack of concern for foreseeable consequences." Id. at 937-38. The court quoted favorably its own statement from State v. Jones, 883 S.W.2d 597 (Tenn. 1994): "As a practical matter, hesitation or lack of hesitation does not submit readily to proof because of its subjective nature. The more logical interpretation of this enhancement factor places the emphasis on `risk to human life was high.'" Wilkerson, 905 S.W.2d at 937. The high court concluded that Wilkerson's conduct in this case demonstrated an indifference to the high probability of calamitous consequences to himself and the motorists whom he was certain to encounter as he drove in the wrong direction on a heavily travelled divided highway while intoxicated. He created a high risk of death or serious bodily injury to every motorist on that road. Death or serious bodily injury was almost inevitable. His conduct clearly satisfies the condition stated in Tenn[essee] Code Ann[otated] section 40-35-115(b)(4) and defines the defendant as a dangerous offender.
Id.
We believe the present defendant's culpability as a dangerous offender is akin to that of the defendant in Wilkerson. Despite the remonstrations of the Avon lady that the defendant not drive in her drunken state, the defendant drove on Highway 51 with a blood alcohol content of .27 percent, an extremely high amount. Accepting our supreme court's bidding to emphasize the "risk to human life" and not the defendant's hesitation to offend - or the lack thereof - we conclude that the trial court had an adequate basis for finding that the defendant was a dangerous offender.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.
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