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State v. Meghreblian11/16/2001
The defendant, Michael T. Meghreblian, is serving a seven and one-half year sentence in the Department of Correction as a result of his Williamson County Circuit Court conviction of aggravated assault. On appeal, he complains that the trial court erred (1) in determining the length of his Range II sentence and (2) in denying any form of alternative sentence. Because the record supports the trial court's determinations, we affirm.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed.
James Curwood Witt, Jr., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which David H. Welles and Joe G. Riley, JJ., joined.
OPINION
A Williamson County grand jury indicted the defendant for aggravated child abuse, and the defendant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to aggravated assault. He agreed to be classified as a Range II offender even though his lack of a prior criminal record would have qualified him for Range I treatment. The plea was otherwise "open," and the parties deferred to the trial court to determine the length and the manner of service of the sentence. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a sentence of seven and one-half years to be served in confinement.
We glean our knowledge of the circumstances of the conviction offense from the testimony of witnesses during the sentencing hearing. The state's evidence showed that, on a day in June, 1998, the defendant was keeping his six-year-old nephew, Austin, the victim in this case. Also present in the defendant's home was his young son. In the afternoon, Austin's mother picked up Austin, who complained to her that he had stomach pains. Within a short time, Austin began having vomiting spells that persisted for a couple of days and culminated in his mother taking him to the hospital. Ultimately, he was diagnosed as having a "baseball-sized" hematoma in the intestinal area. Because the injury was the result of a blunt-force trauma, the attending medical staff notified law enforcement officials of possible child abuse. Upon being questioned, Austin stated that the defendant became upset because Austin "wasn't minding" and that the defendant punched him.
The defendant's ex-wife testified that when she asked the defendant if he had assaulted Austin, he was evasive and would neither admit nor deny the assault. Although the defendant had held the same job for fourteen years, he lost his job in 1998 due to his use of cocaine and his refusal to submit to his employer 's drug test. During their marriage, the defendant sold some of his wife's jewelry to raise cash for buying cocaine. At the time of the sentencing hearing, the defendant was not employed and was approximately $5,000 in arrears in child support payments.
The defendant testified at the sentencing hearing that he became "stressed out" after working for several years in the plumbing supply business and began drinking alcohol and taking drugs. He maintained, however, that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs on the afternoon that Austin was injured.
On that afternoon, he placed Austin and his son in a bedroom to watch television while he took a shower. When he returned to the room, he discovered that the boys were wearing "capes" and playing "Power Rangers." As he entered the room, his son jumped from the bed onto Austin, who was lying on his back in the floor. The defendant surmised that this impact caused Austin's injuries and denied that he had assaulted Austin in any way. When asked why he had not previously given this account of the injury, the defendant said he was scared.
The defendant testified that he was arrested for the aggravated child abuse charge in late 1998.
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