 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Barnes12/10/2001
The defendant, Jared M. Barnes, was convicted upon his guilty plea for vehicular homicide by recklessness, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to five years, with ten months, day for day, to be served in the county jail and the remainder of the sentence to be served on probation. In addition, the trial court suspended the defendant's driving privileges for five years and ordered that he complete five hundred hours of community service. The defendant appeals his sentence, contending that the trial court erred in denying him judicial diversion or full probation. We affirm the trial court's denial of judicial diversion and full probation, but hold that the order that the defendant serve his ten-month incarceration day for day does not preclude use of applicable conduct credits.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed
Joseph M. Tipton, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Joe G. Riley and Alan E. Glenn, JJ., joined.
OPINION
The defendant pled guilty pursuant to a plea bargain by which the sentence was to be five years, with confinement of no more than a year, the exact amount, if any, to be set by the trial court. At the defendant's guilty plea hearing, the state presented the following factual account of the crime: On August 20, 1999, the defendant and three passengers were traveling in Sevier County, when they were involved in a one-car accident. One of the defendant's passengers, Sammy Garner, was killed. The Tennessee Highway Patrol determined that the defendant had been driving, and the defendant admitted to officers that he had been drinking. A blood test revealed that the defendant's blood alcohol content was .10%. The defendant's blood also tested positive for Diazepam, a generic name for Valium.
The defendant was indicted for vehicular homicide by intoxication, a Class B felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-213(a)(2), (b). He pled guilty to vehicular homicide by recklessness, a Class C felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-213(a)(1), (b). As part of the plea agreement, the defendant was to receive a five-year sentence, with maximum incarceration not to exceed one year.
At the sentencing hearing, the then twenty-two-year-old defendant testified that he was a high school graduate and lived with his parents. He said that he did maintenance for his parents' business, Christmas Place, in Pigeon Forge. He said that he took medications for attention deficit disorder (ADD) and depression. He said that on the night of the accident, he attended a party at a friend's house. He said that he and three friends left the party and went to Patriot Park to meet people. He said that he was driving, the victim was in the front passenger seat, and his two other passengers were in the back seat. He said that after they met people at Patriot Park, they headed back to the party. He said that he was leading people to the party and that he was constantly looking in his rearview mirror to make sure that the car behind him did not get lost.
The defendant testified that he was driving on a narrow, curvy road that did not have street lights. He said that there was no guardrail or shoulder on the road. He said that he and the victim were trying to find a music compact disc (CD) to play and that the victim dropped one of the CDs. He said that as he bent down to pick up the CD, the car's right front tire left the pavement and that before he could pull the car back onto the road, it rolled down an embankment. He said that the first thing he did was make sure that everyone was alright. He said that he did not hear anything from the victim and that he saw that the
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tennessee DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|