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State v. Thacker6/30/2000
The defendant pled guilty to vehicular assault as the result of intoxication and driving on a revoked license. The trial court imposed a three-year sentence for the vehicular assault, and, on appeal, the defendant contends that the trial court erred by refusing the defendant's request for a community corrections sentence. We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and affirm the judgment.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgment of the Trial Court Affirmed.
Wade, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Riley and Ogle, JJ., joined.
OPINION
The defendant, Christopher D. Thacker, entered pleas of guilt to vehicular assault as the result of intoxication, a Class D felony, and driving on a revoked license. While the record does not include the sentence on the latter offense, the trial court imposed a Range I, three-year sentence for the vehicular assault. Six other counts, which included two more charges of vehicular assault, two charges of driving under the influence (including driving under the influence, third offense), one charge of driving on a revoked license (second offense), and one charge of failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury , were retired upon the defendant's plea. In this appeal of right, the defendant contends that the trial court erred by refusing to allow his vehicular assault sentence to be served in a community corrections program. While the record is not complete because of the failure on the part of the defendant to include a transcript of the hearing on the guilty plea, the evidence available suggests that the trial court had a sound basis for the denial of community corrections.
A recitation of the facts is included in the report filed by the Department of Correction. On February 16, 1998, the defendant, who acknowledged that he had been drinking alcohol, drove his 1985 Camaro head-on into a 1995 Ford Escort. The accident took place in the northbound lane of Highway 127 in Sequatchie County. The defendant was driving in a southerly direction. As a result of the accident, Rebecca Goss (the driver of the Ford Escort), Elaine Lofty, and Mary Rigby were injured. Ms. Goss suffered several broken toes on her left foot. The vehicle she was driving, which was owned by her father, was a total loss. The defendant left the scene on foot and was ultimately found almost two miles away. He initially contended that an unknown person had been driving his vehicle.
The trial court found that the defendant had a prior history of criminal behavior, that there was more than one victim of the offense, and that the defendant had a previous history of unwillingness to comply with conditions involving release in the community. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-114(1), (3), (8). The trial court observed that the defendant, nearly 26 years of age at the time sentence was imposed, had a lengthy history of arrests, many of which were alcohol related, which began at age 19 and continued until this offense. After observing that the defendant was already incarcerated in the "workhouse" because of a domestic violence situation at the time of sentencing, the trial court imposed a sentence of three years, denied any consideration for probation, and concluded that a Department of Correction sentence was necessary to protect society from future criminal conduct.
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 tha
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