State of Tennessee v. Lawrenzo Menton

A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Lawrenzo Menton, of two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping, and the trial court sentenced him to twelve years for each robbery with the second count to be served consecutively to the first and six years for each kidnapping with both counts to be served concurrently with each other and with the second robbery count for an effective total sentence of twenty-four years in the Department of Correction. On direct appeal, the defendant contended, among other things, that the trial court erred in ordering consecutive sentencing. This court agreed and remanded the case to the trial court for a determination of the basis for the imposition of consecutive sentences. State v. Lawrenzo Menton, No. W2002-00267-CCA-R3-CD, Shelby County, slip op. at 1 (Tenn. Crim. App. July 2, 2003), app. denied (Tenn. Dec. 15, 2003). At the resentencing hearing, the trial court once again ordered that the defendant serve his robbery sentences consecutively. The defendant appeals, claiming that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering consecutive sentencing and that the trial court’s imposition of consecutive sentences violates the rule announced in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. __, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004). We hold that the record is insufficient to justify the trial court’s imposition of consecutive sentences and that because the defendant’s case is still on direct appeal, plain error requires us to modify the defendant’s sentences in light of Blakely to eight years and six months for each aggravated robbery conviction and three years and six months for each kidnapping conviction.