State of Tennessee v. Roger Eugene Daly

The Defendant, Roger Eugene Daly, was indicted for first degree murder during the perpetration of a theft, first degree premeditated murder, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated arson, and abuse of a corpse. A jury convicted him of first degree murder in the perpetration of a theft, first degree premeditated murder, aggravated robbery, a Class B felony,  setting fire to personal property or land, a Class E felony, and abuse of a corpse, a Class E felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-202, -13-402(b), -14-303(b), -17-312(b) (1997). The trial court merged the two murder convictions and sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment. For his other convictions, the Defendant was sentenced as a Range II, multiple offender to sixteen years for aggravated robbery, eight years for setting fire to personal property, and four years for abuse of a corpse. The trial court ordered that the setting fire to personal property and abuse of a corpse sentences run concurrently with each other but consecutive to the Defendant’s life sentence, for a total effective sentence of life plus eight years. In this direct appeal, the Defendant raises the following issues for our review: (1) The State presented insufficient evidence to support his convictions for first degree murder in perpetration of a theft, first degree premeditated murder, aggravated robbery, setting fire to personal property, and abuse of a corpse; (2) The trial court erred in failing to require the State to elect or specify the object of the theft with regard to the first degree murder in perpetration of a theft count and the aggravated robbery count; (3) The State failed to prove an underlying felony to support the Defendant’s “felony murder” conviction; (4) The trial court erred in failing to grant a mistrial when a detective testified that the Defendant had a criminal history; (5) The trial court erred when it allowed a photograph of the victim’s charred body into evidence; and (6) The trial court erred when it allowed testimony regarding an assault on a witness by the Defendant’s brother. During our review, we discovered that, for count four, the trial court erroneously entered a judgment reflecting the offense of arson, a Class C felony, and the corresponding statute section, rather than the offense of setting fire to personal property or land, a Class E felony. On that count, the trial court sentenced the Defendant within the range for a Class C felony. Thus, on count four, we must remand to the trial court for the entry of a corrected judgment and for resentencing within the range for a Class E felony. In all other respects, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.