State of Tennessee v. Edgar Allgood

Defendant, Edgar Allgood, was indicted in count one of the indictment for possession of more than 0.5 grams of cocaine with intent to sell and in count two for possession of more than 0.5 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver. Following a jury trial, Defendant was found not guilty of the charged offenses. The jury found Defendant guilty in count one of the indictment of the lesser included offense of facilitation of possession of more than 0.5 grams of cocaine with intent to sell, a Class C felony, and in count two of the lesser included offense of facilitation of attempted possession of more than 0.5 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver, a Class D felony. The trial court sentenced Defendant as a Range III, persistent offender, to concurrent sentences of twelve years for each conviction, for an effective sentence of twelve years. On appeal, Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence and the trial court’s sentencing determinations. After a thorough review, we conclude as plain error that Defendant’s dual convictions violate double jeopardy principles. Accordingly, we merge Defendant’s conviction of facilitation of attempted possession of cocaine with intent to deliver into his conviction of facilitation of possession of cocaine with intent to sell. We affirm the trial court’s judgment as to Defendant’s conviction of facilitation of possession of cocaine with intent to sell and his sentence of twelve years. We remand solely for the correction and entry of an appropriate judgment consistent with this opinion.