The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed the kidnapping convictions in two separate cases in which the defendants were charged with the kidnapping and robbery of different victims.
The first case involved the 2009 armed robbery of a Shoney’s restaurant in Nashville by Jerome Maurice Teats and an accomplice. Armed with guns, Teats and his accomplice entered the back door of the Shoney’s just before it opened for business and ordered several employees to gather in a storage area. While his accomplice guarded these employees, Teats forced the manager to open the restaurant’s money drawer. They then fled on foot but were soon apprehended by police. A jury convicted Teats of aggravated robbery of the Shoney’s manager and four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping of the four Shoney’s employees.
The other case involved a 2009 home invasion by Ricco R. Williams and two accomplices. In the early morning hours of June 1, 2009, the assailants broke into a home in Ripley and held a family of five at gunpoint while they ransacked their property. One of the family members was able to dial 911 during the episode, and when police arrived, the men fled on foot. Williams was later apprehended and charged with a number of different crimes, including five counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, one for each family member, and two counts of aggravated robbery of the husband and wife. A jury convicted Williams of all charges. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions for especially aggravated kidnappingand aggravated robbery as to the husband and modified to aggravated assault the aggravated burglary conviction as to the wife.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued its opinion in State v. White, requiring that when kidnapping and robbery are charged together, the jury should be instructed to take into account whether the conduct constituting the kidnapping was incidental to the other offense. This holding applied to Teats’ and Williams’ cases, as they were already in the appellate pipeline on the date White was issued. After considering the case in light of the White jury instruction requirement, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed three of Williams’ five kidnapping convictions and each of Teats’ convictions. Both defendants appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the cases together.
In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Criminal Appeals in both cases, holding that a White jury instruction is not required when a defendant is charged with the offenses of kidnapping and robbery of different victims. The Court reasoned that the same concerns that prompted the need for the White jury instruction – that a defendant could be convicted of both kidnapping and robbery when he is only guilty of robbery – are not implicated when a defendant is charged with kidnapping some victims, while robbing others.
The kidnapping of one or more victims, the Court held, can never be “essentially incidental” to an offense perpetrated against a different victim or victims, and thus, a White jury instruction is not required for such situations. Accordingly, the Court affirmed all of Teats’ kidnapping convictions and the three of Williams’ five kidnapping convictions in which the victims were not also named in the accompanying robbery charges.
Justice Gary R. Wade filed dissenting opinions in both cases, maintaining that the White jury instruction was required by long-standing principles of due process.
Justice Holly Kirby also filed a separate opinion in State v. Teats, agreeing with the result reached by the Court but voicing her concern with the underlying standard that the due process clause of Tennessee’s constitution requires the State to prove more than the statutory elements of the crime of kidnapping when certain other crimes are also charged.
To read the majority opinion in State v. Jerome Maurice Teats and State v. Ricco R. Williams, authored by Chief Justice Lee, and the separate opinions of Justice Wade and Justice Kirby, visit the opinions sections of TNCourts.gov.