Senator's Daughter Victim of Carjacking
For whatever reason, carjacking offenses seem to be frequenting the headlines as of late. A carjacking recently dominated the news in East Tennessee when it was the first act allegedly committed by the defendants in the Christian-Newsom murders in Knoxville in order to kidnap the victims. More recently, the daughter of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker was the victim of a carjacking while traveling to her family’s apartment in the Washington D.C. area. She apparently stopped at an intersection when she was approached by someone, dragged from her Chevy Tahoe, and thrown to the ground. The suspects then drove off in the Tahoe, but it was found later that night and the suspects were arrested.
Carjacking is appropriately classified under the “robbery” offenses in Tennessee’s criminal code. It is defined as the intentional or knowing taking of a motor vehicle from the possession of another by the use of force, intimidation, or a deadly weapon. Throwing someone to the ground and stealing their car would thus fall clearly within the language of the statute.
Carjacking is a class B felony, punishable by eight to thirty years in prison and a fine not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars, which, ironically, is a large enough sum of money to buy the offender a perfectly good vehicle of his or her own. It should be noted that under the language of the statute, no weapon of any kind is required in order to commit a carjacking. Merely yelling at a victim to get out of the car, thereby intimidating the victim, is sufficient.
Carjacking is an extremely serious offense in Tennessee, falling in the same classification as offenses like Aggravated Robbery, Rape, and Aggravated Sexual Battery. Part of the reason it is punished so harshly is because it is a crime that often leads to other crimes, evident from scenarios like the Christian-Newsom murders. Tennessee thus has a strong incentive to discourage such conduct in order to avoid both carjacking and the myriad of offenses, such as kidnapping and murder, that may result.
Source: http://news.aol.com/article/daughter-of-sen-bob-corker-ok-after-dc/800084
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