Tennessee Supreme Court Has Several Criminal Cases On the Docket
One of the most difficult things about the practice of law is that the law is constantly evolving. Even laws that have been worded exactly the same way for hundreds of years are always being reinterpreted and laws that seem to have plain meaning can be a source of controversy when they are applied to complicated or novel factual scenarios. Some such controversies make their way to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which has several notable criminal cases on its upcoming docket.
One case, styled State v. Swift presents an interesting fact situation that calls for an interpretation of Tennessee’s aggravated robbery statute. The issue presented in this case is whether the evidence is sufficient to justify convicting the defendant of aggravated robbery where the violence or intimidation occurred after the taking that constituted the robbery was complete. If the evidence is insufficient, the defendant seems likely to be convicted of theft and aggravated assault, which could potentially result in a much lower sentence for the defendant than would the aggravated robbery charge.
The source of the controversy in this case seems to stem from the fact that Tennessee’s robbery statute defines robbery as intentional or knowing theft of property from the person of another by violence or putting the person in fear. In Swift, the defendant is apparently arguing that his use of violence or intimidation occurred after he took the property in question, meaning the robbery was not accomplished “by” the use of force or intimidation, but rather the violence or intimidation was a separate action that occurred after the robbery was already completed.
This argument is also probably the reason that the defendant stands to be convicted of the two separate offenses of theft and aggravated assault if the aggravated robbery charge is overturned. This is an extremely literal reading of the statute and the outcome of the case could depend on whether the court decides to adopt a literal or practical approach to interpretation of the aggravated robbery statute. It will be interesting to see the approach taken by the Tennessee Supreme Court in this case, as the result could have a substantial impact on how Tennessee’s criminal statutes are interpreted in the future.
Source: State v. Swift, 35 TAM 07-01 and 33 TAM 40-17 (Tenn.Cr.App.2008)
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