Preview:

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
March 12, 2002 Session STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAMOND LAVONZELL MACON and KENNETH RAY WOODS
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Madison County No. 00-380 Donald H. Allen, Judge

No. W2001-02706-CCA-R3-CD - Filed May 3, 2002

The defendants, Damond Lavonzell Macon and Kenneth Ray Woods, entered pleas of guilt to possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the defendant Macon received concurrent sentences of 11 months and 29 days on each count, suspended after six months; the defendant Woods received concurrent sentences of 11 months and 29 days, all of which was to be served on unsupervised probation. The charge against Woods for disobeying a stop sign was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. The defendants reserved for appeal the question of whether the stop was based upon a reasonable suspicion supported by specific and articulable facts. See Tenn. R. Crim. P. 37. The judgments are affirmed. Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgments of the Trial Court Affirmed GARY R. WADE, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which NORMA MCGEE OGLE and ALAN E. GLENN, JJ., joined. Joe H. Byrd, Jr., Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Damond Lavonzell Macon. C. Mark Donahoe, Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Kenneth Ray Woods. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Kim R. Helper, Assistant Attorney General; and Shaun A. Brown, District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION On December 4, 1999, between 9:00 and 10:00 P.M., Officer Jeff Shepherd, a narcotics investigator with the Jackson Police Department, observed the defendants' car enter Riverside Drive in Jackson from a residential driveway. It was dark and there were no other vehicles on the roadway. Officer Shepherd, who was following the vehicle "at a safe distance," was driving approximately 45 miles per hour. The officer detected the smell of burning marijuana emanating from the car and, when the defendant Woods drove through a stop sign, the officer initiated a stop. As he approached the driver's side of the vehicle, the officer noticed Woods trying to conceal a pack of rolling papers

between the door and the driver's seat. The defendant Macon, who was in the passenger's seat, attempted to conceal a burning, hand-rolled cigar between the two front seats. Officer Shepherd detected a strong odor of marijuana on Macon's person and, while conducting a search for weapons, found two marijuana cigarettes and part of another hidden in his crotch area. The cigar seized from between the seats contained marijuana. The officer found rolling papers in the defendant Woods's hand and, during a pat down search, found an additional pack of rolling papers in his jacket pocket. At the suppression hearing, Officer Shepherd testified that he believed the defendants' car windows were partially open. He acknowledged, however, that he had decided to stop the defendants' car as soon as he smelled the marijuana, shortly before Woods failed to observe the stop sign. The defendant Woods testified that neither he nor the defendant Macon had been smoking marijuana on the night of their arrests. Gaye Scarborough testified that a drug test given to Macon two days after the arrest was negative. She acknowledged that, because the result was negative, the sample was not sent to the laboratory for screening. The trial court overruled the motion to suppress, concluding that the officer had a reasonable suspicion that a criminal offense had been committed. It ruled that the failure to stop at the stop sign, coupled with the officer's having previously smelled marijuana, justified the stop of the vehicle. The trial court concluded that once the vehicle was stopped and the officer observed the defendants' attempts to conceal items in the car, a more extensive search of the defendants was warranted. Both the state and federal constitutions protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures; the general rule is that a warrantless search or seizure is presumed unreasonable and any evidence discovered subject to suppression. U.S. Const. amend. IV; Tenn. Const. art. I,

Download MaconWoods.pdf

Tennessee Law