Assigned on Briefs October 3, 2017
Appeal
from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. 15-01136
Carolyn W. Blackett, Judge
The
Defendant, Kevin Turner, was convicted by a Shelby County
Criminal Court jury of aggravated robbery, a Class B felony,
and was sentenced to eight years in the Tennessee Department
of Correction. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of
the convicting evidence. After review, we affirm the judgment
of the trial court.
Tenn.
R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal
Court Affirmed
Shannon M. Davis (on appeal and at trial) and Patience
Branham (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant,
Kevin Turner.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Ruth
Anne Thompson, Senior Counsel; Amy P. Weirich, District
Attorney General; and Paul Goodman, Assistant District
Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Alan
E. Glenn, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which
John Everett Williams and Norma McGee Ogle, JJ., joined.
OPINION
ALAN
E. GLENN, JUDGE.
FACTS
The
Defendant was indicted for the aggravated robbery of the
victim, John Mayfield, which occurred during the early
morning hours of September 29, 2014.
At
trial, the victim testified that in September 2014, he worked
at a Target store as a stocker and lived in the Ridgecrest
Apartments in Memphis. The victim described that the
apartments were "[k]ind of [in] a bad neighborhood,
" and he was often concerned about his safety and that
of his family. "Because the area that [he] lived in was
not safe, " the victim sometimes carried a gun. The
victim knew of the Defendant from the apartment complex by
the nickname "King."
On
September 29, 2014, the victim was leaving to go to work
around 3:45 or 4:00 a.m. when he saw the Defendant and
another man whom he did not know sitting on the steps outside
his apartment. The previous day, the victim and the Defendant
had spoken, and their conversation revolved around the
victim's gun and the fact that the victim had a permit
allowing him to carry it with him. The morning of the
incident, the victim and the Defendant engaged in a casual
conversation during which the "other guy came up behind
[him] and put [a] gun to [his] back." Although the
victim did not see the gun at this time, based on his
familiarity with guns, he was sure it was a gun pressed to
his back, and he feared for his life. The men told the victim
to give them his gun, and the Defendant also took $30 cash
from him.
The
Defendant and the other man walked to a black SUV in the
parking lot and drove off. The victim could see the second
man's gun as the men were walking to the car. The victim
returned to his apartment and left the magazine with bullets
that had been in his back pocket. Because he did not want to
lose his job, the victim went to work but called the police
once he arrived.
The
victim testified that the police came to Target to speak with
him, and a detective later asked him to review photographs in
an effort to identify his assailants. The victim identified
the Defendant's photograph as one of the men who robbed
him. However, he elaborated that the Defendant had tattoos on
his face at the time of the robbery but did not in the
...