State of Tennessee v. Gary Dwayne Johnson

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, Gary Dwayne Johnson, was convicted of one count of reckless endangerment, a Class E felony, one count of robbery, a Class C felony, one count of assault, a Class A misdemeanor, two counts of carjacking, Class B felonies, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, a Class A felony, and one count of felony escape, a Class E felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-101(b)(1), -13-103, -13-305(b)(1), -13-401(b), -13-404(b), -16-605(b)(2). The trial court found that the Defendant was a career offender and sentenced him to the following terms: six years for his reckless endangerment conviction, fifteen years for his robbery conviction, eleven months and twenty-nine days for his assault conviction, thirty years for each carjacking conviction, sixty years as a violent offender for his especially aggravated kidnapping conviction, and six years for his felony escape conviction. The trial court merged the Defendant’s convictions for reckless endangerment and robbery and ordered that all of his convictions, except the misdemeanor, run consecutively for a total effective sentence of 141 years. In this direct appeal, the Defendant raises the following issues for review: (1) The evidence presented at trial was not sufficient to sustain his convictions for reckless endangerment, robbery, assault, and carjacking; (2) The trial court erred when it sentenced him as a career offender and when it ordered that his sentences run consecutively; and (3) The trial court erred when it denied the Defendant’s motion to dismiss his Trial Counsel before the sentencing hearing. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.