State of Tennessee v. Scott Bradley Price

The Defendant, Scott Bradley Price, was convicted by a Madison County Circuit Court
jury of theft of property valued at $2,500 or more but less than $10,000 and was sentenced
by the trial court as a Range II offender to eight years in the Tennessee Department of
Correction. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and argues
that the trial court erred in not instructing the jury on unauthorized use of a vehicle as a
lesser-included offense. We conclude that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury’s
verdict. We further conclude that the trial court erred in not instructing the jury on the
unauthorized use of a vehicle as a lesser-included offense, but that the failure to charge the
lesser-included offense was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because no reasonable
jury would have convicted the Defendant of the lesser-included offense under the facts of
this case. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.