State of Tennessee v. Clarence W. Carter

The Defendant, Clarence W. Carter, was tried and convicted of one count of conspiracy to sell cocaine and one count of possession of cocaine. He was sentenced as a Range II, multiple offender to consecutive sentences of thirty-two years for the conspiracy conviction and sixteen years for the possession conviction. This Court affirmed the Defendant's convictions and sentences on direct appeal. See State v. Clarence W. Carter, No. M2000-02230-CCA-R3-CD, 2002 WL 31370469 (Tenn. Crim. App., Nashville, Oct. 21, 2002). The Tennessee Supreme Court granted review, and upheld the Defendant's convictions and sentence on the possession conviction, but determined the trial court committed error in sentencing the Defendant as a Range II offender for his conspiracy conviction when he did not receive notice of intent to seek enhanced punishment by the State in the superceding indictment under which he was tried. See State v. Carter, 121 S.W.3d 579 (Tenn. 2003). Upon remand, the Defendant was re-sentenced on his conspiracy conviction as a Range I, standard offender to twenty-five years imprisonment to be served consecutively to his prior sentences. In this appeal the Defendant raises two issues, claiming that upon re-sentencing the trial court erred by: 1) imposing an excessive sentence for his conspiracy conviction, and 2) imposing consecutive sentencing. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.