RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN - 30-Year-old Steven Ray Crockett, the defendant in a Rutherford County Circuit Court case, appealed his jury conviction of aggravated robbery. Crockett contested the sufficiency of evidence supporting his conviction and argued that the trial court made errors in imposing a 12-year sentence, ordering consecutive sentencing due to a previous felony conviction in Virginia, and accrediting only a portion of his pretrial time served in jail.
Upon review, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee found that the trial court's imposition of consecutive sentencing was unnecessary and that it failed to properly credit Crockett's pretrial time served. Consequently, the appellate court reversed the decision and remanded the case for the entry of a corrected judgment on these issues. However, the appellate court affirmed the trial court's judgment in all other aspects.
During the trial held in May of 2021, a witness testified that she worked as a cashier at a Mapco gas station in LaVergne. She recounted an incident on November 9, 2016, where Crockett entered the store, brandishing a loaded revolver and demanding money from the cash register. The witness complied, and Crockett fled the scene in a red Chevrolet SUV. The victim reported the crime to 911 and later identified Crockett from a photographic array.
At Crockett's sentencing hearing in Murfreesboro in November of 2021, it was established that he was a Range I offender. Crockett's counsel presented evidence of his schizophrenia diagnosis and the positive effects of his treatment. Additionally, letters from family and pastors were submitted in support of Crockett. Crockett requested credit for the time served in jail from his arrest in November 2016 to his conviction in September 2021.
The trial court sentenced Crockett to 12 years in confinement, considering the aggravating factors of the crime and the requirement for consecutive sentencing due to his previous conviction. However, the court's decision to credit Crockett's time served only after May 8, 2018, was deemed erroneous by the appellate court.
In his appeal, Judge James Curtwood Witt, Jr. wrote, "...we cannot say that the record supports the trial court’s decision to only accredit the defendant’s time served beginning on May 9, 2018, nearly one-and-a-half years after his initial arrest and incarceration."
The Clerk of the Appellate Courts filed the documents for the appeal on January 31, 2024. Crockett's case will now undergo further proceedings to address the errors identified by the appellate court.
Source: No. M2023-00388-CCA-R3-CD
