State of Tennessee v. Kristopher Pappas

Summary

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed Kristopher Pappas’s convictions for aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment arising from a shooting in a Subway parking lot. The court held that aggravated assault was improperly instructed as a lesser-included offense of attempted second degree murder, reversed that conviction, and remanded for a new trial on attempted voluntary manslaughter. The court affirmed the reckless-endangerment conviction and the denial of judicial diversion as to that count.

Holdings

1. Aggravated assault by causing serious bodily injury is not a lesser-included offense of attempted second degree murder under the Tennessee Supreme Court's Burns test. The trial court therefore breached a clear and unequivocal rule of law by instructing the jury to consider aggravated assault as a lesser-included offense.
2. Plain-error relief was warranted because the record clearly established the error, a clear rule of law was breached, Pappas's constitutional right to notice of the charge was violated, the issue was not waived for tactical reasons, and correction was necessary to achieve substantial justice.
3. The aggravated-assault conviction must be reversed and vacated, and Count 1 must be remanded for a new trial on a proper lesser-included offense, beginning with attempted voluntary manslaughter. Double jeopardy bars retrial for attempted second degree murder because the jury acquitted Pappas of that charged offense.
4. The evidence was sufficient to support the reckless-endangerment conviction because Pappas fired a gun multiple times in a parking lot containing numerous people, placing others in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. The jury was entitled to reject his self-defense claim.
5. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying judicial diversion because it considered and weighed the required factors, stated its findings on the record, and substantial evidence supported the decision.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court plainly erred by instructing the jury that aggravated assault by causing serious bodily injury was a lesser-included offense of attempted second degree murder.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the reckless-endangerment-with-a-deadly-weapon conviction in light of Pappas's claim of self-defense.
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying judicial diversion.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded