State of Tennessee v. Wendall Curtis Doree, M2015-00395-CCA-R3-CD

Defendant Wendall Curtis Doree and co-defendant Joshua Gregg entered victim Karen Langer’s rural home armed and masked and took property including a flat-screen TV, laptop, and an antique .410 rifle.
During the burglary/robbery Gregg kept a gun pointed at the victim, forced her into a bathroom briefly, disabled house phones, broke her cell phone, and the defendants took vehicle keys and drove away in one of her vehicles.
The defendants transported and concealed the stolen items; the television was later found in Doree’s house (serial plate removed) and the rifle was recovered buried on Gregg’s property.
Doree was convicted by a jury of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, unlawful use of a firearm during a dangerous offense, theft over $1,000, and facilitation of vandalism; total effective sentence 22 years (some counts merged/concurrent/ consecutive as described).
On appeal Doree challenged only the sufficiency of the evidence for especially aggravated kidnapping, arguing under State v. White that the confinement was incidental to the robbery and therefore insufficient to support a separate kidnapping conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Doree)	Held
Whether evidence sufficiently proved especially aggravated kidnapping distinct from aggravated robbery	The confinement/removal exceeded that necessary to commit the robbery: defendants disabled phones, took computer and keys, confined victim briefly, and intended to prevent her from summoning help and reduce detection	Confinement was trivial/brief, inherent to the robbery, victim not left in dangerous situation, and post-entry detention wasn’t accomplished with a weapon because guns left with perpetrators	Court affirmed: evidence was sufficient; confinement was more than incidental under White and prevented summoning assistance and reduced risk of detection

State v. White, 362 S.W.3d 559 (Tenn. 2012) (lays out jury instruction and factors to determine when confinement/removal exceeds that necessary to commit accompanying felony)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (establishes the standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence)
State v. Tuggle, 639 S.W.2d 913 (Tenn. 1982) (conviction replaces presumption of innocence on appeal)
State v. Williams, 657 S.W.2d 405 (Tenn. 1983) (appellate review gives State strongest legitimate view of evidence)
State v. Pruett, 788 S.W.2d 559 (Tenn. 1990) (credibility and weight of evidence are jury functions)
State v. Dorantes, 331 S.W.3d 370 (Tenn. 2011) (sufficiency standard applies equally to circumstantial evidence)