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State v. Peek5/3/2000
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he imposition of consecutive sentences on an offender found to be a dangerous offender requires, in addition to the application of general principles of sentencing, the finding that an extended sentence is necessary to protect the public against further criminal conduct by the defendant and that the consecutive sentences must reasonably relate to the severity of the offenses committed.
Id. at 939. This requirement of additional findings has been recently limited to criteria (4). See State v. Lane, 3 S.W.3d 456 (Tenn. 1999). The record in this case fully supports the trial court's determination that criterion (4) should apply to run the sentences consecutively. The defendant's crimes occurred over a period of approximately eighteen months during which time he stalked at least one woman who thwarted him, Rebecca Adams. The offenses involved terrorizing his victims by grabbing them from behind or dragging them from beds and blindfolding all but one victim; threatening physical harm; using a knife in at least two instances; and shoving and slamming two victims against walls. His behavior in court - winking at one victim, sticking his tongue out at another, raising his hand for the jury - all indicated a complete lack of remorse or regard for the lives of his victims. The public clearly needs to be protected from this defendant. His trial on March 9, 1998, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on two counts, one for rape and one for attempted rape, on federal park land indicated that these rapes were continuing acts of a dangerous person. The ordering of consecutive sentences was also appropriate given the severity of these offenses.
We conclude that the trial court did not err in ordering that defendant serve his sentences as to each victim consecutively.
CONCLUSION
Having found no reversible error, we affirm the convictions and sentences of the trial court.
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