State of Tennessee v. Verdell L. Williams, Jr.

06/26/2025 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs April 8, 2025 STATE OF TENNESSEE v. VERDELL L. WILLIAMS, JR. Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2017-B-1124 Mark J. Fishburn, Judge ___________________________________ No. M2024-00330-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________ The Defendant, Verdell L. Williams, Jr., was convicted in a Davidson County Criminal Court bench trial of four counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of attempted aggravated robbery. The sole issue he raises on appeal is whether the evidence was sufficient to establish his identity as one of the perpetrators of the crimes. Based on our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed JOHN W. CAMPBELL, SR., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, JR., and JILL BARTEE AYERS, JJ., joined. Nathan Cate, Nashville, Tennessee (on appeal), and Sean McKinney, Nashville, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, Verdell L. Williams, Jr. Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Caroline Weldon, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Brian Ewald, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION FACTS At approximately 8:14 p.m. on June 26, 2015, three masked African American men dressed in black rushed into the H.G. Hill store in Goodlettsville shouting commands at the cashier, Maya Shell, to “get down” and then to get back up to open the cash register, and at customer Holli Corn to get on the floor. At least one of the men was armed with a handgun, which he held to Ms. Shell’s back as she opened the cash register. When Ms. Corn peeked around the corner to see if the men had gone, the gunman pointed his gun directly at Ms. Corn’s face. After taking money from the cash register and Ms. Shell’s purse, the men departed in a white Mazda 6, the driver of which was waiting for them outside the store. Approximately forty-five minutes later, the same group of men rushed into the Piggly Wiggly store on Goodlettsville Road. All three were armed with handguns. One of them pointed his gun at the cashier as he ordered her to open the office door and to take the money out of her register. The store’s assistant manager, Stephanie Davenport, who was in the locked office counting cash in preparation for closing, saw what was happening through the office’s two-way mirror and opened the door for fear that the men would hurt the cashier if they could not get inside. One of the gunmen rushed into the office and ordered Ms. Davenport at gunpoint to open the store’s safes. As the gunman was removing the cash from the safes, he ordered Ms. Davenport to hold the door open. A second gunman then ordered her to get down on the floor. When the men first rushed in, customer Amber Brewer Richardson was in the checkout line with a $20 bill in her hand ready to pay the cashier. The men ordered her and a second customer, Shana Smith, onto the floor. As Ms. Richardson lay on the floor, one of the men removed the $20 bill from her hand. The men also took Ms. Richardson’s purse, which she had left at the cash register. One of the men knelt with his knee on Ms. Smith’s back as he rummaged through her purse, but nothing was taken from Ms. Smith. The men then fled in the same getaway vehicle. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (“MNPD”) officers spotted the vehicle as it was fleeing the Piggly Wiggly, followed, lost sight of it, and then doubled back to find it abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The vehicle was registered to the Defendant’s wife, Netay Williams. The Defendant’s cell phone was inside the vehicle, along with gloves, a mask, Ms. Richardson’s purse, and a sales receipt for a bottle of water that Ms. Shell had bought earlier that day. At the urgent request of several of the Defendant’s family members, Ms. Williams, who was in Florida at the time of the crimes, attempted to report her vehicle stolen that night, and then to have the Defendant’s cousin, Jacquita Daughetery, report the vehicle stolen. Ms. Williams was ultimately successful in reporting the vehicle stolen after she returned to Nashville to meet in person with a police officer. Several months later, Alonzo King was arrested and gave a statement identifying himself, the Defendant, Marquis Neal, and Jontarius Sanders as participants in the crimes. Ms. Williams and the Defendant were both arrested a few days later, and Ms. Williams -2- gave a statement in whi