A man convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter by a Rutherford County Grand Jury has filed an appeal suggesting the courts made an error in the length of his sentencing.

German Calles, who was also convicted on four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, one count of especially aggravated burglary and two counts of having a weapon in the commission of a felony... received an effective sentence of twenty-six years in prison.

The conviction stems from a home invasion that occurred in LaVergne four years ago (details below).

Despite Calles asking for the chance of lowering the number of years behind bars, the Appeal Court would not budge and agreed with the trial court. So, Calles will remain in prison.

Details of the case (Court Documents):

The evening of February 6, 2014, the victims, Sara and Rick Smith, were watching television at their home in La Vergne, Tennessee, when a woman knocked on their door. Mr. Smith answered, and the woman asked to use the telephone because her car had broken down at a nearby church. Mr. Smith invited the woman inside, she used his cellular phone, and Mr. Smith drove the woman back to the church. When they arrived, the woman's car was not there, so Mr. Smith instead dropped her off at a nearby restaurant.

Mr. Smith returned home, began telling his wife about the strange occurrence, and heard another knock on his door. When he opened the door, Mr. Smith saw a man with a gun, and another man pulled him outside by his shirt. One of the men repeatedly hit Mr. Smith in the head with something metal. Mr. Smith fought with the aggressor in an attempt to keep his wife safe and was eventually shot in the back.

During the altercation, Mrs. Smith went outside to check on her husband and saw him on the sidewalk in front of their home being repeatedly hit in the head by a man. The defendant, who wore sunglasses and a hat, then struck Mrs. Smith in the head with a gun, causing her to collapse and momentarily lose consciousness. When she awoke, Mrs. Smith saw her husband and the man were still fighting. She heard three gunshots, saw a flash of light, and realized her husband had been shot. One of the bullets also hit the victims' vehicle, which was parked in the driveway. Mrs. Smith crawled inside the house, locked the door, and called 911.

While Mrs. Smith was on the phone with the 911 operator, Mr. Smith crawled to the front door, knocked, and Mrs. Smith let him inside. Mr. Smith was bleeding profusely from his head and back. Mrs. Smith was also bleeding from her head and had sustained a mild concussion. The victims were transported via separate ambulances to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville. Mr. Smith underwent emergency surgery and subsequently learned the bullet traveled into his back, through part of a kidney, through his liver, and became lodged in his pelvis. The surgeon could not remove the bullet during the surgery because it was "too risky." Mrs. Smith received numerous stitches in her head and remained at the hospital for monitoring due to the concussion.

Source:

Court Case No. M2017-01552-CCA-R3-CD