State vs. Christopher Bengston

The defendant, Christopher Bengtson, was convicted by a McMinn County jury of three counts of reckless endangerment committed with a deadly weapon, a Class E felony. In this appeal as of right, the defendant raises two issues: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient as a matter of law to support the verdict; and (2) whether the trial court erred in failing to merge the three counts into one. We conclude that the evidence was sufficient as a matter of law for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of felony reckless endangerment. We agree with the defendant and the State that the three counts constituted a single course of conduct and should have been merged into one. We therefore affirm the felony reckless endangerment conviction for count one of the indictment but vacate the convictions for counts two and three.