Jury Convicts Petty of Aggravated Burglary and Theft

A 54 year old Smithville man who allegedly broke into a residence last year stood trial and was convicted in DeKalb County Criminal Court Wednesday.
After deliberating for less than an hour, a jury of six men and six women found David Michael Petty guilty of aggravated burglary and theft of property over $1,000 as charged in the indictment against him.
A sentencing hearing will be held on January 7th. Petty will be held in jail without bond until the hearing.
Because Petty has six previous felony convictions, Assistant District Attorney General Stephanie Johnson told WJLE after the trial that she will ask the court to sentence him as a career offender. A penalty which carries a maximum of fifteen years in prison.
A co-defendant in the case, 44 year old Anthony Lynn Colwell pled guilty in July to aggravated burglary and received a TDOC sentence of eleven years at 45% before parole eligibility. The term is to run concurrently with a Warren County case against him. He was given two days of jail credit.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said at the time of their arrests that on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 Petty and Colwell broke into a residence on Man Hill Road and stole a jewelry box containing several items of jewelry which were later pawned at a local jewelry store and at a pawn shop in Warren County.
Testifying for the state were the victims in the case, the manager of the pawn shop in McMinnville where some of the jewelry was pawned, and Detective Robert Patrick of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.
Petty did not testify himself but his wife took the witness stand on his behalf. Petty’s defense essentially was that while he sold the property, he did not commit the burglary and theft. But Assistant D.A. Johnson said that doesn’t matter. “In Tennessee when you benefit from a crime that is committed you’re responsible for that crime as well,” she told WJLE.
Petty was represented in the case by attorney Michael Auffinger.