Traffic incident near Chattanooga under review by Tennessee Supreme Court

The Tennessee Supreme Court is currently considering whether a person can be convicted of a crime that explicitly involved a deadly weapon when the victim was unaware of the presence of a deadly weapon, following a 2018 road rage incident near Chattanooga.

William Rimmel III used a handgun to smash Bobbie Burke’s car window on Interstate 24 in August 2018. The state’s highest court on Wednesday heard arguments in Rimmel’s appeal of his criminal conviction related to the encounter.

“This case raises fascinating and interesting facts and raises new, if perhaps at first glance, surprising legal questions,” Patrick McNally, Rimmel’s attorney, said during a livestream of the hearing.

Rimmel was driving a Ninja motorcycle and Burke was driving a Honda Civic on Aug. 12, 2018, the appeal states.

They accused each other of forcing their respective vehicles off the road. When both vehicles stopped, Burke drove into the back of Rimmel’s motorcycle.

Rimmel approached her passenger window and smashed it with a steel object, the appeal states. Rimmel used a pistol to do this, but Burke was unaware of this during the encounter.

(READ MORE: Tennessee governor approves bill imposing death penalty for child rape convictions)

A jury found Rimmel guilty of attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, vandalism and attempted carjacking, the appeal file said. He was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in prison, followed by two years of probation.

The key question is whether Rimmel intended to use his handgun to instill in Burke a reasonable, imminent fear of bodily harm, even though Burke had no knowledge of the weapon, McNally said.

Rimmel’s convictions for attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon should be overturned, McNally said.

He allegedly used the gun to break the window to get into Burke’s car so she wouldn’t drive over his motorcycle, McNally said.

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“If his sole intention was to gain access to the vehicle, he could have knocked on the window and politely asked her to open the door,” Judge Sarah K. Campbell said. “I mean, this whole sequence of events was clearly designed to put the victim in fear of physical harm.”

But what makes the case are the events that didn’t happen, McNally says.

Rimmel never pointed the gun at her, threatened her with it, or shot her. Burke didn’t even know he had the gun, he said.

“Our position is that there has to be a connection between the firearm and the fear instilled in the person,” McNally said.

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Gabriel Krimm, a prosecutor with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, said the victim’s awareness is irrelevant. The crime in question is intended to punish conduct that is reckless with human life, and that is exactly what happened in Rimmel’s case, Krimm said.

Rimmel’s appointment will be discussed in the coming weeks.

“Would it have made a difference if it had been brick? A stick? A piece of steel? A thug? A baseball bat?” said Judge Dwight E. Tarwater.

Contact Sofia Saric at [email protected] or 423-757-6476.

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey / The Tennessee Supreme Court building is shown in Nashville in 2020.