State of Tennessee v. Thaddeus Morris

The defendant, Thaddeus Morris, was convicted of three counts of assault, three counts of reckless aggravated assault, one count of aggravated robbery, and one count of carjacking following a jury trial. The trial court merged the three assault convictions with the three reckless aggravated assault convictions and the aggravated robbery conviction with the carjacking conviction. The defendant was sentenced to seven years, six months for each of the reckless aggravated assault convictions, with two of the sentences to be served concurrently and the third to be served consecutively. For the carjacking conviction, the trial court sentenced the defendant to twelve years to be served consecutively to the third reckless aggravated assault sentence, for an effective sentence of twenty-seven years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant argues: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for carjacking and aggravated robbery; (2) the trial court erred by not including "moral certainty" in its jury instruction on reasonable doubt; (3) cumulative error occurred during the trial; and (4) the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentencing. After a careful review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.