James Darrell Horn v.State of Tennessee

The petitioner, James Darrell Horn, appeals the Sullivan County Criminal Court's denial of post-conviction relief. In his post-conviction petition, the petitioner challenged his jury convictions on more than 30 aggravated burglary counts and nearly as many theft counts. As a result of his many convictions, the petitioner is serving an effective 90-year sentence in the Department of Correction. On direct appeal, his convictions and sentences were affirmed by this court. See State v. James D. Horn, No. 03C01-9712-CR-00537 (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, Jul. 20, 1999), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 2000). The petitioner asserted that his previous appellate counsel was ineffective because she did not raise on direct appeal whether the trial court (1) erred in not suppressing the petitioner's pretrial statements and (2) in not suppressing physical evidence seized during a warrantless search of his residence. He also claimed that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective because they did not properly challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on three or four specific counts of the indictments. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered a very thorough order denying post-conviction relief. Upon our review, we affirm.