State of Tennessee v. Justin Bradley Haynie

A jury convicted the Defendants, Justin Bradley Haynie, Jonathan Anthony Morris, and Judson F. Ouzts, of one count of possession of over .5 grams of cocaine with the intent to deliver, a Class B felony, and one count of possession of alprazolam with the intent to deliver, a Class D felony. Defendants Haynie and Morris were both sentenced to eight years and ten months for the cocaine conviction and to a concurrent, two-year sentence for the alprazolam conviction. Defendant Ouzts was sentenced to eight years for the cocaine conviction; in all other regards, his sentence was the same. Each Defendant was ordered to complete his sentence through the Community Corrections Program after serving part of the sentence in the county jail. In this appeal, the Defendants collectively raise three issues: (1) whether the trial court erred by denying the Defendants’ pretrial motions to suppress the evidence recovered from a search of Defendant Ouzts’s vehicle; (2) whether the evidence was sufficient to support their convictions; and (3) whether the State’s closing argument was improperly prejudicial. Defendant Ouzts raises two additional issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in allowing testimony amounting to a legal conclusion; and (2) whether a juror’s bias required a new trial. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court on the cocaine convictions, but we reverse the judgments entered on the alprazolam convictions and remand for resentencing and proceedings consistent with this opinion.