Aaron T. James v. State of Tennessee

The Petitioner, Aaron T. James, appeals the Davidson County Criminal Court’s denial of post-conviction relief from his conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping and resulting sixty-year sentence. He contends that the trial court committed plain error by (1) failing to instruct the jury on the need for unanimity as to the theory of guilt, (2) failing to require the State to elect a theory of guilt, and (3) failing to correct the prosecutor’s misstatement of law during closing argument. He also contends that (4) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to or request corrections for the first three issues and (5) appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to raise these issues on appeal. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.