State of Tennessee v. Cardis Terran Burns

Defendant, Cardis Terran Burns, appeals his convictions of multiple drug offenses and driving offenses. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court improperly admitted text messages from a phone seized during a traffic stop. While the appeal was pending, Defendant died. Counsel for Defendant filed a motion to abate ab initio. After the release of State v. Al Mutory, 581 S.W.3d 741 (Tenn. 2019), this Court denied Defendant’s motion and determined that the appeal should proceed despite Defendant’s death. After our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court but remand for entry of a new judgment form to correct a clerical error to reflect that the conviction for possession of methamphetamine in a drug free zone with intent to deliver (count 4) merged with the conviction for possession of methamphetamine in a drug free zone with intent to sell (count 3).