State of Tennessee v. Jason Doty

The Defendant, Jason Doty, was indicted by the Shelby County Grand Jury in count one for aggravated child abuse and in count two for “aggravated child neglect or endangerment” based on injuries that occurred to his three-month-old son. Following a jury trial, the Defendant was convicted of the lesser offense of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony, in count one and the indicted offense of “aggravated child neglect or endangerment,” a Class A felony, in count two. After merging the reckless aggravated assault conviction into the aggravated child neglect or endangerment conviction, the trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to twenty-five years at 85 percent in the Department of Correction. The Defendant raises the following five issues on appeal: (1) Whether the trial court issued incomplete and misleading jury instructions that violated his constitutional right to a unanimous jury verdict; (2) Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain his conviction; (3) Whether the trial court erred by not allowing the Defendant to cross-examine the State’s child abuse medical expert about a prior dependency and neglect case involving the victim in which a juvenile court magistrate had found the expert’s opinion less credible than the opinion of the opposing expert witness; (4) Whether the jury’s verdicts finding the Defendant guilty of both reckless aggravated assault and aggravated child neglect are mutually exclusive; and (5) Whether the trial court imposed an excessive sentence. Following our review, we conclude that the conviction in count two must be reversed and remanded for a new trial because the Defendant’s right to a unanimous verdict was violated. The Defendant’s conviction for reckless aggravated assault is affirmed.