G'Wayne Williams v. State of Tennessee

The Petitioner, G’wayne Williams, appeals the Lauderdale County Circuit Court’s denial
of his post-conviction petition, seeking relief from his convictions for three counts of rape
of a child, a Class A felony; three counts of rape, a Class B felony; three counts of statutory
rape by an authority figure, a Class C felony; six counts of incest, a Class C felony; three
counts of aggravated statutory rape, a Class D felony; and two counts of violating the sex
offender registry, a Class E felony, and resulting effective sentence of sixty-four years in
confinement. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that trial counsel was ineffective for
failing to file a pretrial motion to sever the counts for violating the sex offender registry,
which prejudiced the jury, and for failing to make contemporaneous objections and
preserve objections to inadmissible evidence in his motion for new trial, which resulted in
waiver on direct appeal. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.