Brandon Vandenburg v. State of Tennessee

The Petitioner, Brandon Vandenburg, appeals from the Davidson County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his convictions for four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of unlawful photography of the victim. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred by denying relief on his claims alleging that he received ineffective assistance of counsel by (1) lead counsel’s failure to have a witness qualified as an expert psychiatrist at trial, (2) lead counsel’s failure to introduce prior bad act evidence regarding the Petitioner’s codefendants at trial, and (3) lead counsel’s failure to have the Petitioner’s voicemail to Mr. Quinzio admitted as an exhibit at trial. The Petitioner also raises freestanding post-conviction claims, arguing that the trial court violated the Petitioner’s protection against double jeopardy by (1) allowing him to be retried on amended charges after jeopardy had attached and (2) allowing the State to proceed with a superseding indictment without disposing of the original indictment. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.