Nathan Chaleunsak v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Nathan Chaleunsak, appeals the denial of post-conviction relief from his 2015 guilty-pleaded conviction of second degree murder, for which he received an agreed, out-of-range sentence of thirty years to be served at 100%. The Petitioner sought post-conviction relief, asserting that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty plea was not voluntarily and knowingly entered. Following a hearing, the postconviction court denied relief. After review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Dustin Lucio v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Dustin Lucio, appeals from the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. Petitioner was convicted by a jury of aggravated rape and sentenced by the trial court to 23 years in confinement to be served at 100 percent release eligibility. Petitioner’s conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. State v. Dustin Matthew Lucio, No. E2014-00642-CCA-R3-CD, 2015 WL 1510830 (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar. 31, 2015), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Aug. 13, 2015). Petitioner contends that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to include in the record on appeal a transcript of the hearing on the State’s motion in limine. In that motion, the State sought to exclude from evidence the victim’s medical records showing that she received treatment for drug abuse after the offense occurred. Following a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Sevier | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Frederick Wendell Thomas v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Frederick Wendell Thomas, appeals the denial of post-conviction relief from his 2013 Shelby County Criminal Court jury conviction of first degree murder, for which he received a life sentence. In this appeal, the petitioner contends only that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Nasir Hakeem v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Nasir Hakeem, appeals the Montgomery County Circuit Court’s denial of post-conviction relief, arguing that his attorneys were ineffective for failing to inform him of the deportation and other immigration consequences of a conviction at trial pursuant to Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). The State contends that the petition is time-barred and that the post-conviction court erred in tolling the one-year statute of limitations based on the Petitioner’s ignorance of Padilla. Because the postconviction court erred in tolling the limitations period, this court is deprived of jurisdiction to hear this appeal. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Curtis Morris
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Curtis Morris, of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect, and felony murder of his seventeen-month-old son. On appeal the defendant argues: the trial court erred when excluding a daycare record; the trial court erred when permitting the jury to view autopsy photos of the victim; the trial court erred when allowing certain expert testimony; the State failed to properly elect offenses; the trial court erred when failing to define “knowing” in its aggravated child abuse instructions; the State presented insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict; and the cumulative effect of these errors resulted in the denial of a fair trial. Based on our thorough review of the record, pertinent authorities, and arguments of the parties, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Dequevion Lamar Lee
The defendant, Dequevion Lamar Lee, was convicted by a Madison County jury for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault. On appeal, he argues the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court but remand the case for entry of a corrected judgment form as to count two reflecting the defendant’s aggravated assault conviction was merged with count one. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Nathaniel Morton Champion
A Coffee County jury convicted the Defendant, Nathaniel Morton Champion, of possession of contraband in a penal institution, a Class C felony, for which the trial court imposed an eight-year sentence to run consecutively to the Defendant’s prior sentences. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the indictment based on the State’s failure to preserve evidence pursuant to State v. Ferguson, 2 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 1999); (2) the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to support his conviction; (3) the trial court abused its discretion by denying the Defendant’s request for a continuance based on the failure of a defense witness to appear to testify at trial; (4) the Defendant’s waiver of the right to counsel was not knowing and intelligent; and (5) the trial court abused its discretion by enhancing the Defendant’s sentence to eight years and ordering consecutive sentencing. Following a thorough review, we affirm the Defendant’s judgment of conviction. |
Coffee | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Donald Scott Kimbrough v. State of Tennessee
In April 2005, Donald Scott Kimbrough (“the Petitioner”) pled guilty to second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the Defendant received an effective sentence of twenty-five years’ incarceration. Almost twelve years after his guilty plea, in March 2017, the Petitioner filed an untimely petition for post-conviction relief. The Petitioner acknowledged that his petition was untimely filed but asserted that the statute of limitations should be tolled because he was a minor at the time of the offenses. The post-conviction court summarily dismissed the petition as time-barred after finding that no statutory exception existed to toll the limitations period and that the Petitioner failed to establish a basis for due process tolling. The Petitioner now appeals the post-conviction court’s order. However, because the Petitioner filed an untimely notice of appeal with this court and the interest of justice does not favor a waiver of the timely filing requirement in this case, the Petitioner’s appeal is dismissed. |
Anderson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Pamela Moses
Defendant, Pamela Moses, was placed on intensive probation following the entry of guilty pleas to several offenses. The State filed two petitions to revoke her probation. After a lengthy hearing, the trial court revoked Defendant’s probation and ordered the “original judgment of conviction” into execution with additional jail credit for time served in confinement. Defendant argues on appeal that the trial court improperly revoked probation. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Tina Nelson v. State of Tennessee
A jury convicted the Petitioner, Tina Nelson, of first degree felony murder committed during the perpetration of aggravated child abuse and of the underlying felony of aggravated child abuse. She petitioned for post-conviction relief, asserting ineffective assistance of counsel, and her petition was denied. On appeal, the Petitioner alleges that she is entitled to post-conviction relief because her trial counsel failed to properly investigate her case or present witnesses, failed to move for a severance, failed to properly challenge testimony that she showed no emotion, and failed to establish that her mental impairment prevented her from assisting in her own defense. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief. |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Chris Jones v. State of Tennessee
Pro se Petitioner, Chris Jones, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court’s dismissal of his petition for writ of error coram nobis. The Petitioner concedes that his petition was filed nearly seven years beyond the one-year statute of limitations and argues that due process consideration warrants tolling of the limitations period. Upon review, we affirm the dismissal of the petition. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. William Zachary Weatherly
In this appeal, we address the constitutionality of police officers’ search of trash located within the curtilage of the home of the Defendant, Williams Zachary Weatherly. The police officers utilized evidence obtained from the Defendant’s trash to secure a search warrant for the Defendant’s home and vehicle. As a result of evidence seized from the Defendant’s trash and during the execution of the search warrant, the Defendant was charged with possession with the intent to sell or deliver more than one-half ounce of marijuana and possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. The Defendant filed a motion to suppress. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the motion, finding that the warrantless search of the Defendant’s trash was unconstitutional and that the search warrant failed to establish probable cause. The State appealed. Upon reviewing the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s granting of the motion to suppress. |
Dyer | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Trevor Wallace
The State of Tennessee appeals from the Houston County Circuit Court’s order granting the Defendant, Trevor Wallace’s, motion to dismiss the indictment charging him with driving under the influence. See T.C.A. § 55-10-401(a) (Supp. 2014) (amended 2015). The trial court granted the motion on the basis that the indictment failed to state an offense. The State contends that the trial court erred in granting the motion to dismiss. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for further proceedings. |
Houston | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
In re: Justin P., et al
This is a termination of parental rights case. Appellant/Mother appeals the trial court’s termination of her parental rights on the ground of: abandonment by willful failure to visit. Appellant also appeals the trial court’s finding that termination of her parental rights is in the children’s best interests. Because Appellee/Father thwarted Appellant’s attempts to visit the children, we conclude that Appellees failed to meet their burden to show, by clear and convincing evidence, that Appellant abandoned the children. Accordingly, we reverse the order terminating Appellant’s parental rights. |
Moore | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
William Casey v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, William Casey, appeals the post-conviction court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief in which he challenged his convictions for first degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of aggravated rape for offenses that occurred in 1979 and 1980. The Petitioner raised numerous issues in his petition, alleging errors at trial, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal. The post-conviction court entered a preliminary order dismissing all of the Petitioner’s claims of errors at trial, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and the majority of his claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Following an evidentiary hearing on the Petitioner’s remaining claims, the postconviction court entered an order denying the Petitioner relief. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred in dismissing the majority of his claims before the evidentiary hearing and in finding that the Petitioner failed to establish during the evidentiary hearing that he is entitled to relief as to his remaining claims. We conclude that the post-conviction court properly dismissed the Petitioner’s claims of errors during the trial and prosecutorial misconduct and properly denied the Petitioner relief as to his claims presented during an evidentiary hearing. We also conclude the post-conviction court erred in dismissing the Petitioner’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Accordingly, the post-conviction court’s judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and we remand the case to the post-conviction court for an evidentiary hearing on the issues of ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal that were dismissed by the court in its preliminary order and properly preserved by the Petitioner on appeal. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Kenneth Michael McIntosh
The defendant, Kenneth Michael McIntosh, pled guilty to sixteen counts of aggravated child abuse and a single count of child abuse. The trial court sentenced the defendant to eight years for each aggravated child abuse conviction and eleven months and twentynine days for the single child abuse conviction and ordered two of the sentences for aggravated child abuse to be served consecutively for an effective sentence of sixteen years. On appeal, the defendant argues the trial court erred in ordering two of his eightyear sentences to be served consecutively. Upon review, we affirm the findings of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Daniel Lee Mooneyhan
The Defendant, Daniel Lee Mooneyhan, appeals his Bedford County convictions for Count 1: aggravated burglary, and Counts 2 and 4: theft of property between the value of $1,000 and $10,000, for which he received an effective sentence of five years with a 30% release eligibility, to serve in the Department of Correction. The Defendant contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions in Counts 1, 2, and 4 because the State offered no independent evidence to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony about the Defendant’s involvement in the offenses. The Defendant does not appeal his conviction in Count 3, felon in possession of a handgun. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the convictions, but remand for merger of Counts 2 and 4. |
Bedford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Andrew McMurray, Jr.
The Defendant, Andrew McMurray, Jr., appeals the revocation of his community corrections sentence and the trial court’s order that he serve the remainder of his sentence in prison. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we discern no abuse of discretion, and we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Steven O. Summers, II
A Lewis County jury convicted the Defendant, Steven O. Summers, II, of theft of more than $1,000, and the trial court sentenced him to four years on probation and ordered him to pay restitution to the victim. In this appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred when it failed to excuse certain members of the jury pool for cause; (2) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction; and (3) the trial court ordered the Defendant to pay an incorrect amount of restitution and failed to follow the proper procedure when it determined restitution. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Lewis | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Steven Davis
The Petitioner, Steven Davis, appeals the post-conviction court’s dismissal of his petition as time-barred, arguing that he delivered his petition to the designated employee in the prison mail room in a timely manner. Following our review, we affirm the summary dismissal of the petition. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Moses A. Ballard, Jr.
The Defendant, Moses A. Ballard, Jr., was indicted for unlawful possession of a firearm and first degree premeditated murder. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-202, -17-1307. The unlawful possession of a firearm charge was ultimately dismissed upon the State’s request. Following a jury trial, the Defendant was convicted of the lesser-included offense of second degree murder, a Class A felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-210. The trial court subsequently imposed a sentence of thirty-eight years. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends (1) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction; (2) that the trial court erred in allowing an expert witness to testify beyond the scope of her expertise; (3) that the trial court erred by not allowing recorded jail phone calls between the Defendant and two of the State’s witnesses to be introduced at trial; (4) that the trial court erred by not allowing “evidence regarding the gang affiliation of various involved parties” to be introduced at trial; (5) that the State committed a discovery violation by withholding evidence; (6) that the withheld evidence “amount[ed] to newly discovered evidence” requiring a new trial; and (7) that the trial court was unable to perform its duty as the thirteenth juror “due to the withheld evidence.” Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Washington | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Carlos Prather v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Carlos Prather, appeals the denial of post-conviction relief from his 2015 Shelby County Criminal Court guilty-pleaded convictions of vandalism of property valued at $1,000 or more but less than $10,000, for which he received an effective sentence of 10 years. In this appeal, the petitioner contends that his guilty pleas were not knowingly and voluntarily entered and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Ronnie Bradfield
The petitioner, Ronnie Bradfield, appeals from the summary dismissal of his pro se pleading, in which pleading the petitioner asked for relief via the writ of error coram nobis, the writ of habeas corpus, and Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1. Because the record supports the dismissal, we affirm. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Alando Deshaun Brown
On April 1, 2016, the Obion County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant, Alando Deshaun Brown, on two counts of rape. A jury convicted the Defendant of both counts at trial. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court merged Count 2 into Count 1 and sentenced the Defendant to eight years in the Department of Correction, with release eligibility after service of 100% of the sentence for Count 1. The Defendant filed a timely motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied. The Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal, claiming insufficient evidence to support the verdict. Based on the evidence in the record, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Obion | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Scott L. Bishop v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Scott L. Bishop, was convicted of four counts of aggravated sexual battery and sentenced to serve eleven years in prison. The Petitioner filed a postconviction petition asserting that his trial counsel did not provide effective assistance, and the post-conviction court denied the petition after a hearing. On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that trial counsel was deficient in failing to present character witnesses, failing to object to leading questions asked by the prosecutor, and preventing him from viewing the victim’s recorded forensic interview. After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that the Petitioner is not entitled to relief, and we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals |
