State of Tennessee v. Luis Anthony Ramon
The Henry County Grand Jury indicted the fifteen-year-old Defendant for first degree murder. The Defendant was tried as an adult and convicted of the charged offense. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment. The Defendant now appeals, arguing that his insanity defense was established by clear and convincing evidence. After a thorough review of the record, we reverse the judgment of conviction, modify the judgment to “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity,” and remand for further proceedings pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 33-7-303. |
Henry | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Russell Epperson v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his convictions for facilitation of aggravated rape, facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping, facilitation of especially aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary, raising three claims: (1) that he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel; (2) that his guilty plea was involuntary; and (3) that the indictment was fatally defective. We affirm the post-conviction court's denial of the petition. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jimmy Byrd
The defendant pled guilty to two counts of Class D felony theft over $1,000 and was sentenced to the community corrections program for an effective period of three years. The trial court subsequently revoked his community corrections sentence and resentenced the defendant to consecutive sentences of four years on each count as a Range I standard offender, for an effective eight-year sentence. On appeal, the defendant contends (1) the proof was insufficient to revoke his community corrections sentence; and (2) the sentence is excessive. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Rhea | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Lee Smith
A Hamilton County jury convicted the defendant of burglary and theft under $500. He received consecutive sentences of 10 years as a Range III offender and 11 months and 29 days, respectively. The defendant contends (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in allowing the state to present a property receipt into evidence in lieu of coins found in the defendant's possession; (3) the prosecutor made improper remarks during closing argument; and (4) the trial court erred in ordering consecutive sentences. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jack DeForest Bolden
The defendant entered a guilty plea to Class D felony forgery and Class D felony theft for an agreed effective six-year sentence with the issue of alternative sentencing to be determined by the trial court. The trial court denied alternative sentencing. On appeal, the defendant contests the denial of community corrections. We affirm. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Gentry, II
The defendant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to two counts of sale of schedule II narcotics for agreed concurrent sentences of four years for each count, with the issue of alternative sentencing to be determined by the trial court. The trial court sentenced the defendant to four years incarceration. In this appeal, the defendant contends he should have received alternative sentencing. We affirm. |
Carter | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Michael O. Brown v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Michael O. Brown, appeals the Lincoln County Circuit Court’s denial of postconviction relief. In his post-conviction petition, he challenged his 1996 conviction of selling cocaine by alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Because the record supports the trial court’s denial of post-conviction relief, we affirm. |
Lincoln | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Michael O. Brown v. State of Tennessee - Concurring
I agree with the results reached and most of the reasoning used in the majority opinion. I respectfully disagree, though, with its view of the trial court’s limiting the issues raised by the petitioner. The majority opinion states that the record reflects that the petitioner abandoned issues that were not mentioned at the beginning of the hearing. The majority concludes that the trial court’s request that his attorney define the issues in contention, the attorney’s response, and the state’s objection for lack of notice justified the trial court’s sustaining the state’s objection regarding the Jencks Act issue. I view neither the record nor the trial court’s discretion to authorize the trial court’s actions regarding this issue. |
Lincoln | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Johnny O. Clark v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner appeals as of right from the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his conviction for first degree murder, contending that: (1) he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel; (2) the post-conviction court erred by refusing to admit the affidavit of a deceased potential defense witness into evidence at the post-conviction evidentiary hearing; and (3) the post-conviction court and post-conviction counsel erred by their failure to comply with provisions of the Post-Conviction Procedure Act and Supreme Court Rule 28. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court denying the petition for post-conviction relief. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Shannon Lee Wood
Following a jury trial, the defendant, Shannon Lee Wood, was convicted of the July 4, 1999 aggravated child abuse of his eighteen-month-old stepdaughter, for which he received a 20-year sentence as a violent offender. Now on appeal, the defendant's sole issue is whether the convicting evidence is sufficient to support the conviction. It is, and we affirm. |
Benton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Gregory W. Gurley
The defendant, Gregory W. Gurley, pursues an appeal of a certified question of law in the wake of his guilty plea and resulting conviction of second-offense driving under the influence (DUI). In his reservation of a certified question for appeal pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 37(b)(2)(i), the defendant claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of an intoximeter test; he posits that the test results are inadmissible because the officer who administered the test failed to comply with the "20-minute" requirement for breath-alcohol testing that was established in State v. Sensing, 843 S.W.2d 412 (Tenn. 1992). Because the record supports the trial court's denial of the suppression motion, we affirm. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Ronald Eugene Purdy
The trial court placed the defendant on probation for eight years. As a condition of probation, the defendant was required to complete a one-year drug rehabilitation program. When the defendant violated his probation by failing to complete the program and failing to report to his probation officer upon his discharge from the program, the State filed a probation violation report with the court. After a hearing, the trial court revoked the defendant's probation. The defendant appeals, claiming that the trial court abused its discretion in revoking his probation. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. James Anthony Cline
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Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Robert S. Clark
The defendant, Robert S. Clark, was convicted of two counts of robbery. The trial court imposed concurrent four-year sentences. In this appeal of right, the defendant asserts that there was prosecutorial misconduct during voir dire and that the trial court erred by excluding certain expert testimony. Because there is no reversible error, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Lavaya Demond Lee
The defendant, Lavaya Demond Lee, appeals from his jury convictions of premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, and especially aggravated robbery in the Hamilton County Criminal Court. He received a life sentence for the merged murder conviction and a consecutive 20-year sentence for especially aggravated robbery. On appeal, he complains of evidentiary errors, jury-instruction errors, and error in imposing consecutive sentences. We affirm the convictions; however, we vacate the order imposing consecutive sentencing and impose the 20-year sentence to run concurrently with the life sentence. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. John L. Goodwin, III
The petitioner, John L. Goodwin, III, was convicted of attempted rape and aggravated burglary. State v. John L. Goodwin, III, No. 01-C01-9108-CR-00242, 1992 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 859, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, Nov. 12, 1992). The petitioner decided to waive his right to a direct appeal of his verdict and filed a post-conviction petition for review. Id. His petition was denied, and on appeal this Court found that the petitioner waived his right to a direct appeal based on erroneous advice of counsel and thus granted him an opportunity to file a motion for new trial and bring a delayed direct appeal. Id. at **3-4. The petitioner filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied, and the petitioner brought a delayed direct appeal before this Court. State v. Goodwin, 909 S.W.2d 35, 37 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1995). This Court affirmed the petitioner's conviction, but remanded the petitioner's case for re-sentencing. Id. at 45-46. The petitioner was re-sentenced, and he appealed his new sentence to this Court, as well as the trial court's denial of his writ of habeas corpus. State v. John L. Goodwin, III, No. 01C01-9601-CR-00013, 1997 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 679, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, July 23, 1997). We reviewed his sentence and ultimately found that the trial court properly imposed the petitioner's new sentence. Id. While this Court was reviewing the petitioner's appeal of his new sentence, he filed an "application for coram nobis and/or in the alternative to re-open post-conviction petition." John L. Goodwin, III v. State, No. M2000-0757-CCA-R28-CO, at *2 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, Sept. 19, 1997) (no electronic database citation available). The trial court dismissed this pleading, and we affirmed that ruling. John L. Goodwin, III v. State, No. 01C01-9608-CR-00337 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, Sept. 19, 1997) (no electronic database citation available). The petitioner then filed a motion to re-open his post-conviction petition, which was ultimately dismissed without a hearing. Id. Thus, we remanded his case for a hearing to determine the merits of what was, essentially, his post-conviction petition. The petitioner now brings the instant appeal of the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, challenging: the fairness of his post-conviction hearing; his sentence; his notice of the charges against him; the constitutionality of Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 44(a); the alleged conspiracy between various court officers against him; the effectiveness of his counsel; and the jury instructions. After reviewing the petitioner's claims, we find that they are either waived, previously determined, or without merit. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Shawn Martin Holdaway
Defendant appeals denial of Community Corrections sentence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Lincoln | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Israel Michua Camacho
The defendant, Israel Michua Camacho, appeals his convictions in the Greene County Criminal Court for facilitation of possession of one-half gram or more of cocaine with intent to deliver, a Class C felony, and facilitation of possession of not less than ten pounds nor more than seventy pounds of marijuana with intent to deliver, a Class E felony. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent sentences of four years in the Tennessee Department of Correction for the facilitation of possession of cocaine conviction and two years for the facilitation of possession of marijuana conviction. The defendant claims that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions and that he deserves a new trial because the state failed to provide the defense with a discoverable videotape in a timely manner. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Greene | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jenny Bea Huffstetler
The Defendant, Jenny Bea Huffstetler, pled guilty to three counts of forgery, one count of fraudulent use of a credit card, one count of misdemeanor assault, and one count of theft under $500. For these offenses, the Defendant received an effective sentence of three years as a Range I, standard offender. Her sentence was suspended and she was placed on intensive probation. Following a hearing on allegations that the Defendant had violated the terms of her probation, the trial court ordered the Defendant to serve nine months in jail and the balance of her sentence on community corrections. The Defendant now appeals. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Timothy Ken Sexton
The Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted the fifteen-year-old Defendant, charging him with second degree murder. Following a transfer hearing, the Defendant was tried as an adult. A Hamilton County jury found the Defendant guilty of the indicted charge, and the trial court sentenced him to twenty years in the Department of Correction. The Defendant now appeals, arguing the following: (1) that there was insufficient evidence to convict the Defendant of second degree murder, (2) that the juvenile court erred by transferring the Defendant to be tried as an adult, (3) that the trial court erred by denying the Defendant's motion to suppress his statement, (4) that the trial court erred by allowing the State to cross-examine two character witnesses for the defense about their knowledge of the Defendant's juvenile record, and (5) that the trial court erred in sentencing the Defendant to twenty years in the Department of Correction. Concluding that the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce evidence of the Defendant's prior juvenile record during the cross-examination of character witnesses for the Defendant, we reverse and remand for a new trial. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Mario Hawkins v. State of Tennessee
After a juvenile court transferred the petitioner's case, a Davidson County grand jury indicted the petitioner on one count of first degree murder. Following a jury trial, the petitioner stood convicted of this offense and for this conviction received a life sentence. Thereafter he unsuccessfully sought relief through a direct appeal. See State v. Mario Hawkins, No. 01C01-9701-CR-00014, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 685, at *2, *21 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, July 2, 1998). Subsequently, he filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief and was appointed counsel. Counsel filed an amended petition alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel. After conducting a hearing on this matter, the trial court denied the petitioner the relief requested. Through this appeal the petitioner continues to assert that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to adequately investigate the petitioner's mental health and utilize this information as a defense to the first degree murder charge. However, after reviewing this assertion, we find it to lack merit. We, therefore, affirm the trial court's denial of the post-conviction petition. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. James Alfred Carey
The Defendant pled guilty to one count of selling less than 0.5 grams of cocaine, a Schedule II controlled substance, and to three counts of domestic assault. The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range II, multiple offender to ten years incarceration for the drug conviction and to eleven months and twenty-nine days for each of the assault convictions. The trial court ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, but consecutive to a prior sentence. The Defendant now appeals, arguing that he was improperly sentenced. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Blake E. Hallum v. State of Tennessee
A Davidson County jury convicted the petitioner, Blake Edward Hallum, of felony murder and especially aggravated robbery, and the trial court sentenced the petitioner to serve consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for his felony murder conviction and 17 years for his especially aggravated robbery conviction. The petitioner appealed his convictions to this Court, and we affirmed the judgment of the trial court. See State v. Richard Bruce Halfacre, No. 01C01-9703-CR-00083, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1117, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, Oct. 29, 1998). The petitioner sought post-conviction relief, and the trial court denied his petition after a hearing on the merits. The petitioner now appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that he is entitled to post-conviction relief because a state's trial witness testified at the post-conviction hearing and contradicted her trial testimony, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and/or pleaded lack of memory in response to questions about the truthfulness of her trial testimony. After reviewing the record and applicable case law, we find that the petitioner's claim does not merit relief. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Derrick S. Chaney
The Defendant pleaded guilty to first offense DUI, for which he was sentenced to eleven months and twenty-nine days incarceration, suspended after service of forty-eight hours; and to driving with a suspended, cancelled, or revoked license, for which he was sentenced to six months incarceration, suspended after service of forty-eight hours. The trial court ordered that the two sentences be served concurrently. The Defendant was subsequently arrested for probation violation, and the trial court conducted a hearing to determine whether the Defendant's probation should be revoked. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court ordered that the Defendant serve the remainder of his sentences in custody. The Defendant appeals this decision, arguing that the State failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he had violated his probation and that the trial court erred by ordering him to serve his full sentence in custody. We conclude that sufficient evidence was presented at the hearing to support revocation of the Defendant's probation and that the trial court did not err by ordering the Defendant to serve his sentence in custody. We thus affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Williamson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Arthur J. Holmes
The Defendant, Arthur J. Holmes, pled guilty to three counts of theft under $500, class A misdemeanors; two counts of theft over $500, class E felonies; six counts of forgery, class D and E felonies; and four counts of identity theft, class D felonies. The Defendant's plea agreement provided for an effective ten year sentence as a Range II, multiple offender. After a hearing on the manner in which the Defendant would serve his sentence, the trial court denied an alternative sentence and ordered the Defendant to serve his sentence in the Department of Correction. The Defendant now appeals as of right. We affirm the trial court's judgment. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals |
