State of Tennessee v. Larry Mitchell Brooks
Appellee, Larry Mitchell Brooks, was indicted by the Maury County Grand Jury for one count of driving under the influence, one count of violation of the open container law, one count of violation of the registration law, one count of violation of financial responsibility law, and one count of failure to maintain control. Prior to trial, Appellee filed a motion to suppress the blood sample evidence on the basis that the State was unable to provide proper chain of custody for the sample. After a hearing, the trial court granted the motion to suppress by written order. The trial court entered an order of nolle prosequi. The State filed a notice of appeal on the same day that the order of nolle prosequi was entered. After a review of the record and applicable authorities, we determine that Tennessee Code Annotated section 55-10-410 does not require the certificate of the blood draw to include the person who took the blood specimen in order to establish chain of custody and that the evidence at the hearing on the motion to suppress adequately established the chain of custody. Accordingly, we reverse the grant of the motion to suppress and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Kayla Clark
Appellant, Kayla Clark, was convicted of two counts of sale of a Schedule III controlled substance and was sentenced as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent sentences of four years each, to be served in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Correction. In this appeal, she challenges both the lengths of her sentences and the manner of service. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Antonio J. Parker v. Howard Carlton, Warden
Petitioner, Antonio J. Parker, appeals the trial court’s summary dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus in which he alleged four grounds for relief: (1) that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary; (2) he was denied the right to present witnesses on his behalf; (3) his juvenile transfer hearing was unconstitutional; and (4) his confession was unconstitutional. Following our review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court. |
Johnson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Andres Andres Francisco
A Knox County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Andres Andres Francisco, of one count of attempted aggravated sexual battery and three counts of rape of a child. Following his convictions, the trial court imposed a total effective sentence of fifty years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the appellant contends that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain his convictions; that the trial court erred in denying his motions to suppress DNA evidence and his statement to police; and that the trial court erred by imposing consecutive sentencing. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Henvey aka Anthony Hervey
A Shelby County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Anthony Henvey aka Anthony Hervey, of attempted second degree murder, a Class B felony, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a dangerous felony, a Class C felony, and he received an effective sixteen-year sentence. On appeal, the appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the attempted murder conviction and that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on self-defense. Based upon the record and the parties’ briefs, we conclude that the self-defense instruction was erroneous but that the error was harmless. Therefore, the appellant’s convictions are affirmed. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jimmie Martin
A Shelby County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Jimmie Martin, of second degree murder, a Class A felony, and the trial court sentenced him to twenty years to be served at 100%. On appeal, the appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction; that the trial court erred by allowing State witnesses to testify about his prior bad acts in violation of Rule 404(b), Tennessee Rules of Evidence; and that the trial court erred by ruling that statements made by the victim were admissible under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. Based upon the record and the parties’ briefs, we conclude that the trial court erred by ruling that the victim statements to a police officer qualified as excited utterances. However, we conclude that the error was harmless and affirm the appellant’s conviction. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Cedric Wayne Watkins
Appellant, Cedric Wayne Watkins, was convicted by a jury of first degree premeditated murder. On appeal, appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred by limiting the testimony of a defense witness. Following our review, we affirm appellant’s judgment but remand to the trial court to consider whether the judgment requires correction of a clerical error.
|
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Chester L. Wallace v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Chester L. Wallace, appeals the trial court’s summary dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. He alleges that his sentence had expired before an outstanding probation violation warrant was executed and served upon him. Therefore, he claims that the trial court was without jurisdiction to revoke his probation and impose the sentence. Petitioner also argues that the trial court erroneously failed to award him thirty months of pretrial jail credit from his arrest in 2006 to his guilty plea in 2008. He further asserts that the trial court erred by refusing to appoint “new counsel” to represent him at the probation revocation hearing and that the trial court should have appointed counsel for Petitioner’s habeas corpus proceedings. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court in the habeas corpus proceedings.
|
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. John Bradford Robinson
The Defendant, John Bradford Robinson, pled guilty to manufacturing marijuana, sale of marijuana, theft of property valued between $1000 and $10,000, initiation of process to manufacture methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. For these convictions, the trial court ordered the Defendant to serve an effective eight-year sentence on probation. After multiple arrests in 2012, the trial court issued a probation violation warrant, and, after a hearing, the trial court revoked the Defendant’s probation. On appeal, the Defendant contends that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a revocation of his probation. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Giles | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. David Hoke Ware
David Hoke Ware (“the Defendant”) pleaded guilty to one count of burglary of an automobile, twelve counts of identity theft, twelve counts of fraudulent use of a debit or credit card, and two counts of theft over $500. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of two years, with the manner of service to be determined by the trial court. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court ordered this sentence to be served in incarceration and ordered the Defendant to pay restitution of $1,093.84. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying probation or other alternative sentencing. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Michael Terrell McKissack
The defendant, Michael McKissack, was found guilty by a jury of especially aggravated robbery, aggravated robbery, and facilitation of attempted carjacking. Prior to trial, the defendant moved to suppress evidence recovered pursuant to a stop of the vehicle he was riding in, asserting that the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial court denied the motion to suppress. The defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for twenty-two years for the especially aggravated robbery, ten years for the aggravated robbery, and four years for the facilitation of attempted carjacking. The trial court ordered the defendant’s aggravated robbery and facilitation of attempted carjacking convictions to be served concurrently with each other but consecutively to his especially aggravated robbery conviction. The defendant appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress, and the imposition of consecutive sentences. After review, we conclude the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions, the trial court correctly denied the motion to suppress, and the imposition of consecutive sentences was proper. We affirm the judgments from the trial court |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Craig O. Majors v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Craig O. Majors, was convicted of especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary. He received an effective twenty-year sentence in the Tennessee Department of Correction. State v. Craig O. Majors, No. M2009-00483-CCA-R3-CD, 2010 WL 2483512, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. June 21, 2010). Petitioner now appeals from the dismissal of his petition for writ of certiorari regarding his especially aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated robbery convictions. After our review of the parties’ briefs, the record, and the applicable law, we conclude that petitioner does not have an appeal as of right from the denial of a petition for writ of certiorari, and we dismiss the appeal. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Brooke Lee Whitaker v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Brooke Lee Whitaker, pleaded guilty to rape and received a twelve-year sentence. In her petition for post-conviction relief she alleges that she received ineffective assistance of counsel, that her guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered, and that trial counsel had a conflict of interest as the former sheriff of Bedford County that prejudiced his representation of the petitioner. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Bedford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. James Edward Brown
Appellant, James Edward Brown, entered guilty pleas without recommended sentences to one count of theft of property valued at more than $1,000 but less than $10,000 and two counts of being a felon in possession of a handgun. Appellant was on probation for kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated burglary when he committed the theft offense and was released on bond from the theft case when he committed the weapons offenses. He subsequently agreed that his probation should be revoked. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a twelve-year sentence for the theft of property conviction, to be served consecutively to the seven-year sentence for the probation revocation. The trial court also ordered the two six-year sentences for being a felon in possession of a handgun to be served concurrently with each other but consecutively to the other two sentences. He now appeals the alignment of his sentences. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Emanuel Bibb Houston
Appellant, Emmanuel Bibb Houston, stands convicted of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, and facilitation of especially aggravated robbery. The trial court imposed a total effective sentence of twenty-three years. On appeal, appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping and that his sentence was excessive. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Bedford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Pamela Jamison
A Shelby County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Pamela Jamison, of theft of property valued more than $1,000 but less than $10,000 and identity theft, Class D felonies, and she received an effective four-year sentence to be served as six months in confinement and the remainder on supervised probation. On appeal, the appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions. Based upon the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. However, the case is remanded to the trial court for the correction of a clerical error on the judgment for identity theft. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Domonic Lacy v. State of Tennessee
On November 5, 2010, Petitioner, Domonic Lacy, pleaded guilty in the Shelby County Criminal Court pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement to three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated burglary. The offenses occurred when Petitioner was a juvenile and he had been transferred from juvenile court to criminal court. He received an agreed total effective sentence of twelve (12) years. No appeal was made from the judgments and they became final thirty days after they were entered on November 5, 2010. More than a year after the judgments became final, Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief on March 26, 2013. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition because it was not timely filed within the one-year statute of limitations, and Petitioner has appealed. We affirm the judgment of the trial court pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
David Hearing v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, David Hearing, filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis, seeking relief from his two convictions of felony murder and the accompanying life sentences. The coram nobis court denied relief, and the petitioner appeals. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the coram nobis court. |
Greene | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Algie Lavell McClure v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Algie Lavell McClure, appeals from the Hamilton County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, wherein he challenged his jury convictions for first degree murder, reckless endangerment, and aggravated burglary. In this appeal as of right, the Petitioner contends that he received the ineffective assistance of trial counsel in the following ways: (1) by counsel’s “opening the door” during his cross-examination of Kenya Houston to prejudicial testimony of the Petitioner’s violent nature; (2) by counsel’s failing to obtain Latasha Hinton’s medical records showing her intoxication at the time of the shooting to impeach her identification of the Petitioner as the shooter; (3) by counsel’s failing to present all law enforcement officers and accompanying reports as evidence that Ms. Hinton initially identified two, unknown black males as the perpetrators; (4) by counsel’s failing to call an expert witness to challenge Ms. Hinton’s identification of the Petitioner and to discredit the jailhouse informants; (5) by counsel’s failing to adequately impeach several witnesses with the specifics of their prior criminal records; (6) by counsel’s failing to review the jail records to verify the location of the jailhouse informant, Kordell Butler, at the time the Petitioner allegedly confessed to him; (7) by counsel’s failing to interview the State’s witnesses; (8) by counsel’s failing to object to the State’s improper closing argument; and (9) “in the manner that was presented” at the post-conviction hearings as testified to by the various witnesses. Following our review, we affirm the 1 denial of relief. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Adinolfi
The Defendant, Anthony Adinolfi, entered an Alford “best-interest” plea to two counts of solicitation to commit statutory rape, for which he received an effective sentence of 11 months and 29 days to serve at 75%. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his application for judicial diversion and alternative sentencing. Upon our review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Stephan Lajuan Beasley, Sr. v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Stephan Lajuan Beasley, Sr., was convicted by a jury of first degree premeditated murder. On May 24, 2007, the Petitioner filed a pro se petition for writ of error coram nobis arguing that new evidence exists. Following a hearing, the coram nobis court denied the petition, and the Petitioner timely appealed. After a careful review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the coram nobis court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Kristopher Blake Kincer
The Defendant, Kristopher Blake Kincer, pleaded guilty as a Range I offender to theft of property valued at $1000 or more but less than $10,000, a Class D felony. See T.C.A. § 39-14-103 (Supp. 2013) (theft of property); 39-14-105(a)(3) (2010) (amended 2012) (grading of theft). The plea agreement called for a two-year sentence, and the trial court ordered that the sentence be served in confinement. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying alternative sentencing. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for the trial court to consider whether the Defendant should be placed on community corrections. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Coy McKaughan
In this appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error by admitting the video-recorded forensic interview of the child-victim at trial. Specifically, he contends that the admission of the interview was improper for the following reason: Tennessee Code Annotated section 24-7-123, the statute under which the video interview was admitted, is unconstitutional because it is in conflict with the existing rules of evidence and established case law and violates the separation of powers clause of the Tennessee Constitution. After reviewing the record and the applicable authorities, we affirm the |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jerry Sherrill II
An Obion County jury found the Defendant, Jerry Sherrill, II, guilty of theft of property valued between $1,000 and $10,000. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to eight years as a Range II, persistent offender. The Defendant appeals, asserting that: (1) the trial court improperly ruled that his prior theft convictions could be used for impeachment purposes should he testify at trial; (2) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction; (3) the trial court improperly required the jury to continue deliberations; and (4) the trial court improperly instructed the jury concerning possession of recently stolen property. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Obion | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Dericko Jackson v. Michael Donahue
Petitioner, Dericko Jackson, appeals as of right from the trial court’s summary dismissal of the petition for writ of habeas corpus relief filed by Petitioner. Petitioner attacks his 1998 convictions in Shelby County for felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, and aggravated assault. The convictions were the result of guilty pleas apparently negotiated with the State as to the conviction offenses, and length and manner of service of the sentences. The sentences of life imprisonment for felony murder and fifteen years for especially aggravated robbery were ordered to be served consecutively. The three-year sentence for aggravated assault was ordered to be served concurrently with the sentence for felony murder. Each of three judgments provides that Petitioner is allowed 480 days of pre-trial jail credit against the sentence imposed in each judgment for the time period of May 9, 1997 to August 31, 1998. Petitioner asserts that all the convictions are void because the provisions for any pre-trial jail credit in the sentence for especially aggravated robbery results in an illegal sentence. Petitioner argues that as a result he is entitled to habeas corpus relief for all three convictions. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals |
