COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OPINIONS

State of Tennessee v. Tailor James Simpson
W2022-01806-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Jill Bartee Ayers
Trial Court Judge: Judge Mark L. Hayes

Defendant, Tailor James Simpson, appeals the trial court’s order revoking his probationary
sentence for aggravated burglary and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to
sell or deliver. Following our review of the entire record and the briefs of the parties, we
affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Jerry P. Haley v. Grady Perry, Warden
W2023-00223-CCA-R3-HC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge A. Blake Neill

The Petitioner, Jerry P. Haley, appeals from the Lauderdale County Circuit Court’s
summary dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus from his convictions for
aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated criminal trespass and his
effective sixty-year sentence. The Petitioner contends that the habeas corpus court erred
by dismissing his petition. We affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court.

Joseph Jerome Griggs v. State of Tennessee
W2023-00100-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge J. Weber McCraw

The Petitioner, Joseph Jerome Griggs, appeals from the Hardeman County Circuit Court’s
denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his aggravated rape conviction, for
which he is serving a twenty-year sentence. On appeal, he contends that the postconviction
court erred in denying relief on his ineffective assistance of counsel claims. We
affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

State of Tennessee v. Devoris Antoine Newson
W2020-00611-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Kyle C. Atkins

Pursuant to a plea agreement, the Defendant, acting pro se, entered guilty pleas to various
felony offenses and received an effective sentence of six years’ imprisonment. A few
weeks later, the Defendant filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas, claiming they were
unknowing and involuntarily entered because he was not advised of the consequences of
the guilty pleas.1 Following a hearing, the trial court denied the Defendant’s motion. For
the first time in this appeal, the Defendant claims that his waiver of his Sixth Amendment
right to counsel was not knowingly and voluntarily entered; therefore, his subsequent guilty
pleas were constitutionally invalid. The Defendant additionally claims the trial court
abused its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty pleas and determining
that his guilty pleas were knowingly and voluntarily entered. Upon our review, we
conclude that the trial court’s investigation of the factors bearing upon the Defendant’s
knowing and intelligent waiver of his right to counsel complied with Faretta v. California,
422 U.S. 806 (1975), and Iowa v. Tovar, 541 U.S. 77 (2004). We further conclude that the
Defendant failed to establish that manifest injustice required the withdrawal of his guilty
pleas. Accordingly, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Nicholas Thomas Beauvais
E2022-01163-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway
Trial Court Judge: Judge Sandra N.C. Donaghy

Nicholas Thomas Beauvais, Defendant, pleaded guilty as a Range II offender to Class C felony voluntary manslaughter, reserving all sentencing issues for the trial court. Defendant claims that the trial court erred by sentencing him to nine years’ incarceration. We determine that the trial court acted within its discretion in sentencing Defendant and affirm the judgment.

State of Tennessee v. Cameron Tommy Beard
E2022-00745-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Ryan Spitzer

The Appellant was convicted by an Anderson County jury of reckless aggravated assault
and child abuse, for which he received an effective sentence of eight years’ imprisonment.
On appeal, he argues that his sentence is excessive because the trial court: (1) misapplied
certain enhancement factors, and the resulting sentence is inconsistent with the purposes
and principles of the Sentencing Act; and (2) imposed consecutive sentences based on the
dangerous offender classification without making the requisite findings. We affirm the
judgments of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Tony Manning
E2022-01715-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge G. Scott Green

A Knox County jury convicted the Defendant, Tony Manning, of rape, attempted rape, and aggravated assault. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve an effective sentence of eight years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions. He also contends that the trial court erred in finding that the State’s expert was qualified and by allowing the expert to testify outside of her area of expertise. In response, the State argues, in part, that the Defendant waived any issue concerning the expert by failing to object at trial and by filing an untimely motion for a new trial. On our review, we conclude that the Defendant’s notice of appeal was untimely filed. We also conclude that the “interest of justice” does not require us to waive the timely filing of the notice of appeal, and we respectfully dismiss the appeal.

State of Tennessee v. Michael Anthony Tharpe
W2022-01219-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Donald E. Parish

The Appellant, Michael Anthony Tharpe, was convicted at a bench trial of burglary of a
vehicle, retaliation for past action, theft of property, assault of an officer, evading arrest,
and coercion of a witness. In this consolidated appeal, he challenges: (1) the legal
sufficiency of the evidence supporting four of his convictions; and (2) the trial court’s
imposition of partial consecutive sentences. Upon our review, we affirm the judgments of
the trial court.

Stephen D. Demps v. State of Tennessee
M2022-01429-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Gary McKenzie

A Putnam County jury convicted the Petitioner, Stephen D. Demps, of four counts of aggravated sexual battery and five counts of rape of a child. The trial court sentenced him to twenty-five years of incarceration. The Petitioner appealed his convictions to this court, and we affirmed the judgments. State v. Demps, No. M2017-00641-CCA-R3-CD, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 156, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 27, 2018), no perm. app. filed. Subsequently, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel, that law enforcement altered evidence, and that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct. The post-conviction court denied the petition after a hearing. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.

State of Tennessee v. Jamil Toure Holloway
M2022-00862-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Jennifer L. Smith

A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Jamil Toure Holloway, of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, attempted first degree murder causing serious bodily injury, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The trial court imposed a life sentence plus thirty-one years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The Defendant appeals, contending that there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

State of Tennessee v. Christopher Lee Goodwin
M2022-00540-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Stella L. Hargrove

The Defendant-Appellant, Christopher Lee Goodwin, was convicted by a Maury County Circuit Court jury of felony murder committed in the perpetration of aggravated child neglect, and the trial court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, the Defendant argues: (1) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements made to police; (3) the aggravated child neglect statute violates due process with its vagueness; (4) the trial court violated his right to a fair trial when it overruled the defense objection and allowed the State to present evidence that the medical examiner in this case lost his medical license; (5) the trial court erred in sustaining the State’s hearsay objection to his questioning of an investigator about a statement that a witness allegedly made to him; (6) the trial court erred in not declaring a mistrial when an investigator testified about a domestic violence incident between the Defendant and the victim’s mother; and (7) that a single prosecution for felony murder predicated on both aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect violates double jeopardy. ¹ After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Chandler Gant
M2023-00214-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge John W. Campbell, Sr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge William R. Goodman, III

The Defendant, Chandler Gant, pled guilty in the Robertson County Circuit Court to assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced by the trial court to 11 months, 29 days in the county jail, with 30 days to serve on consecutive weekends and the remainder of the time on supervised probation. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering a sentence of partial confinement. Based on our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Corey Brown
W2023-00043-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Ross Dyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Jennifer Johnson Mitchell

The defendant, Corey Brown, was found guilty by a Shelby County jury of especially
aggravated robbery for which he received a sentence of twenty-one years in prison. On
appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to
support his conviction and that the trial judge failed to execute its responsibility as
thirteenth juror. Following our review, we affirm the defendant’s conviction.

Morrieo Allen v. State of Tennessee
W2023-00592-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Ross Dyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Chris Craft

The petitioner, Morrieo Allen, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief,
arguing the post-conviction court erred in finding he received the effective assistance of
counsel at trial. Following our review, we affirm the denial of the petition.

State of Tennessee v. Jennifer Michelle Childs
M2022-01685-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge John W. Campbell, Sr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Dee David Gay

The Defendant, Jennifer Michelle Childs, was indicted in the Sumner County Criminal Court for driving under the influence (“DUI”) and filed motions to suppress evidence and dismiss the indictment. The trial court held a hearing, ruled that the Defendant’s warrantless arrest was illegal, and dismissed the indictment. The State appeals the dismissal, arguing that the remedy for an illegal arrest is suppression of any evidence obtained as a result of the arrest. Based upon the oral arguments, the record, and the parties’ briefs, we agree with the State. Accordingly, the trial court’s dismissal of the indictment is reversed, the indictment is reinstated, and the case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Douglas Eugene Horton v. State of Tennessee
W2022-01371-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Joseph T. Howell

The Petitioner, Douglas Eugene Horton, appeals from the Henderson County Circuit
Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his 2018 convictions for two
counts of possession with intent to sell a controlled substance, four counts of possession
of a firearm with intent to go armed during the commission of a dangerous felony, and
four counts of facilitation of possession of a firearm with intent to go armed during the
commission of a dangerous felony, for which he is serving an effective fifteen-year
sentence. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred by
denying relief on his ineffective assistance of counsel allegations for counsel’s (1) failure
to obtain adequate discovery, (2) failure to challenge the search warrant resulting in the
Petitioner’s arrest, (3) failure to subpoena the Petitioner’s daughter and his girlfriend as
witnesses at the trial, (4) failure to play a body camera recording purporting to show
officer misconduct, and (5) cumulative errors during the trial. We affirm the judgment of
the post-conviction court.

State of Tennessee v. Timothy Elliot Davis
E2022-01539-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Jill Bartee Ayers
Trial Court Judge: Judge Sandra Donaghy

Defendant, Timothy Elliott1 Davis, was convicted by a jury of driving under the influence
of an intoxicant (“DUI”) and driving under the influence of an intoxicant with a blood
alcohol concentration (“BAC”) greater than 0.8 (“DUI per se”). Defendant pled guilty to
DUI, third offense following the jury verdict on the first two counts. The trial court
sentenced Defendant to eleven months, twenty-nine days, suspended to supervised
probation upon service of seven months in the county jail. On appeal, Defendant argues
that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of a blood alcohol
test and that the evidence is insufficient to support the guilty verdict. Following our review
of the record, the briefs, and oral arguments of the parties, we affirm the judgments of the
trial court but remand for correction of the judgment forms consistent with this opinion.

State of Tennessee v. Terrance Terrell King
E2022-01394-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Matthew J. Wilson
Trial Court Judge: Judge Steven Wayne Sword

Defendant, Terrance Terrell King, appeals from the Knox County Criminal Court’s denial of his motion seeking resentencing for a drug-related conviction under Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-17-432(h). Defendant contends the trial court erred in denying the motion, and the State contends this court does not have jurisdiction to consider Defendant’s appeal. Defendant rejects the State’s assertion. After reviewing the applicable law and the parties’ arguments, we conclude Defendant does not have an appeal as of right available to him, and the appeal is therefore dismissed

State of Tennessee v. Tamarion Terrell Johnson
E2022-01308-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Timothy L. Easter
Trial Court Judge: Don W. Poole

A Hamilton County jury convicted Defendant, Tamarion Terrell Johnson, of second degree
murder and aggravated assault in the shooting death of the victim, Shawnquell Stanfield.
The trial court merged the assault conviction into the murder conviction. Defendant argues
on appeal that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on flight and that the evidence
was insufficient to support his second degree murder conviction. We affirm the judgments
of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Adam Janes
M2023-00112-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Kyle A. Hixson
Trial Court Judge: Judge Barry R. Tidwell

The Defendant, Adam Janes, appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for a reduction of sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 35. Specifically, the Defendant argues that: (1) he received the ineffective assistance of trial counsel; (2) he entered into his guilty plea unknowingly and involuntarily; (3) the assistant district attorney was prejudiced against him; (4) he was entitled to concurrent sentences; (5) he was not given the opportunity of rehabilitation; (6) his sentence was not the least severe measure necessary to achieve the purposes for which the sentence was imposed; and (7) the State failed to file a notice of intent to seek enhanced punishment. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Amanda Helena Rogers
M2022-01328-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge James Curwood Witt, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Stella L. Hargrove

The defendant, Amanda Helena Rogers, appeals her Maury County Circuit Court jury convictions of facilitation of attempted first degree murder, facilitation of vandalism of property in an amount of $2,500 or more but less than $10,000, and two counts of reckless endangerment for which the trial court imposed an effective term of 10 years and six months to be served in confinement. On appeal, the defendant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support her conviction of facilitation of attempted first degree murder and that the trial court erred in imposing the sentence. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.

State of Tennessee v. Hank Cooley, Jr.
W2023-00073-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Kyle C. Atkins

The Defendant, Hank Cooley, Jr., appeals from his best interest, guilty-pleaded
convictions for felony evading arrest risking death or injury, driving on a revoked license
(second offense), reckless driving, disobeying a traffic signal, violation of the light law,
speeding, and failure to exercise due care. See T.C.A. §§ 39-16-603(b)(3)(B) (2018)
(subsequently amended) (evading arrest), 55-50-504 (2020) (driving on a revoked
license), 55-10-205 (2020) (reckless driving), 55-8-110 (2020) (subsequently amended)
(disobeying a traffic signal), 55-9-402 (2020) (subsequently amended) (violation of light
law), 55-8-152 (2008) (speeding), and 55-8-136 (2020) (failure to exercise due care).
The trial court ordered the Defendant to serve an effective sentence of twelve years in
confinement. On appeal, the Defendant contends the court erred by denying alternative
sentencing. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Ariana Elizabeth Major
M2021-01469-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert T. Bateman

The State of Tennessee appealed the Montgomery County Circuit Court’s order granting the Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence recovered during the search of her car.  On appeal, the State contends that the trial court erred because probable cause existed to search the Defendant’s car based on a police dog’s signal for the presence of narcotics.  We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for reinstatement of the charges.

State of Tennessee v. Ariana Elizabeth Major
M2021-01469-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert T. Bateman

I concur with the majority opinion’s conclusion based on the narrow issue raised by the parties and the existing law in Tennessee.  I write separately, however, to highlight how the legalization of hemp has fractured the foundation underlying the rule that a drug detection dog sniff is not a search subject to Fourth Amendment protections.  In my view, the cases before this court thus far miss the primary issue—whether a drug detection dog sniff that no longer discloses only contraband is itself a search that must be supported by probable cause.

State of Tennessee v. Christopher James Funk, Sr.
E2022-01367-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge James F. Goodwin, Jr.

A Hawkins County jury convicted the Defendant, Christopher James Funk, Sr., of driving
under the influence of an intoxicant and possessing a firearm while under the influence of
alcohol. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to concurrent sentences of eleven months
and twenty-nine days after service of forty-eight hours in custody. On appeal, the
Defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying both his motion to suppress and his
subsequent motion for an interlocutory appeal. The State asserts that the Defendant waived
any issue regarding his motion to suppress by failing to file a motion for a new trial. It also
argues that the denial of an interlocutory appeal may not be challenged in a later direct
appeal. On our review, we agree with the State and respectfully affirm the trial court’s
judgments.