State of Tennessee v. Steven Van Tucker
Defendant, Steven Van Tucker, was convicted of the indicted charge of theft of property valued greater than one thousand dollars and less than ten thousand dollars, a Class D felony. Defendant was sentenced by the trial court to twelve years as a career offender. On appeal, Defendant asserts that 1) the trial court erred in denying Defendant’s objections to the State’s |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Cordell Remont Vaughn
In this extraordinary appeal, the State of Tennessee appeals the trial court’s decision to order a new trial for the defendant, Cordell Remont Vaughn, after a jury returned a guilty verdict of first degree (premeditated) murder and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The trial court, after a hearing, granted the defendant’s motion for a new trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. The State contends that the trial court abused its discretion because the court: (1) erroneously concluded that a State’s witness committed perjury at a suppression hearing based solely on the defendant’s submission of an affidavit that conflicted with that witnesses’ testimony at that hearing, and (2) erroneously concluded that the outcome of the defendant’s trial would have been different had this alleged perjury not occurred and had the defendant’s motion to suppress been granted. The defendant responds that the trial court properly considered the affidavit and reached the proper conclusion concerning whether the State’s witness committed perjury. Furthermore, the defendant contends that because the perjury at issue related to a constitutional right, the State was required to establish that the effect of the perjury was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, and it failed to meet that burden. After careful review of the record, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering a new trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct because it failed to make any finding that the prosecution had, in fact, engaged in any misconduct. Moreover, the defendant has failed to show any prejudice resulting from the alleged perjury. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court granting a new trial is reversed. |
Perry | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Marquette Houston v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Marquette Houston, an inmate in the custody of the Department of Correction, appeals the dismissal of his pro se petition for post-conviction relief. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition as time-barred by the statute of limitations. On appeal, Petitioner argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his petition without holding an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the petition was timely filed. The State concedes that the petition was timely filed because Petitioner delivered his petition to the appropriate prison official for mailing within the applicable limitations period. Following a review of the record, we agree and accordingly reverse the order of dismissal and remand this case to the post-conviction court for an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the petition for postconviction relief. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Julius Perkins v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Julius Perkins, appeals from the Davidson County Criminal Court’s order denying his petition for post-conviction relief challenging his 2002 jury conviction of first degree felony murder on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel, trial court errors, and prosecutorial misconduct. Determining that the evidence does not preponderate against the post-conviction court’s findings, we affirm the order of the post-conviction court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Connie Hughes v. State of Tennessee
A Carter County jury convicted the Petitioner, Connie Hughes, of first degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and forgery under $1000. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment for the first degree murder and to two concurrent one-year sentences on the remaining convictions. The Petitioner appealed her convictions, and this Court affirmed her convictions. State v. Connie Hughes, No. E2006-00062-CCA-R3-CD, 2007 WL 1319373, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Knoxville, May 7, 2007), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Sept. 17, 2007). The Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief claiming that she received the ineffective assistance of counsel because her attorney at trial “opened the door” for the petitioner’s incriminating statements to be admitted into evidence at trial. The post-conviction court denied her request for relief after a hearing on the petition. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred when it dismissed her petition. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Bradley | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Lakky Phosy v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Lakky Phosy, appeals the denial of post-conviction relief, contending that (1) he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and (2) his guilty plea was not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Antonio Wicks
The defendant, Antonio Wicks, appeals his Shelby County Criminal Court jury conviction of second degree murder, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, the trial court’s limitation of cross-examination of a State witness, and the trial court’s imposition of a 25-year sentence. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgment of the court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Chelsy Marie Smith
The Defendant, Chelsy Marie Smith, pled guilty to theft of property over $1,000, a Class D felony, and aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. The trial court sentenced the Defendant, as a standard offender, to an effective sentence of one year in the Department of Correction followed by seven years on community corrections. After the Defendant’s release, a violation warrant was issued, and, after a hearing, the trial court revoked the Defendant’s community corrections sentence, finding that she had violated the terms of her sentence and ordered her to serve the remainder of her eight-year sentence in confinement. On appeal, the Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by revoking her community corrections sentence and ordering her to serve the balance of her sentence in prison. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Scotty Lynn Edmonds
The Defendant, Scotty Lynn Edmonds, was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), first offense, a Class A misdemeanor, and violation of the implied consent law, a Class C misdemeanor. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-10-401, -406. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to 11 months and 29 days with all but 5 days to be served on probation. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends (1) that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence; and (2) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for DUI, first offense. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
James E. Kenner v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, James E. Kenner, appeals the Davidson County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for a writ of error coram nobis regarding his convictions for five counts of aggravated burglary, five counts of theft of property valued at $1000 or more, and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, for which he is serving an effective seventy-five year sentence as a career offender. The Petitioner contends that the trial court erred in summarily dismissing his petition. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Leon Goins v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Leon Goins, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief challenging his Dyer County Circuit Court jury conviction of possession with intent to sell or deliver .5 grams or more of cocaine and resulting 25-year sentence. In this appeal, he asserts that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Dyer | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Courtenay D. Robertson v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Courtenay D. Robertson, appeals the Madison County Circuit Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief attacking his jury convictions of attempt to commit second degree murder, aggravated arson, and felony evading arrest on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. Following our review, we affirm the order of the post-conviction court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Charles E. Orange v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Charles E. Orange, appeals the Bedford County Circuit Court’s denial of post-conviction relief. On appeal, he contends that the trial court erred by summarily dismissing his petition without appointing counsel or giving him an opportunity to amend his petition. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Bedford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Michael Blaine Ward, II v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Michael Blaine Ward, II, appeals the Coffee County Circuit Court’s denial of post-conviction relief from his convictions for especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted second degree murder, aggravated spousal rape, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary, and resulting effective sentence of twenty-one years. On appeal, he contends that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to (1) adequately investigate and prepare for trial, (2) give proper written notice of an alibi witness, (3) present material evidence at the trial, (4) object to inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct, (5) require the State to elect a single means by which the charged offenses were committed, (6) object to improper jury instructions, (7) preserve issues for appeal, and (8) object to his prosecution under Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-14-404. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Coffee | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Timothy C. Watson v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Timothy C. Watson, pro se, appeals the Hickman County Circuit Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus from his 2009 conviction for sale of cocaine over one-half gram and resulting fifteen-year sentence. The Petitioner contends that he was denied the right to counsel at his trial and that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Hickman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Mark Demcovitz
Mark Demcovitz (“the Defendant”) pled guilty to unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to sell and received an eight year sentence. The trial court entered a judgment reserving two certified questions of law. On appeal, the Defendant asks that this Court answer the following certified questions: 1. Whether the stop of the defendant for “following too close” violated the |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Larry Holmes v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Larry Holmes, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court’s denial of post conviction relief from his convictions for four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery, and one count of aggravated burglary, and resulting effective sentence of seventy years. The trial court merged the aggravated robbery convictions with the especially aggravated kidnapping convictions. The Petitioner contends that he was denied due process when the trial court failed to dismiss the kidnapping convictions and that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jeffery Ratliff A/K/A Jeffery Absher v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Jeffery Ratliff, appeals the Sullivan County Circuit Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. The petitioner stands convicted of six counts of rape of a child, six counts of incest, one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of aggravated sexual battery. He is currently serving an effective sentence of one hundred twelve years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, he contends that the post-conviction court erred in denying his petition because: (1) he was denied his right to the effective assistance of counsel; (2) his convictions violate the principle of double jeopardy; and (3) the State’s Notice of Intent to Seek Enhanced Punishment failed to comply with statutory requirements. Following review of the record, we conclude that there was no error in the post-conviction court’s decision and affirm the denial of relief. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Tiffany Davis
The Defendant, Tiffany Davis, was indicted on eighteen felony drug counts following a series of controlled drug purchases conducted by law enforcement officers. The jury convicted the Defendant of one count of the sale of less than 0.5 grams of cocaine, a Class C felony; three counts of the sale of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine, all Class B felonies; three counts of the delivery of less than 0.5 grams of cocaine, all Class C felonies; three counts of the delivery of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine, all Class B felonies; two counts of conspiracy to sell 0.5 grams or more of cocaine, both Class C felonies; and one count of the lesser included offense of facilitation of the sale of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine, a Class C felony. She was found not guilty on the remaining five counts. At her sentencing hearing, the trial court found the Defendant to be a career offender based upon her seven prior Class B felony convictions, for which she previously had received a sixteen-year sentence. After merging alternative counts in this action, the trial court sentenced her to the mandatory sentence of fifteen years for each Class C felony and thirty years for each Class B felony. The trial court then ordered each of these sentences to run concurrently. After finding that the Defendant had an extensive prior record of criminal activity and that the present offenses were committed while she was on probation, the trial court ordered its effective thirty-year sentence in this case to run consecutively to the Defendant’s prior sixteen-year sentence. On appeal,the Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting each conviction. She also challenges her effective sentence, arguing that it is excessive. After a careful review of the record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Robert Jason Burdick
A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Robert Jason Burdick, of one count of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated rape with bodily injury. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I standard offender to a cumulative sentence of thirty-two years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant argues that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions for aggravated rape with bodily injury, (2) the trial court erred by denying his pre-trial motions to suppress evidence, and (3) the trial court erred by imposing partial consecutive sentences. Upon review, we affirm the Defendant’s convictions and the length of his sentences but remand the case to the Criminal Court of Davidson County for additional findings regarding consecutive sentencing. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Lawrence Ralph, Jr. v. State of Tennessee
Between the years of 1988 and 1996, the Petitioner, Lawrence David Ralph, Jr., pled guilty to the offenses of public drunkenness, resisting arrest, interfering with the duties of a police officer, disturbing the peace, two counts of assault, driving under the influence, and harassment. On May 17, 2011, the Petitioner filed five separate pro se petitions for post-conviction relief. In five separate orders, the post-conviction court summarily denied relief, concluding that the petitions were not filed within the applicable statute of limitations. On appeal, the Petitioner contends the post-conviction court erred when it summarily dismissed his petitions. After thoroughly reviewing the record and the applicable authorities, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Kendrick Miles
Appellant, Kendrick Miles, pled guilty in the Rutherford County Circuit Court to one count of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. Pursuant to his plea agreement, the trial court sentenced Appellant as a Range I, standard offender to four years. The trial court held a sentencing hearing specifically for the purpose of addressing Appellant’s request for alternative sentencing. The trial court denied Appellant’s request and ordered Appellant to serve the sentence in incarceration. On appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying an alternative sentence. After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that the trial court considered the pertinent sentencing guidelines and principles and properly denied Appellant’s requestfor alternative sentencing. Therefore, we affirm the judgmentof the trial court. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Travis Wayne Lankford
Appellant, Travis Wayne Lankford, pled guilty in Marshall County to three counts of especially aggravated burglary, one count of robbery, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of assault and one count of criminal responsibility for aggravated assault. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court merged two of the especially aggravated burglary convictions into the third especiallyaggravated burglary conviction and merged the criminal responsibility for aggravated assault into the aggravated robbery conviction. At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Appellant to an effective sentence of sixteen years. On appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court erred in setting the sentence length at twelve years each for the especially aggravated burglary conviction and the aggravated robbery conviction by placing too much weight on the enhancement factors used. Appellant also argues that the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentences. We have reviewed the record on appeal and conclude that the weighing of enhancement factors is in the discretion of the trial court under the law and that Appellant’s record of extensive criminal activity supports the imposition of consecutive sentences. Therefore, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Larry Eugene Scales, Jr. vs. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Larry Eugene Scales, Jr., was convicted by a jury of the sale of less than .5 grams of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school zone and sentenced to twelve years at 100%. Petitioner filed a motion for new trial but subsequently waived his right to appeal. Petitioner then sought post-conviction relief, in part on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief on the basis that Petitioner failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Petitionerappealsfrom the denial of post-conviction relief,arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because counsel failed to: (1) get an independent measurement to determine whether the drug sale took place within 1,000 feet of a school zone; (2) request a jury instruction on the lesser included offense of casual exchange; (3) raise, preserve, or present any issues on direct appeal. After a review of the record, we determine that Petitioner failed to present clear and convincing evidence that he is entitled to post-conviction relief. Specifically, Petitioner failed to introduce proof at the post-conviction hearing that the sale of cocaine occurred outside the school zone. Petitioner entered a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to appeal in accordance with Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 37(d)(2) and therefore cannot show prejudice from a lack of an objection by counsel to a denial of a jury instruction on casual exchange. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Francisco R. Liriano
A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant-Appellant, Francisco R. Liriano, of conspiring to deliver more than 300 grams of cocaine, a Class A felony. He received a community corrections placement of fifteen years following one year of confinement. The sole issue presented for our review is whether the evidence sufficiently established that Liriano was a knowing participant in the conspiracy. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals |
