State of Tennessee v. Susan Gail Stephens
The Defendant, Susan Gail Stephens, was charged with two counts of statutory rape and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Defendant applied for pretrial diversion and has twice been denied. In the instant appeal, the Defendant challenges the prosecutor’s second denial of her application for pretrial diversion. Specifically, she claims that the prosecutor erred on remand by: (1) declining to consider any new information submitted by the Defendant since the date of the original application—information allegedly relevant to her amenability to correction; and (2) failing to properly consider and weigh her amenability to correction as instructed by this court in its previous decision. Following a careful review of the record and the applicable authorities, we agree with the Defendant that the prosecutor should have considered any evidence on remand, whether favorable or unfavorable, that was relevant to the Defendant’s current status for amenability to correction. Accordingly, we hold that an abuse of prosecutorial discretion occurred and once again remand the case to the prosecutor for consideration of all relevant factors. The judgment of the trial court upholding the prosecutor’s denial of diversion is vacated, and the case is remanded to the trial court with instructions to remand to the prosecutor for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |
Coffee | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Laraiel Winton v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Laraiel Winton, aggrieved by his Knox County Criminal Court jury convictions of especially aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated robbery, filed a petition for post-conviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct. Following the appointment of counsel and an evidentiary hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. In this appeal, the petitioner contends that successor counsel committed ineffective assistance, that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during argument, and that trial counsel committed ineffective assistance in several instances not previously raised on direct appeal. Determining that the allegations concerning trial counsel’s performance were previously determined, that the prosecutorial misconduct claim is waived, and that the petitioner failed to establish prejudice concerning successor counsel’s ineffective assistance, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
George Arthur Lee Smith v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, George Arthur Lee Smith, appeals from the Hamblen County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, in which he alleged that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Specifically, Petitioner argues that trial counsel was ineffective for the following reasons: 1) for failing to move to suppress a recorded conversation between Petitioner and a co-defendant; 2) for failing to argue at trial the forfeiture by wrongdoing exception to hearsay as rebuttal to the State’s theory of motive; 3) for failing to call Petitioner’s mother and stepfather as witnesses at trial; 4) for failing to move to strike the testimony of Petitioner’s sister at trial; 5) for failing to request a jury instruction regarding corroboration of accomplice testimony; 6) for failing to request a limiting instruction concerning evidence of Petitioner’s prior bad acts; 7) for failing to assert intoxication as a defense; and 8) for failing to object to improper comments by the prosecutor during voir dire and closing argument. Petitioner also contends that the post-conviction court erred by not allowing hearsay testimony from Petitioner’s mother at the post-conviction hearing. After a careful review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Hamblen | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee vs. Tammy Bernice Davenport
The defendant, Tammy Bernice Davenport, appeals the Blount County Circuit Court’s revocation of her probation and subsequent sentencing. The defendant pled guilty in 2008 to the promotion of methamphetamine manufacture and received a ten-year sentence to be served on supervised probation. Following a prior revocation and reinstatement of her probation, a second violation warrant was issued alleging a violation based upon new charges and the use of intoxicants. Following a revocation hearing at which the defendant acknowledged her violations, the trial court revoked the defendant’s probation and ordered that her sentence be served in confinement. On appeal, the defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering the defendant to serve the balance of her sentence in confinement. Following review, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s actions as a defendant already on probation is not entitled to a second grant of an alternative sentence. Because we conclude no error occurred in this case and because the case has no precedential value, we affirm the judgment of the trial court in accordance with Rule 20 of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph Dean Moore
The defendant, Joseph Dean Moore, appeals his conviction and sentence after being found guilty by a Cannon County jury on the charge of failure to appear, a Class E felony. On appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction, arguing that his resolve to kill himself constituted a good, reasonable excuse for failing to appear at a legal proceeding. Further, he contends that the maximum sentence of four years, as a Range II offender, was excessive and that he should have been given an alternative sentence of probation. Concluding that no reversible error occurred upon this record, we affirm the judgment from the trial court. |
Cannon | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Georgia Ann Tate
Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement Defendant, Georgia Ann Tate, pled guilty to three counts of the sale of less than 0.5 grams of cocaine, and received a sentence of five years for each count, to be served concurrently with each other. Also, pursuant to the plea agreement, she pled guilty to one count of sale of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine and received a sentence of eight years to be served consecutively to the other sentences, for an effective sentence of thirteen years. The manner of service of the effective sentence was agreed to be determined by the trial court. Other pending charges were dismissed. The trial court ordered the entire effective sentence to be served by incarceration. Defendant argues on appeal that the trial court erred by denying her an alternative sentence. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Putnam | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joshua David McBurnett
The Defendant, Joshua David McBurnett, pled guilty to five counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and three counts of incest, Class C felonies. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-532, 39-15-302 (2010). The trial court sentenced the Defendant to four concurrent terms of four years’ confinement for two counts of statutory rape and two counts of incest, two concurrent terms of five years’ confinement for one count of statutory rape and one count of incest, and two concurrent terms of six years’ confinement for the remaining two counts of statutory rape. The trial court imposed partial consecutive sentencing yielding an effective fifteen year sentence. On appeal, the Defendant contends that his fifteen-year sentence is excessive. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Artis Reese v. State of Tennessee
Artis Reese (“the Petitioner”) filed for post-conviction relief from his convictions of two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated criminal trespass, alleging that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his jury trial and that one of his convictions offends due process. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief, and this appeal followed. Upon our review of the record, we affirm the post-conviction court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Eric Thomas v. Charles Trauber, Chairman of Board of Probation and Parole, and State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Eric Thomas, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court’s dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief from his four 1999 convictions for robbery. He claims that he is illegally incarcerated because his sentences expired before his resentencing. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Doyle Everette Haney
The defendant, Doyle Everette Haney, appeals his Cocke County Circuit Court jury convictions of sale of .5 grams or more of cocaine and delivery of .5 grams or more of cocaine for which he received concurrent sentences of 30 years’ incarceration as a career offender. In addition to contesting the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions, the defendant argues that the State failed to comply with discovery requirements, that juror misconduct infected his trial, and that the trial court erred at sentencing. Although not raised by the defendant, we determine that the trial court erred by failing to merge the jury verdicts into one judgment of conviction. On remand, the trial court shall enter a single judgment of conviction indicating the merger of the jury’s verdicts, and the judgment in count two shall be vacated. |
Cocke | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Horace Oscar Wakefield
This is a delayed appeal from a jury conviction for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI), ninth offense. Following a sentencing hearing, the Defendant, Horace Oscar Wakefield, received a sentence of four years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. After a review of the record, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support the Defendant's conviction for DUI. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Fentress | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Alma Cisneros Childers
The defendant, Alma Cisneros Childers, appeals the sentence of incarceration she received following the revocation of her probation by the Lincoln County Circuit Court. She pled guilty to violating the terms and conditions of her probation but now contends that she should have been given a community corrections sentence rather than one of incarceration. After review, we conclude that the defendant has not shown that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering the revocation or in imposing a sentence of incarceration. Therefore, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed. |
Lincoln | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Andrew Mann
The defendant, Andrew Bryan Mann, was convicted of two counts of first degree premeditated murder after he shot and killed his girlfriend’s father and stepmother. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in the Department of Correction. The primary issue at the defendant’s trial was whether or not the defendant’s killing of the victims was premeditated. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court erred by: (1) denying his motion to suppress; (2) refusing to allow his expert witnesses to testify concerning the defendant’s ability to premeditate; (3) admitting photographs of the crime scene; (4) excluding a report made in 2003 by his girlfriend to the Department of Child Services claiming that she had been abused by one of the victims, and (5) imposing consecutive life sentences on the grounds that he was a dangerous offender. After carefully reviewing the record and the arguments of the parties, we reject each of these claims and affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Roger Joseph v. State of Tennessee
On April 25, 2001, Petitioner, Roger Joseph, pled guilty to first degree murder. The Bradley County Criminal Court sentenced him to life in prison with possibility of parole. Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief on February 17, 2010. On February 28, 2010, the post-conviction court summarily dismissed the petition for being untimely and because Petitioner had filed a previous petition. On appeal, Petitioner argues that he was taking various psychiatric medications at the time he entered his guilty plea and, therefore, his plea was not entered voluntarily. He also argues that trial counsel was ineffective because he knew Petitioner was taking medication. Because Petitioner has shown no due process violation or other reason for tolling the statute of limitations, we conclude that the post-conviction court properly dismissed the petition. |
Bradley | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Nathanael Anderson
After being indicted by a Sevier County Grand Jury, the Defendant, Nathanael Anderson, representing himself, pled guilty to one count of perjury. The Defendant then, through counsel, filed a motion to continue the sentencing hearing, which the trial court denied. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to eleven months and twenty-nine days to be served in confinement. After the sentencing hearing, the Defendant filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and filed a motion to reconsider the denial of the motion to continue the sentencing hearing. The trial court overruled the motion to withdraw the guilty plea, but it granted the motion to reconsider the motion to continue the sentencing hearing. In a subsequent resentencing hearing, the trial court considered the testimony of a psychologist who had diagnosed the Defendant with Simple Deteriorative Disorder, or Simple Schizophrenia. After the second sentencing hearing, the trial court entered an amended judgment, sentencing the Defendant to eleven months and twenty-nine days with six months to be served in confinement and the remainder to be served on supervised probation. On appeal, the Defendant contends: (1) the trial court erred in overruling his motion to withdraw his guilty plea because it applied the incorrect legal standard; (2) his guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered; (3) the trial court improperly admitted evidence at the sentencing hearing; and (4) the trial court improperly sentenced him. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Sevier | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Todd Ghormley
A Blount County jury convicted the Defendant-Appellant, Anthony Todd Ghormley, of two counts of attempted first degree murder, a Class A felony, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, a Class A felony, two counts of especially aggravated burglary, a Class B felony, and three counts of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. He received an effective sentence of 105 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, Ghormley argues that the trial court erred by (1) refusing to hold a competency hearing or reset the trial date when Ghormley’s competency to stand trial was questioned two weeks before trial, (2) allowing Ghormley to represent himself for several months during the pretrial roceedings, and (3) allowing the State to amend the indictment on the day trial began. Upon review, we conclude that the trial court erred in not holding a hearing to determine Ghormley’s competency to stand trial. Accordingly, we reverse the denial of a competency hearing and remand for a hearing. As to the other claimed errors, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Christopher March
The Defendant, Christopher March, was convicted by a Madison County Circuit Court jury of two counts of burglary, Class D felonies; five counts of forgery of $1000 or more but less than $10,000, Class D felonies; forgery of less than $1000, a Class E felony; theft of property under $500, a Class A misdemeanor; and attempted theft under $500, a Class B misdemeanor. The trial court imposed a seven-year sentence for each of the burglary and Class D felony forgery convictions, four years for Class E felony forgery, eleven months and twenty-nine days for theft, and six months for attempted theft. The trial court imposed partial consecutive sentencing yielding an effective twenty-one-year sentence. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the burglary convictions and (2) the trial court erred by imposing excessive sentences. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Oscar Dimery
A Hamilton County jury convicted the Defendant, Oscar Dimery, of second degree murder, and the trial court sentenced him to serve twenty-three years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred when it admitted the Defendant’s clothing into evidence because the State failed to establish a chain of custody. The Defendant also asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Brian Kenneth Henneberg
The defendant,Brian Kenneth Henneberg,appeals his Williamson CountyCircuit Court jury conviction of first degree premeditated murder, claiming that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, that the trial court erred by permitting a police officer to offer expert testimony, that the trial court erred by denying his request for a curative instruction, and that the cumulative effect of the errors deprived him of his constitutional right to a fair trial. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Williamson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Darren Allan Vincent
The Defendant, Darren Allan Vincent, was convicted upon pleading nolo contendere to misdemeanor assault, sentenced to eleven months and twenty-nine days’ confinement, and order to pay a $2500 fine. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred by denying probation and requiring him to serve seventy-five percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for release. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Sequatchie | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Darren Allan Vincent - Concurring
I concur in the results reached in the majority opinion. I, however, would affirm the trial court on the merits of its sentencing decision. |
Sequatchie | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Paul Fred Chappell
A Scott County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Defendant, Paul Chappell, for sale of a schedule III controlled substance. Following a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of the charge. The trial court sentenced Defendant as a Range III, persistent offender, to twelve years in the Department of Correction to run consecutively with the sentences in seven other cases. The trial court also imposed a $2,000 fine. On appeal, Defendant argues that the playback at trial of the audio recording of the drug transaction was incomplete and that the trial court improperly denied him a new trial based on allegations that witnesses discussed their testimony during trial. After a thorough review, we conclude that the issues raised by Defendant on appeal are waived, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Scott | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Trina Dawn Holdway Johnson v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Trina Dawn Holdway Johnson, appeals the denial of her petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that she was denied the effective assistance of counsel and that counsel’s faulty advice rendered her guilty plea unknowing and involuntary. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. James Tilson
The defendant, James Tilson, appeals from his Knox County Criminal Court jury conviction of possession with intent to sell or deliver not less than one-half ounce of marijuana, claiming that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred by denying his request for jury instructions on a lesser-included offense. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Adrian Leroy Scott
Following an indictment charging three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of rape, a Davidson County Criminal Court jury convicted the defendant, Adrian Leroy Scott, of three counts of assault, see T.C.A. § 39-13-101(a)(3) (2003); one count of attempted sexual battery by an authority figure, see id. §§ 39-13-527(a)(1)(B), 39-12-101; and one count of attempted sexual battery, see id. §§ 39-13-505(a)(1), 39-12-101. The trial court imposed an effective sentence of three years’ split confinement consisting of six months’ incarceration in the workhouse followed by two and one-half years on probation. In addition to contesting the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions, the defendant argues on appeal that the trial court erred by denying (1) his motion to suppress his statement to the police,(2) his motion for a mistrial based upon the undisclosed testimony of a rebuttal witness, (3) his motion to dismiss counts three and five based upon a fatal variance between the indictment allegations and the proof presented at trial, and (4) his request to present evidence at trial concerning the sexual offender registry. The defendant also contends that the trial court erred by imposing consecutive sentences and denying him full probation. The State concedes that the trial court erroneously imposed consecutive sentences and also notes that the trial court failed to merge two sets of alternative counts. On remand, the trial court shall enter corrected judgments reflecting merger and concurrent sentences. Discerning no other error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court as modified. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals |
