State of Tennessee v. Abron Spraggins
The defendant, Abron Spraggins, was convicted by a Shelby County Criminal Court jury of aggravated assault, a Class C felony, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, a Class E felony, and was sentenced by the trial court to an effective term of thirteen years in the Department of Correction. The defendant raises three issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court committed plain error by instructing the jury that felony reckless endangerment was a lesser-included offense of aggravated assault as charged in the indictment; (2) whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the convictions; and (3) whether the trial court erred by enhancing the defendant’s aggravated assault sentence and ordering that the aggravated assault and reckless endangerment sentences be served consecutively. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Johnathan Norman
The defendant, Johnathan Norman, appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to withdraw guilty pleas that he entered to charges of (1) being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun, a Class E felony, and (2) unlawful possession of a controlled substance (marijuana), a Class A misdemeanor. After careful review, we conclude that the defendant’s motion to withdraw his pleas was not timely, and we affirm the judgments from the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Clois Dean Asbury
A Campbell County Criminal Court jury convicted the appellant, Clois Dean Asbury, of driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI), sixth offense, and violating the Tennessee implied consent law. On appeal, the appellant contends that (1) there was insufficient evidence to convict him on either count because he was not specifically identified in court, and (2) the trial court's admission of the appellant's medical records, which revealed the appellant had a blood alcohol content level of 0.26 percent, violated his right to confront witnesses against him. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Campbell | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Shannon Gene Taylor
The Defendant, Shannon Gene Taylor, appeals the revocation of his probation by the Circuit Court of Coffee County. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the judgment of the trial court pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. After our review, we grant the State's motion and affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Coffee | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Larquietta Taylor-Fisher
The defendant, Larquietta Taylor-Fisher, pled guilty in the Shelby County Criminal Court to DUI, first offense, a Class A misdemeanor; leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor; and three counts of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony, and was sentenced by the trial court to an effective sentence of two years, with thirty days to serve and the remainder of the time on supervised probation. In a timely appeal to this court, she argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her request for judicial diversion. Following our review, we affirm the sentencing determinations of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Matthew Melton Jackson v. State of Tennessee
On August 10, 2001, Petitioner, Matthew Melton Jackson, pled guilty in Sumner County Circuit Court to four counts of aggravated robbery. The trial court sentenced Appellant to four, ten-year sentences to be served concurrently with each other, but consecutively to a previous sentence. On August 7, 2009, Petitioner filed a Petition for Post-conviction Relief arguing that a decision of this Court rendered after the entry of his guilty plea created a constitutional right that should be given retroactive application. Alternatively, he also argues that his incarceration in another state required a tolling of the statute of limitations. The postconviction court summarily dismissed his petition. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the dismissal of his petition. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Quantraveous Williams v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Quantraveous Williams, appeals the post-conviction court's dismissal of his postconviction petition in which Petitioner alleged that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with the entry of his pleas of guilty and that his pleas of guilty were not entered into voluntarily or knowingly. After a through review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jamie Bailey v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Jamie Bailey, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his three first degree murder convictions, arguing that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel and that his guilty pleas were therefore unknowing and involuntary. Following our review, we affirm the denial of the petition. |
Dyer | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph S. Rittenberry
The Defendant-Appellant, Joseph S. Rittenberry, pled nolo contendere in Sumner County to three counts of attempted aggravated sexual battery, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced Rittenberry to six years in the Tennessee Department of Correction for each conviction, to be served concurrently. On appeal, Rittenberry claims the trial court erred in denying alternative sentencing. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Troy Allen Pruitt
A Montgomery County jury convicted the Defendant, Troy Allen Pruitt, of two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of fifteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction ("TDOC"). On appeal, the Defendant contends: (1) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions; and (2) the trial court erred when it found the Defendant waived review of the issue of whether recent case law on expert witness testimony entitled him to a new trial. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm the trial court's judgments. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Edward Garcia Summers
The defendant, Edward Garcia Summers, was indicted for possession with the intent to sell .5 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia, all charges based upon evidence seized during a search of his residence. The defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence, alleging that there was no probable cause to support the issuance of the search warrant. The trial court granted the defendant's motion, and the State now appeals. Upon review, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Christopher Jones
The Defendant-Appellant, Christopher Jones, appeals the revocation of his probation by the Circuit Court of Madison County. Jones pled guilty to three Class A misdemeanors: possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia . For each conviction, he was sentenced to eleven months and twenty-nine days in the county jail. He was also fined a total of $1,150. The trial court ordered the sentences for possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana to be served concurrently, with the sentence for possession of drug paraphernalia to be served consecutively. All three sentences were suspended, and Jones was placed on probation. On appeal, he claims the trial court erred by revoking his probation and restoring his original sentences. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jeffrey A. Waggoner v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Jeffrey A. Waggoner, appeals the denial of error coram nobis relief by the trial court. He was convicted of first degree murder on February 2, 1984, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis relief, alleging that a witness who had testified against him at trial had recanted his testimony. After careful review, we affirm the judgment from the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Donald Ray Blevins
The Warren County Grand Jury indicted Appellant, Donald Ray Blevins, for two counts of delivery of cocaine, a Schedule II controlled substance, in an amount of less than 0.5 grams, and one count of delivery of cocaine, a Schedule II controlled substance, in an amount of 0.5 grams or more. These offenses were based upon three drug transactions involving a confidential informant's telephone calls to Appellant and further dealings with two other individuals. Following a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of facilitation of delivery of cocaine in an amount less than 0.5 grams, delivery of cocaine in an amount less than 0.5 grams, and delivery of cocaine in an amount of 0.5 grams or more. The trial court sentenced Appellant as a Range I, standard offender and imposed an effective nine-year sentence to be served at thirty percent. Appellant appealed his convictions arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever offenses. We have reviewed the record on appeal. We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support Appellant's convictions of the delivery offenses based upon the theory of criminal responsibility. In addition, the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction for facilitation of delivery. We also conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the telephone calls were part of a common scheme or plan and for that reason the denial of Appellant's motion to sever offenses was proper. Therefore, we affirm the judgments of the lower court. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Daniel Livingston v. State of Tennessee, Stephen Dotson, Warden
In 2002, a jury convicted the petitioner, Daniel Livingston, of evading arrest in a vehicle with risk of injury, a Class D felony, inter alia. The trial court sentenced him as a career offender to twelve years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On July 28, 2009, the petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the indictment for evading arrest was insufficient to vest the trial court with jurisdiction. The circuit court dismissed the petition, and the petitioner now appeals. Following our review, we affirm the order of the circuit court. |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. John Barlow
Defendant-Appellant, John Barlow, was convicted by a Shelby County Criminal Court jury of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect, Class A felonies. The trial court sentenced Barlow as a Range I, violent offender to concurrent sentences of twenty-five years for the aggravated child abuse conviction and fifteen years for the aggravated child neglect conviction, for an effective sentence of twenty-five years. In Barlow's appeal, he argues that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions, (2) the convictions for aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect violate his right against double jeopardy, (3) the trial court erred in declaring Dr. Robert Sanford and Dr. Karen Lakin as expert witnesses, (4) the trial court erred in allowing Dr. Lakin to testify that the victim suffered from an "abusive head trauma incident [that was] most probably associated with [a] bed[-]wetting episode," and (5) the State committed several incidents of prosecutorial misconduct. We conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support Barlow's conviction for aggravated child neglect. Accordingly, the judgment of conviction for aggravated child neglect is vacated. However, the judgment of the trial court in all other respects is affirmed. Because Barlow's fifteen-year sentence for his aggravated child neglect conviction was to be served concurrently with his twenty-five-year sentence for aggravated child abuse, his effective sentence is unchanged. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Richard Joe Fitten v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Richard Joe Fitten, appeals pro se from the denial of post-conviction relief by the Criminal Court for Hamilton County. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Fitten resolved case numbers 255275, 261292, and 261403. In case number 255275, Fitten agreed to the revocation of his probation and the imposition of a six-year sentence. He also agreed to plead guilty to filing a false police report, case number 261292, and retaliation for past action, case number 261403. He received a two-year sentence on the false reporting offense, and one year on the retaliation offense, to be served consecutively. However, the effective three-year sentence was suspended to unsupervised probation, to be served consecutively to the six-year sentence. Although not entirely clear from his handwritten brief, Fitten claims: (1) his conviction for retaliation for past action should be dismissed because it resulted from an illegal arrest under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for retaliation for past action and filing a false police report. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Erica Harrison and Alexis Harrison
The Defendants-Appellants, Erica Harrison and Alexis Harrison, each entered an open guilty plea to one count of theft of property valued at more than five hundred dollars ($500) but less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), a Class E felony, with the length and manner of service of the sentence to be determined by the trial court. Both requested judicial diversion, which the court denied. The trial court sentenced Erica Harrison as a Range I, standard offender to 180 days in the Tennessee Department of Correction with the balance of her two-year sentence to be served on supervised probation and sentenced Alexis Harrison as a Range I, standard offender to 90 days in the Tennessee Department of Correction with the balance of her sentence to be served on supervised probation. On appeal, Erica and Alexis Harrison argue that the trial court abused its discretion by (1) denying judicial diversion and (2) denying full probation. Upon review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments but remand for a new sentencing hearing. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Daniel Livingston v. State of Tennessee,
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Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Johnny Villalobos
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Johnny Villalobos, of robbery, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range I offender to four years in the workhouse. On appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Delwin O'Neal v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Delwin O'Neal, appeals as of right from the Marshall County Circuit Court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief attacking his guilty plea convictions for multiple drug offenses for which he received an effective sentence of twenty-three years as a Range II, multiple offender. At the post-conviction evidentiary hearing, the Petitioner requested a reduction of sentence, and the trial court ruled that it was without jurisdiction to modify the sentence. In this appeal as of right, the Petitioner contends that the trial court erred in ruling that it could not modify the sentence. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jason Allen Ruiz
The Defendant, Jason Allen Ruiz, pled guilty to one count of sale of cocaine and one count of delivery of cocaine, both Class B felonies. The trial court merged the convictions and imposed an effective sentence of eight years as a Range I, standard offender to be served on probation following an 11 month and 29 day period of confinement in the local jail on work release. Following the filing of a revocation warrant and an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found that the Defendant had violated the conditions of his probation and ordered him to serve his sentence in incarceration. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering him to serve his sentence in confinement. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jeffery Boyd Trusty
The defendant, Jeffery Boyd Trusty, was convicted by a Smith County jury of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, and theft of property over $1000. The trial court merged the two first degree murder convictions and sentenced the defendant to concurrent terms of life imprisonment for the first degree murder conviction, twenty-five years as a violent offender for the especially aggravated kidnapping conviction, and four years as a Range I offender for the theft of property over $1000 conviction, for an effective sentence of life in the Department of Correction. The defendant raises essentially eight issues on appeal, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the first degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping convictions, that the State failed to prove venue in Smith County beyond a reasonable doubt and the trial court improperly instructed the jury on the State's burden to prove venue, and that the trial court erred by denying the defendant's requests for special jury instructions, allowing hearsay testimony that the victim feared the defendant, allowing irrelevant and prejudicial evidence about the search procedures employed to locate the victim's body and the evidence uncovered during those searches, allowing a police officer to offer legal opinions and conclusions, allowing irrelevant and prejudicial evidence about the defendant's possession and movement of firearms, and not allowing each of the defendant's counsel to deliver a separate closing argument. Having reviewed the record and found no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Smith | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Douglas Dansby
The Defendant, Anthony Douglas Dansby, pled guilty to driving under the influence ("DUI"), violation of the implied consent law, violation of the seatbelt law, violation of the open container law, and possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance. In accordance with Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 37, the Defendant reserved as a certified question of law the issue of whether the stop of his vehicle, which led to his indictment and guilty plea, was constitutional. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we conclude that the stop of the Defendant's vehicle was constitutional; therefore, we affirm the trial court's judgments. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Timothy Mark Agee, II
The Defendant, Timothy Mark Agee, II, appeals his conviction upon a guilty plea in the Davidson County Criminal Court for second degree murder, a Class A felony. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve twenty-three years. The Defendant appeals, contending that the sentence imposed is too lengthy. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals |
