State of Tennessee v. Terry S. Porter
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant of arson, a Class C felony, and two counts of reckless homicide, Class D felonies. The trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range II multiple offender to ten years confinement for the arson conviction and seven years for each reckless homicide conviction with all sentences to run consecutively, for an effective sentence of twenty-four years. The defendant challenges his sentence on appeal, arguing the trial court’s consideration of enhancement factors was improper and his sentences should run concurrently. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph Rushing
Defendant, Joseph Rushing, was indicted for one count of rape of a child and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Following a jury trial, the jury found Defendant guilty of count one, rape of a child. The State entered a nolle prosequi as to count two, aggravated sexual battery. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Defendant to twenty-three years imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant argues that (1) the trial court erred in allowing Defendant's statements to the police to be introduced at trial; (2) the sentence imposed on Defendant was excessive; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support Defendant's conviction for rape of a child; and (4) Defendant's conviction and sentence violated principles of fundamental fairness. After a careful review of the record in this matter, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Humphreys | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Clifton Brown
Defendant, Clifton Brown, was indicted on one count of first degree felony murder of John Maupin, one count of premeditated first degree murder of John Maupin, one count of aggravated burglary of Ricky Howard's home, and one count of especially aggravated kidnapping of John Maupin. Prior to the case going to the jury, the State asked for and received a nolle prosequi as to the charge of premeditated first degree murder. Following a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary. The jury found Defendant not guilty of first degree felony murder, and found Defendant guilty of the lesser included offense of reckless homicide. Defendant waived a sentencing hearing and agreed to be sentenced as a Range I, standard offender, to twenty years for the especially aggravated kidnapping conviction, three years for the aggravated burglary conviction and two years for the reckless homicide conviction, with all sentences to run concurrently. Defendant appealed the sufficiency of the convicting evidence for all three convictions. In his brief, however, Defendant limits his argument on appeal to the sufficiency of the evidence pertaining to his conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping, and Defendant does not present any argument to support his contention that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions for reckless homicide and aggravated burglary. Defendant has thus waived a review of the issues pertaining to his aggravated burglary and reckless homicide convictions. Tenn. R. Crim. P. 10(b). After a thorough review of the record, we affirm all three judgments of the trial court. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Timothy Johns v. State of Tennessee - Concurring
I agree this case must be remanded to address both deficiency and prejudice relating to ineffective assistance of counsel. I write separately to elaborate on my concerns, especially relating to deficiency. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Timothy Johns v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner appeals from the denial of his post-conviction petition. The petitioner had pled guilty to rape of a child under age thirteen in exchange for a sentence of fifteen years at 100%. On appeal, the petitioner claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The petitioner also contends that the post-conviction court erred by denying his request to call two witnesses and by denying his request to make an offer of proof regarding the testimony of those witnesses. The post-conviction court also excluded certain medical records of the victim. After thorough review, we reverse the post-conviction court’s judgment and remand the case to the post-conviction court for a new hearing. At the new hearing, the post-conviction court should admit the testimony of the petitioner’s two witnesses and the victim’s medical records. Should the court exclude certain portions of the testimony, offers of proof shall be allowed in accordance with Tennessee Rule of Evidence 103. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Amy Denise Sutton
The defendant was convicted of theft of property valued over $1,000. The defendant was sentenced as a Range I standard offender to three years in the Tennessee Department of Correction with one year of incarceration and the remainder to be served on community corrections. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction and raises issues regarding the length and manner of service of her sentence. We remand to delete the reference to the Department of Correction but otherwise affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Carroll | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. William F. Cartwright
The defendant, William F. Cartwright, appeals as of right from his convictions by a jury in the Putnam County Criminal Court for possession with intent to deliver one-half gram or more of cocaine, a Class B felony, and simple possession of cocaine, a Class A misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced him as a standard offender to concurrent sentences of nine years for possession of one-half gram or more of cocaine with intent to deliver and eleven months, twenty-nine days for simple possession of cocaine. However, the trial court ordered these convictions merged. The petitioner contends (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for possession with intent to deliver one-half gram or more of cocaine, (2) that the trial court erred in not requiring the state to elect which offense it was prosecuting, and (3) that his convictions for possession with intent to deliver one-half gram or more of cocaine and for simple possession of cocaine violate double jeopardy. We hold that the evidence is sufficient and that the trial court did not err by not requiring the state to elect between offenses with regard to his cocaine convictions. We also hold that although the trial court ordered the cocaine convictions to be merged, it should have entered only one judgment of conviction and noted the merger of the counts in that judgment. We vacate the judgments and remand the case for entry of a single judgment of conviction. |
Putnam | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Cherie Mae Phillips
The appellant, Cherie Mae Phillips, pled guilty in the Knox County Criminal Court to aggravated assault. Pursuant to the plea agreement, she received a sentence of three years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying alternative sentencing. Upon our review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Elizabeth Allison
Petitioner, Elizabeth Allison, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in which she alleged that her judgment of conviction was void because the length of her sentence exceeded the range of sentence for a Range I offender. Relying upon the supreme court’s decision in McConnell v. State, 12 S.W.3d 795 (Tenn. 2000), the trial court granted Petitioner habeas corpus relief. The State now appeals and argues that the trial court erred in granting Petitioner’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. After a through review of this matter, we reverse the judgment of the trial court, dismiss the petition, and remand this matter for reinstatement of the judgment of conviction and sentence previously imposed. |
Gibson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Mario McNeal
Defendant, Mario McNeal, was convicted by a jury of five counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated assault. Defendant was sentenced to ten years confinement for each of the aggravated robbery convictions and three years confinement for his aggravated assault conviction. The sentences were ordered to be served concurrently, resulting in an effective sentence of ten years. In this appeal as of right, Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence. After a review of the entire record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. George Arvil Vance and Vincent Vance
A Sullivan County jury convicted the Defendants, George A. Vance and Vincent Vance, of aggravated gambling promotion for operating twenty-nine Free Spin machines in Bristol. The trial court sentenced Defendant George A. Vance to two years of supervised probation followed by four years of unsupervised probation and ordered him to make restitution in the amount of $130,521.00. The court sentenced Defendant Vincent Vance to one year of supervised probation followed by one year of unsupervised probation. On appeal, the Defendants contend that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support their convictions because there was no evidence that they knowingly engaged in a gambling enterprise and the Free Spin machines were not principally designed as gambling devices; (2) the trial court abused its discretion by prohibiting the Defendants from introducing the testimony of a patent attorney concerning the issuance of a patent on the Free Spin machine; and (3) the trial court abused its discretion by prohibiting the Defendants from introducing evidence concerning comparable products, games and promotions similar to the play on the Free Spin machines. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the trial court's judgments. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Chris E. Hixson
The Defendant, Chris E. Hixson, pled guilty to two counts of theft and three counts of sale of cocaine, all Class C felonies. He was sentenced to two concurrent four-year terms for the theft offenses, and to three concurrent four-year terms for the cocaine offenses, these latter terms to be served consecutively to the terms for the theft offenses, for an effective sentence of eight years. All of these sentences were ordered to be served on community corrections. The Defendant was subsequently convicted of aggravated burglary and sentenced to serve three years on community corrections, consecutive to the sentences imposed for the theft offenses. The effective sentence of eight years was thus unchanged. Subsequent to the burglary conviction, the Defendant violated the terms of his release and was ordered to serve two years day-for-day in confinement, after which he was to be released back into community corrections. It is from this order that the Defendant now appeals, arguing that the two years of continuous confinement constitutes an illegal sentence. The State concedes that the sentence is illegal. We agree. The trial court's judgment is reversed and this matter is remanded to the trial court. |
Dickson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Paul Graham
The defendant was convicted by a jury of second degree murder of his wife. The defendant appeals his conviction and sentence and alleges the following errors: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction; (2) the admission of hearsay testimony and failure to give a curative instruction; (3) the admission of expert opinion that the death was a result of homicidal violence when cause was undetermined; (4) cumulative errors required a new trial; and (5) improper sentencing. After review, we conclude that there is no reversible error and affirm the conviction and sentence. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Johnny L. McGowan, Jr. v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner directly appeals the dismissal of his petition of writ of habeas corpus. The judgment of the habeas court summarily dismissing the petition for writ of habeas corpus is reversed, and this case is remanded to the Circuit Court of Davidson County for appointment of counsel and an evidentiary hearing. If the habeas corpus court finds the sentence to be illegal, the court must then remand the case to the Rutherford County Criminal Court, where the convictions occurred. On remand to the original convicting court, the petitioner's guilty plea may be withdrawn if concurrent sentencing was a condition of his plea agreement. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Raymond Rutter v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Raymond Rutter, appeals as of right from the Johnson County Criminal Court's dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief. In this pro se appeal, the petitioner contends that he should be granted habeas corpus relief because his judgment of conviction for criminal impersonation of a licensed professional is void. The state contends that the trial court properly dismissed the petition. We affirm the trial court's dismissal of the petition. |
Johnson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Terry A. Hawkins
The Appellant, Terry A. Hawkins, presents for review a certified question of law. See Tenn. R. Crim. P. 37(b)(2)(i). Hawkins pled guilty to DUI, first offense, and was sentenced to eleven months, twenty-nine days jail confinement, to be suspended after service of forty-eight hours. As a condition of her guilty plea, Hawkins explicitly reserved a certified question of law challenging the denial of her motion to suppress the results of a blood alcohol test administered by a private hospital in the course of medical treatment. The Appellant argues that the procedures utilized to obtain the results of the test violated both her constitutional right to privacy and due process. On appeal, the State asserts that the question presented is not dispositive and, thus, this court is without jurisdiction to hear this appeal. After review, we agree that the certified question is not dispositive. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. |
Wilson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jeffrey R. Dickens
Following a bench trial, the Appellant, Jeffrey R. Dickens, was convicted of criminal attempt to commit unlawful photographing in violation of privacy as proscribed by Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-605 (2003), a class B misdemeanor. He was sentenced to six months in the Rutherford County Jail, which was suspended after service of eight days periodic confinement. On appeal, Dickens argues that his conviction cannot stand because an attempt to commit a violation of this section is not an indictable offense. Alternatively, he contends that the proof is insufficient to constitute a "substantial step" toward the commission of the attempted crime. After review, the judgment of conviction is affirmed. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Russell K. Bowman
The defendant was convicted of driving under the influence, second offense. The trial court imposed a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, to be served on probation after service of eighty days' incarceration. In this appeal of right, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. The judgment is affirmed. |
Putnam | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Robert M. Bass
The Appellant, Robert M. Bass, appeals the sentencing decision of the Stewart County Circuit Court following revocation of his community corrections sentences. The trial court's order provides that Bass is to serve eighteen months in the county jail and, upon service of this term, return to community corrections supervision for the balance of his sentences. Bass argues that the trial court is without authority to impose a sentence in excess of one year's confinement in the jail. The State concedes error. We agree and remand for further proceedings. |
Stewart | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. David Robert Cook
Defendant, David Robert Cook, was indicted for one count of second degree murder, a Class A felony, and one count of attempted second degree murder, a Class B felony. Following a jury trial, the jury found Defendant not guilty of the indicted offenses but guilty of one count of voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony, and one count of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony. The trial court sentenced Defendant as a Range I, standard offender, to three years imprisonment for the voluntary manslaughter conviction and two years imprisonment for the aggravated assault conviction. The trial court ordered Defendant’s sentence for aggravated assault to run concurrently with his sentence for voluntary manslaughter. On appeal, Defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument; and (3) the trial court erred in not sentencing Defendant as an especially mitigated offender. The trial court did not err by refusing to grant a mistrial, the transcript of the sentencing hearing is not included in the appellate record and sentencing issues are therefore waived, and the evidence is sufficient to support Defendant’s conviction for voluntary manslaughter. Although not raised on appeal, we further conclude that the trial court committed plain error when it instructed the jury that reckless aggravated assault was a lesser included offense of attempted second degree murder. Our supreme court has explicitly held that reckless aggravated assault is not a lesser included offense of attempted second degree murder. State v. Rush, 50 S.W.3d 424, 431 (Tenn. 2001). Accordingly, we are obligated to reverse Defendant’s conviction for reckless aggravated assault and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. We affirm Defendant’s conviction and sentence for voluntary manslaughter. |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Michael E. Mills, Pro Se v. Warden Glenn Turner
The Petitioner, Michael E. Mills, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Petitioner fails to assert a ground entitling him to habeas corpus relief. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Andre Edward Hicks
The Appellant, Andre Edward Hicks, was convicted after a trial by jury of aggravated robbery and was sentenced as a persistent offender to thirty years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, Hicks raises the following issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict and (2) whether his sentence was proper. After a review of the record, the judgment of the Davidson County Criminal Court is affirmed. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
James Gordon Freeman v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, James Gordon Freeman, filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, which was amended by appointed counsel. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court dismissed the petition. On appeal, Petitioner argues that the post-conviction court erred in finding that Petitioner received effective assistance of counsel at trial. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Michael W. Gibson
The defendant was convicted of assault, a Class A misdemeanor, for punching a police officer and was sentenced to eleven months, twenty-nine days, with sixty days to serve before applying for probation. He raises seven issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in admitting a tape recording of the officer's call to dispatch; (2) whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury to disregard the dispatcher's testimony; (3) whether the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for a mistrial based on the officer's testimony about her recognition of the defendant; (4) whether the trial court erred in denying the defendant's request to publish a second officer's supplemental report to the jury; (5) whether the trial court erred in allowing defense witnesses to be impeached with evidence of other crimes; (6) whether trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by withdrawing his request to cross-examine police officers regarding prior complaints against them of excessive force; and (7) whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the defendant's conviction. We find no reversible error in the trial court's evidentiary rulings and conclude that the defendant failed to meet his burden of demonstrating ineffective assistance of counsel. We further conclude there was ample evidence to sustain the defendant's conviction for assault. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Anderson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joy Leigh Sandidge
The defendant, JoyLeigh Sandidge, pled guilty to two counts of vehicular assault and one count each of DUI, fourth offense, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, and failure to yield. The trial court imposed an effective sentence of two years, with the court to make a determination as to alternative sentencing after the defendant had served the mandatory 150 days in jail for her DUI, fourth offense, conviction. Subsequently, the trial court denied alternative sentencing and ordered the defendant to serve the balance of her sentence, and the defendant argues on appeal that the trial court erred in this determination. Following our review, we reverse the judgments of the trial court and remand for the defendant to be placed on probation for the remainder of her sentence. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals |
