State of Tennessee v. Eric Boyd
Defendant, Eric Boyd, was convicted of two counts of first degree felony murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and four counts of aggravated rape. For his convictions, Defendant received an effective sentence of two consecutive life sentences for the felony murder convictions and an additional 90 years for the remaining convictions. Defendant appeals his convictions, asserting that: 1) the trial court erred by denying Defendant’s motion for a change of venue, or in the alternative, a special jury venire; 2) the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce transcripts of a witness’s testimony from a federal court proceeding as substantive evidence against Defendant; 3) the evidence was insufficient to support Defendant’s convictions; and 4) he is entitled to relief under the cumulative error doctrine. After a thorough review of the record, we determine no error. Accordingly, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. G'Wayne Williams
A Lauderdale County jury convicted the Defendant, G’Wayne Williams, of numerous sexual offenses. State v. G’wayne Kennedy Williams a/k/a Kenney Williams, No. W2018- 00924-CCA-R3-CD, 2020 WL 211546, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App, at Jackson, Jan. 14, 2020). The trial court imposed a sixty-four-year sentence. Id. On appeal, this court vacated and dismissed fifteen of the Defendant’s convictions and concluded that the trial court had improperly merged a number of the Defendant’s convictions. We remanded the case for entry of corrected judgments and resentencing where applicable and affirmed the Defendant’s remaining convictions. Id. On remand, the trial court dismissed the relevant convictions, merged the additional relevant convictions, and resentenced the Defendant on twelve of the convictions. The trial court concluded that it had lost jurisdiction as to the Defendant’s remaining convictions affirmed on appeal. On this second appeal, the Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in finding it had lost jurisdiction on the convictions affirmed by this court. He further contends his sentence is excessive. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Keith Lamont Brown v. State of Tennessee
A Tipton County jury convicted the Petitioner, Keith Lamont Brown, of delivery of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine, and the trial court sentenced him as a Range III, persistent offender to twenty-five years of incarceration. The Petitioner appealed his convictions to this court, and we affirmed the judgments. State v. Keith Lamont Brown a.k.a. “Kee Kee”, No. W2018-00731-CCA-R3-CD, 2019 WL 2158103, at *6 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, May 16, 2019), no perm. app. filed. Subsequently, the Petitioner filed a petition for postconviction relief, claiming that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel, which the post-conviction court denied after a hearing. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Tipton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Marvin Magay James Green
The Defendant pleaded guilty to several drug offenses stemming from a 2006 arrest, and the trial court sentenced him to a fifteen-year sentence. The Defendant appealed, it was denied, and he filed multiple motions challenging his convictions. Most recently, he filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence or correct a clerical error, contending that he had not received 128 days of pretrial jail credits. The trial court denied the motion, finding that it did not have jurisdiction to amend his sentence and that any alleged error in calculating time should be directed to the Tennessee Department of Correction. It is from that judgment that the Defendant now appeals. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Marvin Magay James Green - concurring opinion
I write separately because I disagree with the majority’s interpretation of the issue raised on appeal by the Defendant. The majority, concluding that the Defendant’s contention is unclear, addresses the issue as one of pretrial jail credits or day-for-day service. I believe that, on the contrary, the Defendant asserts that his sentence is illegal or contains a clerical error because he was denied 128 days of sentence reduction credits which he earned prior to the imposition of his sentence. Because this type of claim must be addressed via the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, I would affirm the denial of relief on this basis. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph Gevedon
The Defendant-Appellant, Joseph Gevedon, pleaded guilty to two counts of driving under the influence and to one count each of leaving the scene of an accident, violation of the financial responsibility law, and simple possession of marijuana. He agreed to serve an effective sentence of three consecutive terms of eleven months, twenty-nine days, with ninety-six hours in confinement and the remainder on probation. He also agreed to a special condition that a restitution hearing would be held at a later time. A violation of probation warrant was issued before the restitution hearing was held, and following a hearing, the trial court found that the Defendant violated the terms of his probation, revoked his probation, and ordered him to serve his sentence in confinement and to pay $30,490.76 as restitution. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the trial court’s order requiring him to serve his sentence in confinement and its restitution order. After review, we conclude that we are without jurisdiction to consider the merits of this appeal. |
Giles | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph Gevedon (Dissent)
John Everett Williams, P.J., dissenting. I respectfully disagree with the majority’s conclusion that this court is without jurisdiction to hear the appeal because no final judgment has been entered. Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(b) provides that a criminal defendant has “a right to appeal when the trial court has entered a final judgment of conviction.” State v. Comer, 278 S.W.3d 758, 760-61 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2008) (quotation omitted). However, “‘Rule 3 appeals … may be taken only from final judgments.’” State v. William Chandler Daniels, No. E2009-02172-CCA-R3-CD, 2010 WL 5343776, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 23, 2010) (quoting State v. Maddox, 603 S.W.2d 740, 741 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1980)). A judgment is considered final “‘when it decides and disposes of the whole merits of the case leaving nothing for the further judgment of the court.’” State v. David Allan Bohanon, No. M2012-02366-CCA-R3-CD, 2013 WL 5777254, at *3 (Tenn. Crim. App. Oct. 25, 2013) (quoting Richardson v. Tenn. Bd. of Dentistry, 913 S.W.2d 446, 460 (Tenn. 1995)). |
Giles | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Perry Singo v. State of Tennessee
The pro se petitioner, Perry Singo, appeals the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus by the Circuit Court for Hickman County, arguing the trial court erred in summarily dismissing the petition. After our review, we affirm the summary dismissal of the petition pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. |
Hickman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Michael Kizer v. State of Tennessee
For offenses occurring in 2010, a Shelby County jury convicted the Petitioner, Michael Kizer, of two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of attempted aggravated robbery, and the trial court sentenced him to a total effective sentence of forty-five years of incarceration. This court affirmed the judgments on appeal. State v. Michael Kizer, No. W2013-02559-CCA-R3-CD, 2014 WL 5512863, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, Oct. 3, 2014), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Feb. 13, 2015). In 2017, the Petitioner filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis. In it, he contended that there was newly discovered evidence about his mental capacity that was not considered by mental health professionals at the time of their evaluation. The coram nobis court summarily dismissed the petition, finding that the one-year statute of limitations had run and that the Petitioner had failed to establish that he was entitled to a hearing. The Petitioner filed this appeal. After review, we affirm the coram nobis court’s judgment. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Bernard Woodard
A jury convicted the Defendant, Bernard Woodard, of burglary of a building other than a habitation, theft of property valued $2,500 or more, and Class E felony evading arrest in a motor vehicle, and he received an effective sentence of eighteen years in prison as a career offender. On appeal, the Defendant asserts that his right to an impartial jury was violated by the racial composition of the jury venire, that the State did not establish the value of the stolen property, that the prosecutor committed misconduct in closing argument, and that the trial court erred in imposing partially consecutive sentences. After a thorough review, we discern no error and affirm the judgments. |
Putnam | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Levie Roberts v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Levie Roberts, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court’s denial of his post-conviction petition, seeking relief from his conviction of second degree murder and resulting twenty-year sentence. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel because trial counsel did not notice before trial that the State’s “key” witness gave inconsistent statements to the police and because trial counsel failed to recall the witness to the stand in order to question her about the inconsistencies. Based upon the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Joseph Lawrence Street
The defendant, Joseph Lawrence Street, appeals the denial of his Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 35 motion to reduce the sentence imposed for his 2018 convictions of automobile burglary. Discerning no error, we affirm. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Laseena Tirree White
The Appellant, Laseena Tirree White, was convicted by a Knox County Criminal Court jury of theft of property valued $10,000 or more but less than $60,000, a Class C felony, and sentenced by the trial court as a Range I, standard offender to three years in the Department of Correction, suspended to supervised probation. On appeal, she challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, arguing that there was insufficient proof of her identity as the perpetrator and of the value of the stolen items. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Shawn Casey Walker
Defendant, Shawn Casey Walker, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated cruelty to animals, a Class E felony. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a sentence of two years in confinement. On appeal, Defendant challenges the trial court’s denial of an alternative sentence. Having reviewed the record and the briefs of the parties, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Cocke | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Curtis Dewayne Brown
A Hamilton County Criminal Court Jury found the Appellant, Curtis Dewayne Brown, guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault, employment of a firearm during a dangerous offense, and possession of a firearm while having a prior violent felony conviction. On appeal, the Appellant contends that (1) the evidence was not sufficient to sustain his convictions; (2) the trial court erred by not allowing him to impeach Officer Downs with her preliminary hearing testimony regarding the number of muzzle flashes she saw; (3) the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce proof of the Appellant’s prior conviction of aggravated assault during the bifurcated proceeding on count six; and (4) the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentencing. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Lajuan Harbison
The Defendant, Lajuan Harbison, remains convicted of three counts each of attempted voluntary manslaughter and of employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. Following remand for a resentencing hearing, the trial court imposed an effective sentence of eighteen years’ incarceration. On appeal, the Defendant argues that his overall sentence was not reasonably related to the severity of the offenses and that the trial court failed to properly account for his rehabiliative efforts while incarcereated prior to resentencing. Following our review, we affirm the trial court’s sentencing decision. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Bobby Ray Graves, Jr. v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Bobby Ray Graves, Jr., appeals from the Warren County Circuit Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, wherein he challenged his conviction for failure to appear. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-609. On appeal, the Petitioner submits that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel due to trial counsel’s failure to call the Petitioner’s brother to testify in his defense at trial. Then, requesting this court to apply the cumulative error doctrine, the Petitioner contends that he was prejudiced by trial counsel’s “failures to properly object to the State’s impermissible statements during cross-examination and closing arguments,” trial counsel’s failure to present the Petitioner’s brother to testify, and trial counsel’s “fail[ure] to argue the missing witness rule.” As a final issue, he submits that appellate counsel was ineffective by failing to address the missing witness rule on appeal. Following our review of the record, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment denying relief. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Arnold Draper Shawell
Following a jury trial, Arnold Draper Shawell (“Defendant”) was convicted of aggravated robbery, evading arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia, for which he received an effective sentence of twelve years’ incarceration. On appeal, Defendant contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction for aggravated robbery and that the trial court committed plain error by allowing the State to cross-examine him about a robbery conviction from 1991 for the purposes of impeachment. Following a thorough review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Casey Lynn Hopper
The Defendant, Casey Lynn Hopper, appeals his convictions for felony evading arrest causing a risk of death or injury, a Class D felony; reckless endangerment with a motor vehicle, a Class E felony; driving with a revoked license and reckless driving, Class B misdemeanors; and speeding, a Class C misdemeanor, and his effective twelve-year sentence. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-103, -16-603(b)(3)(B), 55-8-152, -10-205, -50- 504. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant argues that (1) the trial court erred by forcing the Defendant to choose whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial before the State produced complete discovery materials; (2) the State failed to collect or preserve favorable evidence, specifically a convenience store surveillance recording; (3) the State failed to provide the defense with exculpatory evidence, specifically a pair of binoculars; (4) the trial court improperly limited cross-examination by prohibiting the defense from introducing a photograph of a third party and questioning a police witness about him; (5) the Defendant’s convictions for felony evading arrest and reckless endangerment violate double jeopardy; (6) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions; and (7) the trial court erred by imposing consecutive sentencing. After reviewing the record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Stacy L. Curry
The Petitioner, Stacy L. Curry, entered a guilty plea to aggravated sexual battery and received an agreed-upon sentence of twenty years in prison. He filed various post-judgment motions, including the petition for post-conviction relief at issue on this appeal. The post-conviction court dismissed the petition, and the Petitioner appeals, asserting he was entitled to a hearing. Because the record is inadequate to allow review of the basis of the post-conviction court’s dismissal, we conclude any challenge is waived and affirm the dismissal. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Benjamin N. Widrick
The Defendant, Benjamin N. Widrick, pleaded guilty in the Sumner County Criminal Court to three counts of statutory rape, a Class E felony. See T.C.A. § 39-13-506(b)(2) (2018). The plea agreement called for an effective five-year, Range I, probation sentence, with the issue of judicial diversion reserved for the trial court’s determination. After a hearing, the court denied diversion, and the Defendant appeals its ruling. We affirm the trial court’s denial of judicial diversion. |
Sumner | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jose Guadalupe Frausto-Magallanes
Defendant, Jose Guadalupe Frausto-Magallanes, pled guilty to possession with intent to sell more than fifteen grams of heroin with an agreed sentence length of eight years as a Range I standard offender with the trial court to determine the manner of service. The trial court ordered Defendant to serve his entire eight-year sentence in the Department of Correction. On appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court erred by ordering him to serve his sentence in confinement. Following our review of the entire record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Tommy Michael Owen
Defendant was convicted by a Lewis County Circuit Court jury of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony, and sentenced by the trial court to two years in the Department of Correction, suspended to unsupervised probation. Defendant argues on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his request for judicial diversion. Based on our review of the entire record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Lewis | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Crystal Michelle Rickman
A Madison County jury convicted the Defendant, Crystal Michelle Rickman, of aggravated assault and domestic assault. The trial court imposed an effective sentence of six years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred by denying an alternative sentence. We affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Torius Saville Russell
Defendant, Torius Saville Russell, was indicted for one count of first degree felony murder, one count of attempted first degree murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, and one count of reckless endangerment. After the State closed its proof in chief, the trial court dismissed the attempted first degree murder count and partially dismissed the first degree felony murder count, allowing the jury to consider the lesser included offense of second degree murder. Defendant was convicted of second degree murder as a lesser included offense of felony murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, and one count of reckless endangerment. Defendant received a total effective sentence of 50 years. Defendant argues on appeal that: (1) the evidence at trial was insufficient to establish Defendant’s identity as the shooter; (2) the trial court erred in partially granting Defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal as to first degree felony murder and allowing the State to pursue a lesser included offense; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Defendant’s motion for mistrial after the State’s witness made two hearsay statements; and (4) the trial court abused its discretion in imposing a sentence of 40 years for second degree murder and in ordering the second degree murder sentence to be served consecutively to his sentences for aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm Defendant’s convictions and sentences. |
Dyer | Court of Criminal Appeals |
