Nashville, Tenn. – In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that a prior conviction for robbery can increase the penalty for a criminal defendant’s conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm, but only if a jury finds that the prior robbery was committed with the use of violence.
In 2022, a Madison County jury convicted Defendant Christopher Oberton Curry, Jr., of unlawful possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony crime of violence. Unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a Class E felony in Tennessee; however, if the prior conviction was for a felony crime of violence, the offense is increased to a Class B felony and carries a longer sentence. The judge in Curry’s trial instructed the jury that robbery is a crime of violence, even though robbery is not listed in the definition of “crimes of violence” in Tennessee law. Curry was convicted and received an effective ten-year sentence.
In his appeal, Curry asserted that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his conviction for a Class B felony. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed and agreed with the trial court that robbery is a crime of violence under Tennessee law. The Tennessee Supreme Court granted Curry permission to appeal.
First, the Supreme Court clarified that the list of felony offenses in the definition of “crime of violence” in the firearm statute was intended to provide examples and was not intended to be a complete list of all felonies that could be a crime of violence. The Court held that robbery may be a crime of violence even though it is not listed. But because robbery can be committed without violence in some cases, the Court held that the jury must consider evidence and determine whether a particular robbery conviction is a crime of violence for purposes of the firearm statute. In Mr. Curry’s case, the trial judge should have had the jury decide the question, instead of instructing the jury that Mr. Curry’s prior robbery was a crime of violence.
Finally, the Court determined that, in this case, the evidence was insufficient to establish a conviction for a felony crime of violence, an essential element of the unlawful possession of a firearm offense. Therefore, the Supreme Court partially reversed the Court of Criminal Appeals and ordered that Curry’s conviction should be reduced to a Class E felony.
To read the opinion in State of Tennessee v. Christopher Oberton Curry, Jr., click here.