The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied the third and final post-conviction appeal by Robert Glen Coe, sentenced to death for the 1979 kidnaping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Cary Ann Medlin of Greenfield. The court also set a June 15 execution date for Coe, whose only remaining federal appeal is to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Coe was convicted in 1981 of choking and stabbing his victim after she told him “Jesus loves you.” The little girl was riding her bicycle when Coe lured her into his car. He later confessed to the crimes.
The state Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and death sentence in 1983. His first post-conviction petition, filed in 1984, was denied by the trial court, Court of Criminal Appeals and Tennessee Supreme Court. His second petition, also rejected, was filed in 1992. Coe’s third petition, filed in 1995, was pending when U.S. District Court Judge John Nixon vacated his convictions and sentence in 1996. On Nov. 16, 1998, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Nixon’s decision, and in a Feb. 25 ruling, the federal court refused to reconsider Coe’s appeal.
Since 1995, Tennessee inmates hoping to have their sentences overturned or appeals granted on constitutional grounds have been limited to a single petition in state courts. The state Supreme Court supported the single-petition provision enacted in the Post-Conviction Procedures Act. The law was designed to end successive appeals filed by inmates. The act also requires that petitions for post-conviction relief be filed within one year in most cases.
In another case, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider an appeal filed by Frederick Sledge, convicted of robbery and murder in Shelby County. In 1997, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Sledge’s death sentence and ordered a new sentencing trial. The Supreme Court will consider three issues concerning the guilt phase of his trial.
Sledge was convicted of killing Johnny Harris in 1991 during a robbery outside the victim’s Memphis apartment. Harris died from a gunshot wound to his back. The victim was found lying in a parking lot with his pockets turned inside out.