State of Tennessee v. Michael Lurry

The Defendant, Michael Lurry, was charged by the Shelby County Grand Jury in a four-count indictment with first degree premeditated murder, theft of property valued at $60,000 or more but less than $250,000, attempted carjacking, and attempted theft of property valued at $2,500 or more but less than $10,000. The Defendant pled guilty to the attempted theft and theft counts of the indictment, the State nolle prosequied the attempted carjacking count, and the Defendant went to trial on the first degree murder count. Following his jury trial, the Defendant was convicted of the first degree premeditated murder count of the indictment. He was sentenced by the trial court to life imprisonment for the murder conviction, ten years for the theft conviction, and two years for the attempted theft conviction. Finding the Defendant to be an offender with an extensive criminal history, the trial court ordered that the Defendant serve all his sentences consecutively, for an effective sentence of life plus twelve years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence in support of his first degree premeditated murder conviction and argues that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a prior domestic abuse incident between the Defendant and the victim, by not allowing the Defendant to introduce the victim’s complete Cellebrite cell phone records, by sentencing the Defendant to the maximum and ordering consecutive sentences, and by admitting expert testimony that was outside the scope of the witness’s expertise and when the Defendant was not put on notice of the witness’s proposed areas of expertise. We affirm the Defendant’s convictions but remand for a new sentencing hearing for the trial court to consider the Defendant’s presentence report in determining whether the sentences should be served consecutively.