Jacob Franks v. State of Tennessee

The Defendant, Jacob Franks, was convicted by a Madison County Circuit Court jury of sexual exploitation of a minor involving fifty or more images, a Class C felony, and fifteen counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a Class D felony. See T.C.A. § 39-17-1003(a), (d)(2025). The trial court imposed an effective six-year sentence, to be served at 100%. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of the Defendant’s roommate’s notarized written statement after the roommate invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the trial. We conclude that the trial court erred in excluding the evidence. We affirm the judgments in Counts 5, 6,7, 8, 9,10, 11, 13, 14, and 15. We reverse the judgments in Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, and 16 and remand for a new trial on these counts.