State of Tennessee v. David L. Baker

In April 2004, Appellant, David L. Baker, pled guilty in Jackson County to one count of aggravated assault. Pursuant to the plea agreement, appellant was ordered to serve four years on probation. Appellant's probation officer filed a probation violation warrant alleging that appellant had violated Rules 1 and 4 of the probation order. Following a hearing, the trial court revoked appellant's probation based upon a violation of Rule 10 of the probation order. Appellant appealed to this Court arguing that his right to due process had been violated because he did not receive sufficient notice of the Rule 10 violation to support the revocation of his probation. We have reviewed the record on appeal and must agree with appellant. The trial court based the revocation upon a violation which was not alleged in the probation violation warrant and appellant had neither written nor actual notice of the allegation of this violation. Therefore, we reverse the revocation of appellant's probation and remand for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.