Blake E. Hallum v. State of Tennessee

A Davidson County jury convicted the petitioner, Blake Edward Hallum, of felony murder and especially aggravated robbery, and the trial court sentenced the petitioner to serve consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for his felony murder conviction and 17 years for his especially aggravated robbery conviction. The petitioner appealed his convictions to this Court, and we affirmed the judgment of the trial court. See State v. Richard Bruce Halfacre, No. 01C01-9703-CR-00083, 1998 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1117, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Nashville, Oct. 29, 1998). The petitioner sought post-conviction relief, and the trial court denied his petition after a hearing on the merits. The petitioner now appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that he is entitled to post-conviction relief because a state's trial witness testified at the post-conviction hearing and contradicted her trial testimony, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and/or pleaded lack of memory in response to questions about the truthfulness of her trial testimony. After reviewing the record and applicable case law, we find that the petitioner's claim does not merit relief.