William Coley v. State of Tennessee

The Petitioner, William Coley, appeals the denial of his petition seeking post-conviction

relief from his convictions of first-degree felony murder, second degree murder, and

especially aggravated robbery, for which he received an effective sentence of life

imprisonment. The Petitioner argues for the first time on appeal that the post-conviction

court violated his due process rights by conducting his post-conviction hearing jointly with

the post-conviction hearing of his then co-defendant, now Petitioner Markreo Quintez

Springer. He additionally claims ineffective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel’s

failure to file a pretrial severance motion based on Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123,

136-137 (1968), and trial counsel’s failure to challenge the chain of custody regarding the

State’s DNA evidence.1 Upon our review, we affirm.