State of Tennessee v. Jackie Lee Gray
M2002-00802-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Jerry L. Smith
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert L. Jones
On January 28, 2002, the appellant, Jackie Lee Gray, pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor assault, one count of vandalism under $500, one count of public intoxication, and one count of resisting arrest. The judgments in the technical record reflect that the appellant was ordered to serve an effective sentence of six months incarcerated and six months on probation for his convictions. On August 6, 2002, this court granted the appellant's motion to late-file a transcript of the evidence. On September 26, 2002, the Circuit Court of Maury County had not yet received the transcript and therefore sent the technical record to the court. The appellant now brings this appeal claiming that the trial court improperly ordered him to serve a portion of his sentence in jail. Because the transcript of the sentencing hearing is not before this Court we have no choice but to affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Maury Court of Criminal Appeals

In the Matter of the Estate of Nola Layne Deskins, Nona Deskins Sanders, Lioubov V. Deskins, and Estate of Thomas A. Deskins, v. Randall Deskins and Thelma Deskins & Thelma Deskins
E2003-00427-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Herschel P. Franks
Trial Court Judge: Judge Jeffrey D. Rader

In this Estate dispute, the Trial Court dismissed claims of two claimants. We affirm, dismissal of claimant who died on grounds his Estate had no standing to proceed. We reinstate the action of the other claimant on grounds she is not estopped to maintain her action.

Sevier Court of Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Marcus Johnson
W2002-00987-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Thomas T. Woodall
Trial Court Judge: Judge Bernie Weinman

Defendant, Marcus Johnson, was convicted by a jury in the Shelby County Criminal Court of felony murder and two counts of especially aggravated robbery. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the felony murder conviction and twenty years for each especially aggravated robbery conviction. The trial court ordered the twenty-year sentences to run consecutive to each other, and one twenty-year sentence to run concurrent with the life sentence, and the other to run consecutive with the life sentence. In this appeal as of right, Defendant argues that: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress incriminating statements made by Defendant to the police; (2) the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his convictions beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury as to the weight to be given to the supplemental jury charge. After a review of the record, we affirm Defendant's conviction for felony murder. We conclude, however, that the constitutional protections against double jeopardy require reversal of one of Defendant's convictions for especially aggravated robbery. Accordingly, we affirm one of Defendant's especially aggravated robbery convictions. We modify the other especially aggravated robbery conviction to aggravated assault and remand for resentencing, for the reasons stated herein.

Shelby Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Rhonda Cloer
E2002-02252-CCA-R9-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge R. Steven Bebb

The Polk County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant for three counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of aggravated assault, and twelve counts of failure to stop a school bus at a railroad crossing. The Defendant filed an application for pretrial diversion, and the trial court ordered that a pretrial diversion report be completed. Upon completion of the report, the Assistant District Attorney General denied the application, and the Defendant appealed to the District Attorney General, who also denied the application. The trial court granted a writ of certiorari and, thereafter, affirmed the District Attorney General's decision. The Defendant sought, and was granted, permission to take an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Rule 9 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure. We granted the Defendant's application for interlocutory review to address the Defendant's contention that the State abused its discretion by denying her application for pretrial diversion. After a thorough consideration of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Polk Court of Criminal Appeals

Angela Kamille Draper, as parent, survivor, and next friend of Bryanna Faith Draper, deceased v. State of Tennessee
E2002-02722-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Herschel P. Franks
Trial Court Judge: Commissioner Vance Cheek

In action against the State of Tennessee and a state employee, the Commissioner held he had no jurisdiction of the claims. On appeal, we affirm.

Sullivan Court of Appeals

Linda Laws, Estate of Mary Eula Sloat, Deceased v. Water and Light Commission of Greeneville
E2002-01152-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Houston M. Goddard
Trial Court Judge: Judge Ben K. Wexler

This appeal questions whether the Trial Court erred in its judgment against the Appellant/Defendant, Water and Light Commission of the Town of Greeneville, Tennessee, for personal injuries sustained by a Greeneville resident as a result of the smoking of sewer lines by the Appellant. We affirm This appeal questions whether the Trial Court erred in its judgment against the Appellant/Defendant, Water and Light Commission of the Town of Greeneville, Tennessee, for personal injuries sustained by a Greeneville resident as a result of the smoking of sewer lines by the Appellant. We affirm the judgment of the Trial Court.
 

Greene Court of Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Gary S. Johnson
E2002-01246-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge O. Duane Slone

The Defendant, Gary S. Johnson, pled guilty to vehicular homicide, a Class B felony, on August 6, 1996. The trial judge originally sentenced him to twelve years of house arrest and community corrections. The State appealed, and this Court vacated the sentence because the Defendant was not eligible for community corrections. Upon re-sentencing the Defendant was ordered to serve ten years of incarceration. The Defendant did not immediately appeal, but filed a timely Motion for a Modification and/or Reduction of Sentence. Prior to the trial court ruling on the motion, the Defendant filed a Petition for Post Conviction Relief based on ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied both the Defendant's motion and the Petition for Post Conviction Relief on June 12, 2002. The sole issue for appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying the Defendant's Petition for Post Conviction Relief. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Claiborne Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. John Lee Bellamy
E2002-02741-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Joseph M. Tipton
Trial Court Judge: Judge R. Jerry Beck

The defendant, John Lee Bellamy, pled guilty in the Sullivan County Criminal Court to reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony; failure to appear, a Class E felony; driving under the influence, second offense, and leaving the scene of an accident, Class A misdemeanors; and driving on a revoked license, second offense, a Class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to an effective sentence of four years, eight months, twenty-nine days. The defendant appeals the trial court's ordering him to serve his two-year, nine-month-sentence for the reckless aggravated assault conviction and consecutive one-year sentence for the failure to appear conviction in confinement. He claims that he should have received alternative sentences or, at most, sentences of split confinement. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Sullivan Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Tommy G. Benham
M2000-02357-SC-R11-CD
Authoring Judge: Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge J. Randall Wyatt, Jr.

Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-202(a) requires that the State notify the defendant of its intent to seek enhanced punishment. We accepted this cause in order to decide whether the State complied with this statutory mandate. The trial court ruled that the State's response to the defendant's discovery request met the statutory requirement and therefore, permitted the State to seek enhanced punishment outside of Range I. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. On consideration, we conclude that the State did not meet the notice requirement. Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Criminal Appeals and remand this case to the trial court for re-sentencing.

Davidson Supreme Court

State of Tennessee v. Gary W. Young
M2001-02492-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Jerry L. Smith
Trial Court Judge: Judge Steve R. Dozier

On May 21, 2001, the appellant, Gary W. Young, pleaded guilty to sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance within a thousand feet of a school. He received concurrent twenty-one year sentences for each count. As part of the plea agreement the appellant attempted to reserve a certified question of law to be presented on appeal. See Tenn. R. App. P. 37(b)(2)(i). This question concerns the propriety of a search. On June 19, 2001, the appellant also attempted to withdraw his guilty plea pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(f). The trial court denied the motion to withdraw the guilty plea based on this Court's holding in State v. Hall, 983 S.W.2d 710 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1998 overruled by State v. Green, 106 S.W.3d 646 2003)). This appeal followed. After a review of the record and the applicable authorities we are of the opinion that the appellant has failed to properly certify an appeal to this Court pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 37(b)(2)(i), and this Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to consider the trial court's denial of the appellant's motion to suppress. However, the appeal of the denied motion to withdraw a guilty plea is properly before this court, and this case must be remanded for consideration of the motion in view of the Tennessee Supreme Court decision in State v. Greene, 106 S.W.3d 646 (Tenn. 2003), which overruled State v. Hall. Finally, the allegation concerning the legality of the appellant's sentences, which has been raised for the first time on appeal, may be presented to the trial court on remand for consideration as a ground to allow withdrawal of the plea

Davidson Court of Criminal Appeals

Carolyn Stovall v. Lois E. Clarke, M.D., et al.
M2001-00810-SC-R11-CV
Authoring Judge: Justice E. Riley Anderson
Trial Court Judge: Judge Russell Heldman

We granted review in this medical malpractice case to address whether the plaintiff, Carolyn Stovall, established a genuine issue of material fact as to the recognized standard of professional practice in the community in which the defendants, Dr. Lois E. Clarke and Dr. Robert McCain, practiced or in a similar community. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants and later denied the plaintiff's motion to alter or amend the summary judgments. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment to Dr. Clarke but affirmed the grant of summary judgment to Dr. McCain. After reviewing the record and the applicable authority, we hold that the Court of Appeals correctly determined that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Dr. Clarke. We further conclude that the trial court erred in denying the plaintiff's motion to alter or amend the grant of summary judgment to Dr. McCain. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.

Williamson Supreme Court

Steven Chance v. State of Tennessee
M2002-02991-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Alan E. Glenn
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert E. Burch

The petitioner appeals the denial of his post-conviction relief petition following his nolo contendere pleas to aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, and evading arrest. He contends his trial counsel did not provide him with effective assistance when he entered into the plea agreement. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Cheatham Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Tim Mattingly
M2002-02765-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Joe G. Riley
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert E. Burch

The trial court found the defendant, Tim Mattingly, violated the terms of his ten-year community corrections sentence. It ordered him to serve three years "day for day" in the county jail before serving the remainder of his ten-year sentence on community corrections. In this appeal, the defendant argues the trial court acted without authority in imposing this sentence. We conclude the trial court imposed an illegal sentence and remand for further proceedings.

Cheatham Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Dewayne Chambers
M2002-01858-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Alan E. Glenn
Trial Court Judge: Judge John H. Gasaway, III

A Robertson County jury convicted the defendant, Dewayne Chambers, of kidnapping and rape. The trial court imposed concurrent sentences of three years for the kidnapping conviction and eight years for the rape conviction to be served in the Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying alternative sentencing. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Robertson Court of Criminal Appeals

David Forrester v. State of Tennessee
M2002-01942-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Alan E. Glenn
Trial Court Judge: judge Robert E. Burch

The petitioner appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his conviction for aggravated sexual battery. He argues that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his divorce attorney, who thereafter became his initial trial attorney, failed to attend a polygraph examination and advise petitioner of the protocol, limitations, and requirements necessary to complete the examination. The petitioner further asserts that he was denied effective assistance of counsel by his second trial attorney because this attorney was unprepared to argue a motion to suppress and failed to adequately investigate factual allegations, review juvenile court records, call critical witnesses, pursue leads that would have established a conspiracy by the petitioner's wife to wrongfully prosecute him, and let the petitioner review the brief filed on direct appeal. Based upon our review, we affirm the post-conviction court's denial of the petition.

Humphreys Court of Criminal Appeals

Steve Mason v. State of Tennessee
M2002-00414-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Jerry L. Smith
Trial Court Judge: Judge Jim T. Hamilton

The petitioner, Steve Mason, brings the instant appeal of the post-conviction court's denial of his petition for relief. The petitioner stands convicted of first degree murder and attempted first degree murder. In this appeal, he alleges that he is entitled to post-conviction relief on the basis that the facts introduced at trial are insufficient to support his convictions and because he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel.

Maury Court of Criminal Appeals

Rodrick Johnson v. State of Tennessee
M2002-01212-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Alan E. Glenn
Trial Court Judge: Judge J. Randall Wyatt, Jr.

The petitioner, Rodrick Johnson, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, asserting that: (1) the post-conviction court erred by failing to make findings and conclusions as to each issue; (2) the jury instructions provided by the trial court lowered the State's burden of proof; (3) the trial court erred in not instructing as to the lesser-included offense of facilitation; and (4) he was denied the effective assistance of counsel on appeal. We affirm the order of the post-conviction court dismissing the petition.

Davidson Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Sammy Claude Wilson
W2002-02832-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge C. Creed McGinley

A Carroll County jury convicted the Defendant of manufacturing the controlled substance methamphetamine. The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a standard offender to four years and six months of incarceration. The Defendant now appeals, contending the following: (1) that insufficient evidence was presented at trial to support the conviction; and (2) that the jury’s indication on the special verdict form showed its confusion with regard to the trial court’s instructions rendering the  verdict unsustainable or, in the alternative, constituting “plain error.”  Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Carroll Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. Edward D. Haney
E2002-02189-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge John Everett Williams
Trial Court Judge: Judge Ben W. Hooper, II

The State appeals the trial court's suppression of twenty-five rocks of cocaine seized from the defendant. Because the trial court "did not feel comfortable" in elaborating the reason why the evidence should be suppressed, we remand for the trial court to make findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Cocke Court of Criminal Appeals

Department of Children's Services v. C.L. & M.T.
M2001-02729-COA-R3-JV
Trial Court Judge: Andrei E. Lee
At issue in this appeal is the petition filed by the Department of Children's Services to terminate the parental rights of Mother and Father to nine of their children. After a trial, the trial court granted the petition to terminate the parental rights of Mother and Father based on abandonment, failure to comply with the Permanency Plans, and persistence of the conditions which led to the removal. Each parent independently appeals the decision of the trial court, arguing that there was not clear and convincing evidence to support the trial court's ruling. Because we find that grounds for termination were not proved as to either parent, we reverse the judgment terminating Father's and Mother's parental rights.

Davidson Court of Appeals

M2002-02661-COA-R3-CV
M2002-02661-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.

Davidson Court of Appeals

In Re: The Estate of Merle Halliburton Neal Myers v. Farmers & Merchants Bank Corp., Inc. Brooksie Byers, Douglas Myers, James Myers
M2002-00888-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Patricia J. Cottrell
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert E. Burch

After the death of their elderly mother, her sons discovered that the decedent's stepson and his wife had used a power of attorney to transfer the funds from the decedent's $20,000 CD to themselves. The decedent's son filed a petition to have the money restored to her estate. The trial court held that the CD was a valid inter vivos gift from the decedent. We reverse, because there is no evidence in the record that such a gift was ever made.

Stewart Court of Appeals

Barbara Lee Bunce Kerce v. Stephen Paul Kerce
M2002-01744-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Lee Russell
The appellant Stephen Paul Kerce challenges the divorce decree entered in Moore County Circuit Court, alleging that the court erred in its valuation and distribution of the marital estate. We affirm.

Moore Court of Appeals

In Re: Lillie Odessie Green, Decedent
M2002-01672-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Royce Taylor
Trial Court Judge: Frank G. Clement, Jr.
The court is asked to construe the following language contained in a form will: "I give all my estate to my children, if any, who survive me in equal shares, per stirpes." The testatrix was survived by four of her five children. The trial court held that the two children of the testatrix's child who predeceased her did not take any of her estate. We hold likewise.

Davidson Court of Appeals

Jasmine A. Ali v. Eric N. Fisher, et al.
E2003-00255-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge David Michael Swiney
Trial Court Judge: John S. Mclellan, III
After an automobile accident in which she suffered serious injuries, Jasmine A. Ali ("Plaintiff") sued both the driver of the automobile, Eric N. Fisher ("Fisher"), and the owner of the automobile, Thomas Scheve ("Scheve"). The claim against Scheve was based on negligent entrustment. Prior to trial, Plaintiff and Scheve were in sharp disagreement as to whether Scheve's alleged negligent entrustment resulted in Scheve's being vicariously liable for Fisher's conduct, or whether Scheve's negligence should be apportioned by the jury pursuant to comparative fault principles. The trial court concluded Scheve's alleged negligent entrustment should be apportioned by the jury pursuant to comparative fault principles. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff and apportioned fault, 80% to Fisher and 20% to Scheve based on his negligent entrustment of the vehicle to Fisher. The trial court entered a judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict. Plaintiff filed a Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment asking the trial court to reverse its earlier pre-trial ruling and hold Scheve vicariously liable for Fisher's negligence because Scheve negligently entrusted the vehicle to Fisher. The trial court granted the motion and amended the judgment which, in effect, held Scheve and Fisher jointly and severally liable for the entire amount of the jury's award. Scheve appeals. We hold the trial court erred when it amended the original judgment after concluding, post- trial, that Scheve was vicariously liable for Fisher's conduct. We vacate the amended judgment and reinstate the original judgment of the trial court entered in accordance with the jury's verdict apportioning fault.

Sullivan Court of Appeals