Brandon K. Anderson v. Lauderdale County, Tennessee
W2022-00332-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Andy D. Bennett
Trial Court Judge: Judge A. Blake Neill

Plaintiff filed an action against Lauderdale County under Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-301 to -
303, more than one year after his cause of action accrued. The trial court examined the
gravamen of the complaint and determined a one-year statute of limitations applied rather
than the two or six-year limitations periods advocated for by the plaintiff. Discerning no
error in the court’s analysis of the issues, we affirm.

Marcus Thomas v. State of Tennessee
E2022-00160-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge G. Scott Green

The Petitioner, Marcus Thomas, appeals from the Knox County Criminal Court’s denial of
post-conviction relief from his guilty-pleaded conviction to attempted first degree murder.
On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred by denying relief on
his claims alleging that he received the ineffective assistance of trial counsel and that his
guilty plea was involuntary and unknowing. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction
court.

In Re Dixee D. Et Al.
M2022-00785-COA-R3-PT
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Neal McBrayer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Stella L. Hargrove

A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to two children. The trial court concluded that the maternal aunt and uncle proved two statutory grounds for termination by clear and convincing evidence. The court also concluded that there was clear and convincing evidence that termination was in the children’s best interest. After a thorough review, we agree and affirm.

State of Tennessee v. David Ray Duncan
E2022-00647-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge E. Shayne Sexton

As relevant to this appeal, the Defendant, David Ray Duncan, was convicted by a jury of
the offense of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance while present in a penal
institution. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence
supporting his conviction. He also argues that the trial court should have excluded
evidence produced after the deadline established by the court’s scheduling order, and he
challenges the propriety of his effective twelve-year sentence. We affirm the Defendant’s
conviction, but we respectfully remand the case for resentencing in accordance with Tenn.
Code Ann. § 39-11-211.

State of Tennessee v. Katherine E. Pilley
E2022-00348-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Alex E. Pearson

The Defendant, Katherine E. Pilley, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, a
Class A misdemeanor. See T.C.A. § 39-17-418(a), (c)(1) (2018) (subsequently amended)
(simple possession of methamphetamine). The trial court sentenced the Defendant to
eleven months, twenty-nine days suspended to probation after thirty days in confinement.
On appeal, the Defendant presents a certified question of law, challenging the trial court’s
denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained during the warrantless search of the
Defendant’s car. Because the certified question is overly broad as it fails to identify the
scope and limits of the legal issue reserved, we conclude that we are without jurisdiction
to consider this appeal. The appeal is dismissed.

State of Tennessee v. Brian Keith Medley
E2022-00467-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge Gary McKenzie

The Defendant, Brian Keith Medley, was found guilty of sexual battery and
domestic assault. He was sentenced to the statutory maximum of four years as a Range II,
multiple offender. On appeal, he argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his
convictions and that the maximum sentence was excessive. We respectfully affirm the
judgments of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Douglas McArthur McGill
M2022-00501-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge Stella L. Hargrove

The Defendant, Douglas McArthur McGill,1 was convicted by a jury of violating the
Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and
Tracking Act of 2004 by failing to register a secondary address. He was sentenced as a
Range II, multiple offender to a term of two years and six months. On appeal, the
Defendant seeks a new trial, arguing that the trial court improperly admitted hearsay
evidence. The State concedes that reversible error exists in the record, and we agree. We
respectfully reverse the judgment of the trial court, vacate the Defendant’s conviction, and
remand the case for a new trial.

Darcell Dominique Wright v. State of Tennessee
M2022-00416-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Robert T. Bateman

The Petitioner, Darcell Dominique Wright, appeals from the Montgomery County Circuit Court’s dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred when it held that the Petitioner’s claim of limited ability to access the penitentiary law library due to lockdowns did not entitle him to due process tolling of the one-year statute of limitations for filing his petition. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Penny Lawson et al. v. Hawkins County, Tennessee et al.
E2020-01529-SC-R11-CV
Authoring Judge: Justice Sarah K. Campbell
Trial Court Judge: Judge Alex E. Pearson

Governmental entities generally are immune from suit. But the Governmental Tort Liability Act removes immunity for certain injuries caused by the negligent acts of an employee. In this case, we consider whether the term “negligent” in the Act’s removal provision is limited to ordinary negligence or instead also encompasses gross negligence or recklessness. We hold that the Act removes immunity only for ordinary negligence. Because the Court of Appeals held to the contrary, we reverse the decision below and remand for further proceedings.

Penny Lawson et al. v. Hawkins County, Tennessee et al. (Concur)
E2020-01529-SC-R11-CV
Authoring Judge: Justice Holly Kirby
Trial Court Judge: Judge Alex E. Pearson

I concur in the majority’s analysis and holding that Tennessee Code Annotated
section 29-20-205 removes immunity for Hawkins County only for ordinary negligence,
not gross negligence or recklessness. I write separately to highlight an issue not addressed
in the majority opinion—whether we should continue to apply the common law public duty
doctrine and the related special duty exception in cases where the legislature has addressed
the issue of immunity by statute.

State of Tennessee v. Ricky Hunter
W2022-00763-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Timothy L. Easter
Trial Court Judge: Judge John W. Campbell, Sr.

Ricky Hunter, Defendant, was indicted for one count of first degree murder and one count
of being a felon in possession of a firearm. After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of
the lesser included offense of second degree murder and being a felon in possession of a
firearm. He was sentenced to a total effective sentence of 33 years. The trial court denied
a motion for new trial. After this Court waived the timely filing of the notice of appeal,
this appeal ensued. On appeal, Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence
sustaining the second degree murder conviction. We find the evidence sufficient and
affirm the convictions.

Jahue Mumphrey v. State of Tennessee
W2021-01439-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Tom Greenholtz
Trial Court Judge: Judge Lee V. Coffee

The Petitioner, Jahue Mumphrey, pled guilty by criminal information to possessing a
controlled substance with the intent to sell and three counts of domestic assault. He was
sentenced to an effective term of ten years. He later filed a petition for post-conviction
relief alleging that his plea was entered involuntarily and that his lawyer rendered
ineffective assistance of counsel by, among other things, failing to review pretrial
discovery with him. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied the petition, and the
Petitioner appealed to this Court. We respectfully affirm the judgment of the postconviction
court.

State of Tennessee v. Michael Dewayne Fisher
M2022-00225-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Stella L. Hargrove

Defendant, Michael Dewayne Fisher, appeals his Lawrence County conviction for attempted first degree premeditated murder, for which he received a sentence of twenty-five years’ incarceration. Defendant asserts that the evidence presented at trial is insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court committed structural constitutional error when it denied his motion for recusal. Following a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court

Gary Miller v. Barbara Miller
W2022-00117-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge J. Steven Stafford
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Vicki Hodge Hoover

A member of a limited liability company (“LLC”) brought a suit on behalf of the LLC
alleging a breach of fiduciary duties and constructive fraud by another member in regard
to transfers of LLC property. The plaintiff admitted that no demand for corrective action
was made on the defendant, nor was any demand made on the other members of the LLC
to join in the litigation. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss, finding
both that the plaintiff’s complaint was outside the statute of limitations and that the plaintiff
lacked standing to bring the derivative action. We agree with the trial court that the
plaintiff’s complaint was subject to dismissal because his complaint did not include
allegations sufficiently particular to excuse his failure to meet statutory demand
requirements. The remaining issues are therefore pretermitted.

Branden Brookins v. State of Tennessee
W2022-01214-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge James M. Lammey, Jr.

Branden Brookins, Petitioner, appeals from the denial of his petition seeking post-petition relief from his 2019 convictions for first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, two counts of criminal attempt first degree murder, employing a firearm with intent to commit a felony, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.  On appeal, Petitioner claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.  After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

State of Tennessee v. Timothy Potts
W2021-01508-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge J. Robert Carter, Jr.

Defendant, Timothy Potts, appeals as of right from his jury convictions for two counts of
aggravated rape, for which he received a sentence of twenty-four years. On appeal,
Defendant contends that the trial court erred by denying his motions to dismiss based upon
the statute of limitations and due process and that the evidence was insufficient to support
his convictions. Following our review, we affirm.

Lawrence Simonetti Et Al. v. Thomas F. McCormick Et Al.
M2022-01669-COA-T10B-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Steven Stafford
Trial Court Judge: Judge Joseph P. Binkley, Jr

Following a hearing on the issue of attorney’s fees resulting from a discovery dispute, the trial judge or his office contacted an attorney for the defendants to obtain certain discovery responses that had not been filed with the court. The defendants’ attorney responded by email with the requested documents, carbon-copying plaintiffs’ counsel on the email. The trial court then entered an order awarding the plaintiffs attorney’s fees in which the fees awarded were only a small portion of those requested. The plaintiffs filed a motion to recuse, citing the communication between the defendants’ attorney and the trial judge. The trial court denied the motion for recusal. We agree with the trial court’s ultimate conclusion that recusal was not required.

State of Tennessee v. Kentavis Antwon Jones
W2022-00046-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge James Curwood Witt, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Donald H. Allen

The defendant, Kentavis Antwon Jones, appeals his Madison County Circuit Court jury
convictions of possession of cocaine with intent to sell or deliver, possession of marijuana
with intent to sell or deliver, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a
firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, theft, driving on a revoked license,
and violation of the window tint law, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support
his convictions. The defendant also raises the issue of merger, arguing that the trial court
properly merged his convictions. Because the trial court erred by merging certain firearm
convictions and because the judgments contain clerical errors, we reverse the improper
mergers and remand the case for the entry of corrected judgments. We affirm the trial
court’s judgments in all other respects.

Keith L. Farmer v. State of Tennessee
M2022-00127-CCA-R3-ECN
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Monte Watkins

The Appellant, Keith L. Farmer, appeals the trial court’s denial of his petition for a writ of error coram nobis. Upon review of the motion filed by appointed counsel, and in light of the record on appeal, the Court hereby affirms the judgment of the trial court.

State of Tennessee v. Justin Darnay Graves
W2021-01476-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Ross Dyer
Trial Court Judge: Judge Donald H. Allen

In this consolidated appeal, the defendant, Justin Darnay Graves, argues the trial court erred
in imposing partial consecutive sentences and ordering restitution in his three cases. After
our review, we discern no reversible error in the trial court’s imposition of consecutive
sentences, but we determine the order of restitution was in error. Therefore, we affirm the
sentences imposed by the trial court, vacate the orders of restitution and remand for entry
of corrected judgments.

State of Tennessee v. Wendolyn Lee
W2022-00626-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Chris Craft

Following a trial, the jury convicted Wendolyn Lee, Defendant, of rape, statutory rape by
an authority figure, and incest. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced
Defendant to twelve years with 100% service for rape and five years as a Range I standard
offender for both statutory rape by an authority figure and incest. The court ordered the
sentences to be served consecutively, for a total effective sentence of twenty-two years,
and ordered Defendant to be on community supervision for life for the rape and incest
convictions. The court also sentenced Defendant to a consecutive term of 210 days for
multiple counts of direct criminal contempt of court. On appeal, Defendant claims that he
received ineffective assistance of counsel, that Tennessee courts lack territorial jurisdiction
to try the indicted offenses, that the rape charge was untimely because “adult rapes must
be reported within three years,” that he did not receive a speedy trial, that the jury was
prejudiced because Defendant’s other stepdaughter testified in rebuttal that she was raped
by Defendant, and that the court erred by not allowing Defendant to represent himself.
After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the
trial court.

W2021-01225-COA-R3-PT
In Re Samone D.
Authoring Judge: Judge D. Michael Swiney
Trial Court Judge: Judge Dan H. Michael

This appeal arises from the termination of a father’s parental rights to his minor children
upon the juvenile court’s finding by clear and convincing evidence of the statutory grounds
of abandonment by failure to provide a suitable home, abandonment by failure to visit,
substantial noncompliance with the permanency plan, persistent conditions, putative father
grounds, and failure to manifest an ability and willingness to assume custody of and
financial responsibility for the children. The juvenile court further found by clear and
convincing evidence that termination of the father’s parental rights was in the children’s
best interest. We reverse the statutory grounds of abandonment by failure to provide a
suitable home and persistent conditions. We also reverse the ground of abandonment by
failure to visit and the putative father ground of failure to seek reasonable visitation as they
pertain to the child, Samyra. We affirm the remaining grounds for the termination of the
father’s parental rights, as well as the juvenile court’s determination that termination of the
father’s parental rights is in the children’s best interest.

In The Matter Of The Conservatorship Of Mary Ann Tapp/ In Re Mary Ann Tapp Living Trust Dated August 10, 2015
W2021-00718-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Carma Dennis McGee
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor William C. Cole

This appeal arises from a conservatorship proceeding in which the appellants filed a complaint to set aside a trust established by the ward, along with a motion to recuse the trial judge. The trial judge entered orders dismissing the complaint, resolving various other matters, and closing the conservatorship, without entering any order mentioning the motion for recusal. We vacate the orders entered by the trial court while the recusal motion remained pending and remand for further proceedings before a different trial judge.

In Re Jimmy H. Et Al.
M2021-01353-COA-R3-PT
Authoring Judge: Judge Steven Stafford
Trial Court Judge: Judge Vanessa Jackson

Mother appeals from the termination of her parental rights on the ground that she was not properly served with the termination petition. Because the record raises substantial questions as to whether the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services exercised diligence in its attempt to locate and serve Mother with process, we vacate the termination of her parental rights and remand for further proceedings.

State of Tennessee v. Michael Nyok Lueth
M2022-00206-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Camille R. McMullen
Trial Court Judge: Judge Mark J. Fishburn

The Defendant, Michael Nyok Lueth, was convicted as charged by a Davidson County
Criminal Court jury of driving under the influence (DUI), sixth offense (Count 1); DUI per
se, sixth offense (Count 2); and driving on a revoked license (Count 3). The trial court
sentenced the Defendant as a Range II, multiple offender to concurrent six-year sentences
for the DUI convictions, merged the DUI convictions, and imposed a concurrent sentence
of eleven months and twenty-nine days imprisonment for the conviction for driving on a
revoked license. On appeal, the Defendant argues: (1) the trial court erred in telling
prospective jurors that an interpreter had been provided for the Defendant “out of an
abundance of caution”; (2) the trial court erred in providing a special instruction to the jury
that it was not allowed to consider the Defendant’s lack of fluency in English when
assessing the evidence in the case; (3) the trial court erred in denying defense counsel’s
motion for a mistrial after the prosecutor, relying on the trial court’s proposed special
instruction, stated during its rebuttal closing argument that the jury could not allow the
Defendant’s failure to speak English fluently to affect how the jury viewed the evidence;
and (4) he was improperly sentenced as a second offender for his conviction for driving on
a revoked license. After review, we affirm the Defendant’s convictions but remand the
case for entry of a corrected judgment form in Count 3 reflecting that the conviction offense
is driving on a revoked license, first offense, a Class B misdemeanor, and that the
Defendant’s sentence is six months, served concurrently with the sentence in Count 1.