State of Tennessee v. Darius Darrell Lee
A Davidson County jury convicted the defendant, Darius Darrell Lee, of three counts of aggravated robbery, Class B felonies. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to an effective sentence of twenty-two years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The defendant filed an untimely motion for new trial and untimely notice of appeal. The State urges this court to dismiss the appeal; however, we have chosen to waive the untimely notice in the interest of justice to consider the defendant’s arguments regarding the sufficiency of the evidence and sentencing, which are not waived by an untimely filing of a motion for new trial. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Cassandra Lynn Rudd v. Howard Thomas Rudd
This appeal concerns post-divorce parenting time. In the first appeal in this case, this Court reviewed the trial court’s denial of any parenting time for the appellant father with his daughter. This Court remanded the case for a hearing to determine whether parenting time |
Hardin | Court of Appeals | |
Carolyn Wells v. Illinois Central Railroad Company
This appeal involves the exclusion of expert testimony. The plaintiff employee filed a lawsuit against the defendant railroad employer pursuant to the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, seeking compensation arising out of alleged work-related injuries. The parties took the depositions of two experts for the plaintiff, an ergonomist and her treating orthopedic surgeon. The railroad subsequently filed motions in limine to exclude the testimony of the two experts, as well as a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motions in limine, excluding the testimony of both experts. It then granted summary judgment in favor of the railroad. The employee appeals the trial court’s exclusion of the testimony of her experts. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Gary Wayne Garrett v. Cherry Lindamood, Warden
The Petitioner, Gary Wayne Garrett, appeals the Wayne County Circuit Court’s dismissal of his petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus. The Petitioner contends that his convictions are void. Upon a review of the record in this case, we conclude that the habeas court properly denied the petition for habeas corpus relief. Accordingly, the judgment of the habeas corpus court is affirmed. |
Wayne | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Richard Paul Brady
The Defendant, Richard Paul Brady, pled guilty to burglary, a Class D felony, and aggravated assault, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced the Defendant, as a multiple offender, to concurrent terms of four years for the burglary conviction and eight years for the aggravated assault conviction, to be served in community corrections after service of one year in the workhouse. A violation warrant was issued, and, after a hearing, the trial court revoked the Defendant’s community correction sentence, finding that he had violated the terms of his sentence and ordered him to serve his original sentence in confinement. On appeal, the Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by revoking his community corrections sentence and ordering him to serve the balance of his sentence in prison. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Mack T. Transou v. State of Tennessee, Warden Ricky Bell
This is an appeal from the dismissal of a Petition for Writ of Common Law Certiorari or in the Alternative Petition for Declaratory Judgment filed by a former inmate of the Tennessee Department of Correction.The petition alleges that several agencies or individuals who were not named defendants in the petition imposed two allegedly “illegal” sentences upon him, thus, violating his civil rights. The sentences expired in 1999 and 2000, respectively. The petition was filed in 2009. The pertinent statute of limitations is a one-year statute. Thus, the petition is time barred and the dismissal of the petition on that ground is affirmed. We have also determined the issues are moot. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Sisavanh Keomongkout v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Sisavanh Keomongkout, appeals the Rutherford County Circuit Court’s denial of post-conviction relief from his convictions for second degree murderand attempted first degree murder and his effective forty-year sentence. On appeal, he contends that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by (1)failing to provide the Petitioner with discovery materials before the Petitioner entered his guilty pleas, (2) failing to discuss the definition of first degree murder and lesser included offenses with the Petitioner, and (3) failing to inform the Petitioner that he could hire an expert witness. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Tracy Lynn Harris v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner pled guilty in March 2000 to charges of first degree murder and aggravated rape. He accepted a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the first degree murder conviction and a concurrent twenty-year sentence for the aggravated rape conviction. The Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief following the entry of an amended judgment order of conviction imposing community supervision for life for the aggravated rape conviction. The post-conviction court summarily denied relief. This appeal followed. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Carroll | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Cameron General Contractors, Inc. v. Kingston Pike, LLC
Cameron General Contractors, Inc., a Nebraska corporation (“Cameron”), sued Kingston Pike, LLC, a Georgia limited liability company (“Kingston Pike”), for breach of a contract concerning the sale of real property located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Prior to trial, Cameron elected to exercise its contractual right to terminate the contract, and the case proceeded to trial on the issue of damages. After a bench trial, the Trial Court entered its order finding and holding, inter alia, that the contract did not limit Cameron to the return of its earnest money, and granting Cameron a judgment against Kingston Pike for damages in the amount of $872,418.22, plus attorney’s fees of $137,656.56. Kingston Pike appeals to this Court. We find and hold that the contract at issue clearly and unambiguously provides that once Cameron chose to terminate the contract, Cameron’s sole remedy for Kingston Pike’s breach was a return of Cameron’s earnest money deposit. We, therefore, reverse the Trial Court’s October 28, 2010 order. |
Knox | Court of Appeals | |
Jerry Sides v. Robert E. Cooper, Attorney General for the State of Tennessee, et al.
This appeal arises from the removal of Plaintiff’s political signs from public property by employees of the Defendant City of Memphis pursuant to a sign ordinance. Plaintiff filed a complaint seeking a declaration that the sign ordinance was unconstitutional, and further alleged that he was entitled to damages for the removal and disposal of his signs under the Governmental Tort Liability Act (“GTLA”). The trial court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the City, upholding the constitutionality of the sign ordinance. Thereafter, Plaintiff filed a motion to amend the complaint to include additional claims challenging the constitutionality of the sign ordinance. In response, the City filed a motion for summary judgment arguing Plaintiff’s remaining claims under the GTLA were time barred by the one-year statute of limitations. After conducting a hearing on the motions, the trial court denied Plaintiff's motion to amend the complaint, and granted the City's motion for summary judgment, resulting in dismissal of the action. After reviewing the record, we find that the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City was proper. Similarly, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to deny Plaintiff’s motion to amend. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Frances Seward Bennett and Don Seward v. City of Memphis
Plaintiffs sued the City of Memphis, claiming that they were fraudulently induced to sign a |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Javis Montell Dean
The Defendant, Javis Montell Dean, pled guilty to possession of a schedule II controlled substance with intent to sell, a Class B felony, and introduction of contraband into a penal facility, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of eight years and ordered that the Defendant serve one year incarcerated and serve the remainder in the community corrections program. As part of the Defendant’s pleas, he reserved a certified question of law challenging the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress. After reviewing the record, the parties’ briefs, and applicable law, we conclude that the trial court did not err when it denied the Defendant’s motion to suppress. Accordingly, we affirm the Defendant’s convictions. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Xavier Tyrell Barham v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Xavier Tyrell Barham, pled guilty to three counts of possession of Schedule II controlled substance with intent to deliver, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective sixteen-year sentence. The Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which the post-conviction court dismissed after a hearing. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and that his guilty pleas were not knowingly and voluntarily entered because he understood the plea agreement to be that all of his sentences would run concurrently for a total effective sentence of eight years rather than sixteen years. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Marcus Terry aka Marcus Benson aka Torian Benson v. Tony Parker, Warden
The Petitioner, Marcus Terry, appeals the Circuit Court of Lake County’s denial of his prose petition for writ of habeas corpus. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court’s denial pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Following our review, we grant the State’s motion and affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Lake | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Joe Clark Mitchell v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Joe Clark Mitchell, was convicted in 1986 of multiple offenses following a violent crime spree against two women. On March 8, 2011, the Petitioner filed a pro se writ of error coram nobis alleging the existence of newly discovered evidence. Specifically, the Petitioner alleged that, in 2010, his trial judge was “found guilty of illegally expunging” the criminal records of convicted felons in exchange for a fee. The Petitioner also alleged that because he “did not have sufficient funds to pay for a legal sentence,” he received a sentence that was “illegal and void.” Lastly, the Petitioner alleged that his trial judge improperly sentenced him as a persistent offender. Without holding an evidentiary hearing, the coram nobis court summarilydismissed the petition. On appeal,the Petitioner argues that the coram nobis court erred by dismissing his petition without a hearing. After a careful review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the coram nobis court. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Anita Berkley Rhodes v. Careall, Inc., et al.
An employee alleged that she sustained a right- and left-side hernia while working. Her employer denied the claim for the left-side hernia. The trial court held that both the right- and left-side hernias were compensable and awarded permanent partial disability benefits. The employer appealed. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Madison | Workers Compensation Panel | |
James Terry Johnson v. American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Inc., d/b/a AT&T, Inc.
An employee suffered a partial amputation of his left index finger. Compensability of the injury was not contested. At trial, the employee argued that his disability award should be apportioned to the hand. His employer contended that the award should be limited to the index finger. The trial court agreed with the employee and awarded 52% permanent partial disability to the hand. The employer appealed. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Madison | Workers Compensation Panel | |
Melissa Hamlin v. Windsor Forestry Tools, Inc., et al.
The employee injured her back at work and the injury required surgical treatment. The employee returned to work but was later terminated for violation of her employer’s attendance and absenteeism policy. The trial court found the employee did not have a meaningful return to work. The trial court, however, adopted the impairment rating that the employee’s evaluating physician expressed and awarded 90% permanent partial disability benefits, the maximum award permitted by Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-241(d). The employer has appealed, contending that the trial court erred by adopting the evaluating physician’s impairment rating, by its use of the six-times multiplier on the basis of facts not in evidence, and by finding that the employee did not have a meaningful return to work. We agree that the evidence preponderates against the trial court’s findings concerning employee’s impairment and the six-times multiplier. Accordingly, we modify the award. |
Gibson | Workers Compensation Panel | |
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Bernard Garrett
A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Anthony Bernard Garrett, of simple possession or casual exchange of cocaine, fourth offense, and resisting arrest, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of six years. On appeal,the Defendant contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for resisting arrest; and (2) the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
William A. Howard v. State of Tennesee.
The Petitioner, William A. Howard, pled guilty to second degree murder, and the trial court entered an agreed sentence of twenty-five years, to be served at 100%. The Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which the post-conviction court denied after a hearing. On appeal, the Petitioner contends: that his guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered because his counsel did not inform him of the consequences of his plea and because he coerced him into pleading guilty. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we conclude there exists no error. We, therefore, affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Brett Joseph Price
The Defendant, Brett Joseph Price, pled guilty to robbery, a Class C felony, and conspiracy to commit robbery, a Class D felony. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-401, 39-12-103 (2010). He was sentenced as a Range I, standard offender to five years for robbery and to three years for conspiracy, to be served concurrently. On appeal, he contends that the trial court erred by (1) denying his motion to suppress his post-arrest statements and by admitting a statement at the sentencing hearing, and (2) imposing an excessive sentence and denying an alternative sentence. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Montgomery | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Danita Lanette Wilson and Tiffany Nicole Norman
Following a jury trial, Defendant Danita Lanette Wilson was convicted of two counts of aggravated child neglect (counts one and two),conspiracy to possess a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to sell (count three), possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell (counts four and eight), attempted aggravated child neglect (count six), reckless endangerment (count seven), tampering with evidence (count nine), resisting arrest (count ten), and possession of drug paraphernalia (count eleven). The trial court merged the two convictions for aggravated child neglect into a single count, referred to as “count one.” The trial court sentenced DefendantWilson to seventeen years for aggravated child neglect(count one); five years for conspiracy to possess a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to sell (count three); ten years for each conviction of possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell (counts four and eight); ten years for attempted aggravated child neglect (count six); eleven months, twenty-nine days for reckless endangerment (count seven); five years for tampering with evidence (count nine); six months for resisting arrest (count ten); and eleven months, twenty-nine days for possession of drug paraphernalia (count eleven). The trial court further ordered that Defendant Wilson’s seventeen-year sentence in count one, her ten-year sentence in count four, and her ten-year sentence in count six be served consecutively for an effective thirty-seven-year sentence. The jury convicted Defendant Tiffany Nicole Norman of two counts of child neglect (counts one and two), facilitation of conspiracy to possess a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to sell (count three), facilitation to possess .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell (count four), possession of drug paraphernalia (count five), and two counts of attempted aggravated child neglect (counts six and seven). The trial court also merged Defendant Norman’s convictions for child neglect into a single count, referred to as “count one.” The trial court sentenced Defendant Norman to four years for child neglect (count one); six years for facilitation of conspiracy to possessa Schedule II controlled substance with intent to sell(count three); nine years for facilitation to possess .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell (count four); eleven months, twenty-nine days for possession of drug paraphernalia (count five); ten years for each conviction of attempted aggravated child neglect (counts six and seven). The trial court further ordered that Defendant Norman’s four-year sentence in count one,her nine-year sentence in count four, and her ten-year sentence in count six be served consecutively for an effective twenty-three-year sentence. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Lisa Smith c/o Rodterrius M. Tinnel (Deceased), et al. v. HFH, Inc. d/b/a DHL And Pacific Employers Insurance Company, et al.
This is an appeal from an order denying a motion for a default judgment. Because the order appealed does not resolve all the claims between the parties, we dismiss the appeal for lack of a final judgment. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Joshua N. Lee, v. Lyons Construction Company, Inc
Plaintiff and others sustained injuries in a single car accident and sued defendant construction company and the Tennessee Department of Transportation, alleging that defendant construction company had recently completed work on that section of the highway where the accident occurred, and that a low point in the pavement caused plaintiff to lose control of his vehicle and wreck. Defendant answered, stating that they had completed the required construction on that section of the highway, and the State had accepted its work pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. §12-4-501 et seq. which provides upon proper completion of the work the contractor "is discharged from all liability to any party". Defendant filed a Motion for Summary Judgment which the Trial Court granted and plaintiff appealed. We hold that summary judgment for the defendant in this case was proper, and affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court. |
Sevier | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Charles Steven Shivers A.K.A. Scott Kevin McNeil
The defendant, Charles Steven Shivers, was convicted of attempted first degree murder, a Class A felony, and especially aggravated robbery, a Class A felony. He was sentenced to twenty-five years at thirty percent for the attempted murder and to a consecutive eighteen years at one hundred percent for the especially aggravated robbery, for a total effective sentence of forty-three years. On appeal, the defendant claims that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred by denying the defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress the victim’s identification testimony,erred by having an ex parte meeting with a juror during deliberations, and erred in imposing consecutive sentences. After carefully reviewing the record and the parties’ arguments, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals |