Timothy Casterlow v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Timothy Casterlow, pro se, appeals the summary dismissal of his writ of error coram nobis as being filed outside the one-year statute of limitations. He contends due process principles should toll the running of the statute of limitations because the newly discovered evidence was not timely sent to him by his attorney. After review of this record, we conclude that due process does not require the tolling of the statute of limitations. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jerry Sandridge v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Jerry Sandridge, was convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery and, upon his direct appeal, this court modified one of the convictions to aggravated assault and remanded for resentencing. The resentencing was affirmed on direct appeal. On January 15, 2009, the petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, asserting prosecutorial misconduct and denial of the effective assistance of counsel. Concluding that the petition was untimely, the post-conviction court dismissed it without a hearing, and this appeal resulted. Following our review, we affirm the dismissal. |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Brenda Stone, individually and derivatively in her capacity as a director of Appalachian caverns Foundation vs. Scott Smile, et al
The plaintiff initiated this action on behalf of a foundation of which she was formerly a director. She sought to reinstate a deed of trust securing a note belonging to the foundation and to set aside a fraudulent conveyance of the property that was subject to the deed of trust. The trial court found that the release of the deed of trust was improper and that the conveyance was fraudulent and, thus, reinstated the deed of trust and set aside the conveyance of the property. We affirm. |
Sullivan | Court of Appeals | |
Jose Zacarias Quinteros v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Jose Zacarias Quinteros, filed a petition for post-conviction relief in which he alleges that his guilty plea was involuntary and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel after he pled guilty to driving without a license in Davidson County in April of 2007. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. We determine that Petitioner has failed to show that he received ineffective assistance or that his guilty plea was entered involuntarily. Accordingly, the judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Renee L. Johnson v. Grayson Rowsell, et al
Jackson County- This is a summary judgment case arising from a personal injury lawsuit. Plaintiff/Appellant alleged liability on the part of Appellee delivery company arising from the negligent acts of its driver. Finding that the driver was an independent contractor, and that the exceptions to the general rule of non-liability on the part of the employer of an independent contractor do not apply in this case, we affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellee delivery company. |
Jackson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Melvin Jerome Reed, Jr.
The defendant, Melvin Jerome Reed, Jr., pled guilty to possession of 300 grams or more of a Schedule I controlled substance with intent to sell or deliver, a Class A felony, in exchange for a Range I sentence of twenty years, to be served consecutively to two other sentences. As a condition of his guilty plea, the defendant reserved three certified questions of law pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(A) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure regarding the legality of the traffic stop, detention, and search of his vehicle on March 16, 2007. We conclude that the questions are properly certified and that the trial court ruled correctly in denying the motion to suppress. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Keith M. Farnham v. Donna M. Farnham
The plaintiff filed this action seeking to review the business records of the defendant, asserting under oath that she is a 25 percent shareholder of the defendant corporation. The defendant moved to dismiss. The trial court found that the plaintiff had complied with the requirements of Tenn. Code Ann. §48-26-104(a) – the corporate records statute – and ordered the defendant to comply with the request to inspect and/or copy corporate records. The trial court also ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees. We reverse. |
Knox | Court of Appeals | |
Michael D. Reed vs. Darla Carden Steadham
The father left his salaried employment and began his own construction business, which resulted in a substantial decrease in his annual income. As a result the father reduced his child support payments to the mother, who then asked the Trial Court to find the father was voluntarily under employed and the Court should impute additional income, based upon his true earning capacity. After an evidentiary hearing, the Trial Court found the father was not willfully unemployed and adjusted the child support amount in accordance with the guidelines based on his then income. The mother has appealed. On appeal, we affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court and remand. |
Hamilton | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Atavis Cortez Cunningham
The defendant, Atavis Cortez Cunningham, was convicted by a Dyer County Circuit Court jury of aggravated assault, a Class C felony, and sentenced to eight years as a Range II offender. On appeal, he argues that the jury was unconstitutionally empaneled and the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Dyer | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Robert J. Lewellen
The defendant, Robert J. Lewellen, pled guilty in two different cases to nineteen counts of burglary, thirteen counts of theft, five counts of vandalism, and one count of fraudulent use of a credit card and was sentenced to sixteen years, suspended to probation after service of twenty-four months in jail. On appeal, he argues that the trial court’s imposition of an effective sixteen-year was excessive. After review, we remand for entry of a judgment in Count 20 of Case Number 08-310 judgments of the trial court in all other respects. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Alanna Christy Daniels Howe v. John Ashley Howe
In this divorce action, after a long and contentious trial, the Trial Court awarded the mother the divorce and awarded custody of the parties' minor child to the father. The sole issue on appeal by the mother is the award of custody to the father. We affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court. |
Hamilton | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Aldrick D. Lillard
Appellant, Aldrick D. Lillard, and two other individuals were indicted by the Rutherford County Grand Jury for first degree murder, felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit especially aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit especially aggravated robbery, and theft of property in connection with the death of Randy Betts. After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first degree murder, felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.1 The trial court merged the felony murder conviction into the first degree murder conviction. The jury sentenced Appellant to life without the possibility of parole for the murder conviction. On the remaining convictions, the trial court sentenced Appellant to an effective sentence of twenty-five years. The remaining sentences were ordered to be served concurrently with the life sentence. After the denial of a motion for new trial, Appellant initiated a timely appeal. On appeal, the following issues are presented for our review: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions; (2) whether the Appellant was prejudiced because one judge ruled on pre-trial motions and a different judge presided over the trial; (3) whether the trial court improperly allowed the jury to view the trial exhibits in the jury room; (4) whether the trial |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Gary Wynn v. La Maruja Realty Corp.
This case arose from a complaint for specific performance, brought by a developer against a realtor to compel the realtor to complete the sale of a piece of real property which it had agreed to sell to the developer’s corporation. The realtor subsequently discovered that the corporation had been dissolved and moved the court to dismiss the complaint for lack of capacity to contract and lack of standing. The developer applied for and obtained reinstatement of his corporation and then moved the court to be allowed to amend his complaint to name it as an additional plaintiff. The trial court denied the plaintiff’s motion to amend his complaint. We granted this interlocutory appeal to review that decision. We reverse the trial court. |
Sumner | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jermaine Gwin
The Defendant-Appellant, Jermaine Gwin, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of one count of second degree murder, a Class A felony. He received a twenty-year sentence to be served at 100% in the Tennessee Department of Correction. In this appeal, Gwin challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence, (2) the admission of a prior bad act under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b), (3) the admission of a photograph of the crime scene (4) the excessiveness of his sentence, and (5) the cumulative effect of the alleged errors. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Rex A. White
The defendant, Rex A. White, requested that the trial court accept a negotiated plea agreement, and the trial court obliged. Armed with new counsel, the defendant now appeals his agreed to sentences, claiming the trial court erred in sentencing him. This appeal is dismissed as the defendant waived his right to appeal his sentence when he entered a negotiated plea agreement. |
Hardin | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Rickey Lee Beamon v. State of Tennessee
The Petitioner, Rickey Lee Beamon, 1 appeals the denial of post-conviction relief in the Criminal Court for Hamilton County from his convictions for theft of property valued between $10,000 and $60,000, a Class C felony; two counts of burglary, a Class D felony; aggravated criminal trespass, a Class A misdemeanor; and three counts of theft of property valued at $500 or less, a Class A misdemeanor. For the felony theft, he received a sentence of fifteen years as a career offender. For the two burglaries, he received concurrent twelve-year sentences as a career offender, to be served consecutively to the felony theft sentence. The four misdemeanor sentences of eleven months, twenty-nine days, were ordered to run concurrently to the twelve-year burglary sentences, for an effective sentence of twenty-seven years in confinement. On appeal, he contends that the trial court erred in denying relief because: (1) counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to sever offenses in case 238463; (2) counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to include in the appellate record the transcript of the suppression hearing in case 245041; and (3) counsel provided ineffective assistance by waiving the issue of retained counsel of choice on appeal by failing to support his claim through argument, citation to authority, and references to the appellate record. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jack Lane vs. Jerrold L. Becker, et al.
Plaintiff brought claims of malicious prosecution, outrageous conduct, civil conspiracy, punitive damages, and respondeat superior against defendants for filing a lawsuit against him, on behalf of their clients. The trial court dismissed all the claims. We affirm. |
Blount | Court of Appeals | |
John Johnson v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, John Johnson, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel. Following our review, we conclude that the petitioner has not met his burden of demonstrating either that counsel was deficient or that any of the alleged deficiencies in representation prejudiced the outcome of his case. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of the petition. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Quartes Williams
The defendant, Quartes Williams, was convicted by a Shelby County Criminal Court jury of first degree felony murder and facilitation of especially aggravated robbery and was sentenced as a Range I offender to concurrent sentences of life imprisonment and nine years, respectively. On appeal, he argues that (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement to police; (2) the trial court erred in admitting autopsy photographs; (3) the trial court erred in allowing Captain David Cupp to testify as a handwriting expert; and (4) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Shawn Cunningham v. City of Chattanooga d/b/a/ Chattanooga City Council
The Chattanooga Police Department terminated petitioner’s employment as a policeman for the City of Chattanooga. Petitioner appealed to the City Commission, whose hearing panel upheld his termination. He filed a Petition for Certiorari with the Chancery Court which was granted, and then filed a Motion for Summary Judgment which the Trial Court also granted inter alia on the grounds that the City Council employed unlawful procedures which violated petitioner’s rights to a fair, impartial and unbiased appellate panel. We affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court and remand. |
Hamilton | Court of Appeals | |
Mario Marquis Gray v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Mario Marquis Gray, also known as Mario Marquis Grey, entered a best-interest plea in Davidson County to one count of aggravated burglary in exchange for a sentence of six years, to run consecutively to a prior conviction for which he was on probation at the time of his arrest. Petitioner sought post-conviction relief on the basis that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty plea was unknowing and involuntary. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. On appeal, Petitioner argues that he was improperly denied relief by the post-conviction court. After a review, we determine that Petitioner has failed to show that he received ineffective assistance of counsel or that his guilty plea was entered involuntarily. Accordingly, the judgment of the postconviction court is affirmed. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Joe Strawther v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, Joe Strawther, pled guilty to aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery in Rutherford County in exchange for an effective eight-year sentence. Petitioner filed a motion for post-conviction relief. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. Petitioner appeals the denial of the petition. However, the issue raised by Petitioner on appeal was not raised in his petition for post-conviction relief and, therefore, is not properly before this Court. The Petitioner has failed to show that he received ineffective assistance of counsel or that his guilty pleas were entered involuntarily. Accordingly, the judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed. |
Rutherford | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Luiz Gomez and Franklin Delacruz v. State of Tennessee
Petitioners, Luiz Gomez and Franklin Delacruz, each pled guilty to second degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson in Warren County in exchange for effective sentences of thirty-six years. Petitioners then each filed timely petitions for post-conviction relief. After a joint hearing on the petitions for relief, the post-conviction court denied relief, finding that Petitioners did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel and that their guilty pleas were entered knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently. After a review of the record, we determine that Petitioners have failed to show that they received ineffective assistance of counsel or that their guilty pleas were entered involuntarily. Accordingly, the judgments of the post-conviction court are affirmed. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Scott Peatross, Administrator of the Estate of Blanchard Greenwood, Deceased v. Shelby County, Tennessee
This appeal results from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants. The issue before the trial court was the scope of a release agreement signed by the decedent’s children and one of the defendants (“the Med”). The remaining defendants argued that this agreement provided for the release of claims against all potential defendants. Plaintiff responded that the parties to the agreement had no intention of releasing additional parties. Examining the language of the release and the circumstances surrounding its execution, we agree with the trial court’s finding that plaintiff’s claims against defendants were released. We also agree with the trial court’s finding that the agreement released any civil rights claims that plaintiff might assert against the Med. The judgment of the trial court is therefore affirmed. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Robert W. Hawley v. Billy Joe Mauldin
This appeal arises from a judgment entered by the trial court in favor of plaintiff. In his complaint, plaintiff asked the trial court to remove a cloud from the title to his property and to enjoin defendant from making certain fraudulent claims in the future. Defendant asserts that the trial court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute. On review, we find that the chancery court has the authority to grant the equitable relief requested by plaintiff. The court therefore had subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute. The judgment is affirmed. |
Henry | Court of Appeals |