State of Tennessee v. Gary Lynn Poole
The defendant, Gary Lynn Poole, appeals the revocation of his probation in case number C-16760, arguing that the sentence imposed in that case had expired before the filing of the probation revocation warrant. The State concedes that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke the defendant’s probation in case number C-16760 as well as case numbers C-16756 and C-16706. We agree that the trial court was without jurisdiction to revoke the defendant’s probation in case numbers C-16706, C-16756, and C-16760. In consequence, we reverse the judgment of the trial court revoking the defendant’s probation in those cases and dismiss the revocation warrants. We affirm the revocation and order of incarceration in case number C-17292. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. John Edward Dawson
As part of a global plea agreement disposing of charges in four cases from two separate counties, the defendant, John Edward Dawson, entered pleas of guilty to three counts of theft of property valued at $1,000 or more but less than $10,000; one count of burglary; one count of vandalism of property valued at $1,000 or more but less than $10,000; two counts of the sale of less than .5 grams of cocaine; and two counts of the sale of a Schedule III controlled substance in exchange for a total effective sentence of eight years’ incarceration to be served concurrently with a previously imposed federal sentence. The defendant also reserved for our review the following certified question of law: “Whether there was sufficient proof of an interference by State authorities of the defendant’s right to counsel and a showing of prejudice as a matter of law from the allegations presented at the hearing on the Motion to Dismiss that letters allegedly drafted by a detective from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and contact directly with a Monroe County detective convinced defendant he was represented by other counsel and should not communicate with appointed counsel and thus interfered with defendant’s constitutionally protected right to counsel and due process under both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions.” Because the egregious actions of the law enforcement officers in this case substantially and profoundly interfered with the defendant’s right to counsel under the state and federal constitutions, we reverse the judgment of the trial court denying the motion to dismiss, vacate the defendant’s guilty pleas, and dismiss the indictment in each of the four cases. |
Monroe | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Steven W. Black
The Defendant, Steven W. Black, pleaded guilty to two counts of Class E felony forgery and one count of theft under $500, a Class A misdemeanor. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-14-103, -105, -114. The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to two years for each felony conviction and eleven months and twenty-nine days for the misdemeanor conviction. The trial court ordered that the two felony sentences be served consecutively for a total effective sentence of four years. In this appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentences; (2) the trial court imposed an excessive sentence and erred by weighing one enhancement factor heavily and minimizing one mitigating factor; and (3) the trial court erred in not recusing itself due to the conflict created when the judge presided over both the Drug Court and the Defendant’s sentencing hearing. After our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Union | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Open Lake Sporting Club v. Lauderdale Haywood Angling Club
This appeal involves a dispute over the location of a boundary line between tracts of land owned by two hunting clubs. After many years of litigation, the parties agreed that a new survey would be conducted by a new surveyor and that they would be bound by his decision. After the new surveyor filed a report and survey, one of the clubs filed a motion to set aside the survey, contending that the new surveyor did not make an independent determination regarding the location of the boundary line, but rather, copied a previous survey that was completed in the past. The trial judge refused to hold a hearing regarding the validity of the survey because the parties had agreed to be bound by the surveyor’s decision. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.ALAN E. HIGHERS, P.J |
Lauderdale | Court of Appeals | |
Betty Rose v. Cookeville Regional Medical Center Authority, et al.
Plaintiff, a lactation consultant formerly employed by Cookeville Regional Medical Center, sued the hospital for common law retaliatory discharge and violation of the Tennessee Public Protection Act; plaintiff also asserted a claim for punitive damages. The case was tried before a jury. At the close of plaintiff’s proof, the court granted the Medical Center’s motion for directed verdict on the Protection Act and punitive damages claims; the common law retaliatory discharge claim was allowed to proceed to the jury. The jury found for the Medical Center. Plaintiff appeals, asserting error in the trial court’s grant of directed verdict and its rulings on evidentiary issues. Finding no error, we affirm. |
Putnam | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee for the use and benefit of Williamson County, et al. v. Jesus Christ’s Church @ Liberty Church Road, et al.
Landowner appeals trial court’s grant of summary judgment to county in action to enforce delinquent tax lien. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Williamson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Felicia Mae Langford
The Defendant-Appellant, Felicia Mae Langford, appeals the revocation of her probation. She pled guilty in the Circuit Court of Macon County to aggravated burglary, a Class C felony. Langford received a probationary sentence of six years. The trial court revoked her probation following an arrest for shoplifting. On appeal, Langford admits that she violated her probation. She claims, however, that the trial court erred by revoking her probation and imposing her original sentence of confinement. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Macon | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Adrian K. Nelson v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Adrian K. Nelson, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal. Following our review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s denial of the petition. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Teresa J. Allen v. Randy C. Allen
In this divorce case, Plaintiff and her counsel failed to appear in court on the scheduled date of trial. The trial court held the hearing ex parte in their absence. Plaintiff hired new counsel and filed a “Motion to Set Aside Judgment,” which we discern to be a motion pursuant to Tenn. R. Civ. P. 59. The trial court held a hearing on the motion; however, Plaintiff failed to offer any evidence explaining her failure to appear on the scheduled trial date. The trial court denied Plaintiff’s motion. After reviewing the record, we affirm. |
Henry | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Daniel Gonzalez, Jr.
The Defendant, Daniel Gonzalez, Jr., appeals the Blount County Circuit Court’s order revoking his community corrections sentences for three convictions for promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, a Class D felony, and two convictions for possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, and ordering the Defendant to serve the remainder of his effective six-year sentence in confinement. He contends that the trial court erred by ordering him to serve the remainder of his sentences in confinement. The judgments of the trial court are affirmed. |
Blount | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Reginald Rome v. State of Tennessee
A Shelby County jury convicted the petitioner of one count of first degree murder and five counts of attempted first degree murder, Class A felonies. He received an effective sentence of life without parole plus 100 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. A panel of this court affirmed the trial court’s judgments. The petitioner filed a petition for postconviction relief, which the post-conviction court heard and denied. On appeal, the petitioner alleges that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when counsel’s failure to include an issue in the motion for new trial resulted in waiver of that issue for purposes of appellate review. Following our review, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Quintell Deshon Hardy v. Joe Easterling, Warden
The petitioner, Quintell Deshon Hardy, appeals the dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus by the Circuit Court of Hardeman County. He pled guilty to second degree murder, a Class A felony, and was sentenced as a multiple offender to thirty years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. In the habeas corpus petition, the petitioner claimed his sentence should be vacated because the State gave no notice of its intent to seek an enhanced sentence, as required under Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-202(a). Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court. |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Herman Shurn
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Herman Shurn, of aggravated robbery, a Class B felony, and criminally negligent homicide, a Class E felony. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I, standard offender to twelve years for aggravated robbery and two years for criminally negligent homicide, to be served consecutively in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant challenges (1) the trial court’s amendment of the indictment over his objection; (2) the trial court’s denial of his request to include facilitation of the charged offenses; (3) the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions; (4) the trial court’s finding of enhancement factors in violation of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004); and (5) the trial court’s imposition of consecutive sentences. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. James Todd
Defendant-Appellant, James Todd, was convicted by a Shelby County Jury of one count of attempted first degree murder, a Class A felony, and one count of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. Todd received a twenty-five-year sentence at thirty percent for the attempted first degree murder conviction and a consecutive ten-year sentence at thirty-five percent for the aggravated assault conviction, for an effective sentence of thirty-five years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, Todd argues that (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement; (2) the trial court erred in allowing the victim to testify at trial that she previously identified Todd as the perpetrator at a prior hearing; (3) the trial court erred in admitting unauthenticated and unfairly prejudicial photographs at trial; (4) the trial court erred in adding language to the jury instruction on duress; (5) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; and (6) the trial court erred in imposing an excessive sentence. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jamie Lynn Middlebrook
The Defendant, Jamie Lynn Middlebrook, was indicted by the Davidson County Grand Jury for aggravated assault, a Class C felony, and theft of property valued $1,000 or more, a Class D felony. Following a jury trial, the Defendant was convicted of aggravated assault. The jury was unable to fix the property value for the theft charge; therefore, the trial court declared a mistrial as to that count. At the sentencing hearing, the Defendant pled guilty to theft of property valued $500 or more, a Class E felony. The trial court imposed concurrent sentences of 6 years as a career offender for the theft conviction and 13 years as a persistent offender for the aggravated assault conviction. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively to a sentence imposed in another case. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends (1) that the evidence is insufficient to sustain her conviction of aggravated assault; (2) that the trial court erred in granting the State’s motion to admit evidence of prior bad acts; and (3) that the trial court erred in sentencing the Defendant. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jeffery D. Lemay
The defendant, Jeffery D. Lemay, pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child, a Class A felony, and reserved a certified question of law challenging the trial court’s order finding him competent to stand trial. See Tenn. R. Crim. P. 37(b)(2)(a). Following our review, we conclude that the defendant failed to properly certify a question of law that is dispositive of the case. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. |
Marshall | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Racardo Arnette Spencer
The Defendant, Racardo Arnette Spencer, appeals as of right from the Davidson County Criminal Court’s revocation of his community corrections sentence and order of incarceration. The Defendant contends that the trial court erred in revoking his community corrections sentence because there was no substantial evidence to determine that the Defendant had violated the terms of his sentence. Following our review, we affirm the trial court’s revocation of the Defendant’s community corrections sentence. |
Davidson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Kimberly Thurman v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Kimberly Thurman, filed a petition for post-conviction relief from her conviction for second degree murder. The petition was filed outside the one-year statute of limitation for filing a post-conviction petition, but the petitioner alleged that the limitations period should be tolled because she was unable to manage her personal affairs or understand her legal rights and liabilities. The post-conviction court summarily dismissed the petition as time-barred, and the petitioner now appeals. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Anderson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Calvin Wilhite v. Tennessee Board of Parole
Appellant filed this petition for common law writ of certiorari when the Board of Probation and Parole denied him parole. He contends the Board’s decision was illegal, arbitrary, fraudulent, and in excess of its jurisdiction. The trial court dismissed the petition for writ of certiorari. We affirm the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Orville Losey
The Defendant, Orville Losey, was found guilty by a Coffee County Circuit Court jury of three counts of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. See T.C.A. § 39-13-102 (2006) (amended 2009, 2010). He pled guilty to resisting arrest with a weapon, a Class A misdemeanor. See T.C.A. § 39-16-602 (2010). He was sentenced as a Range II, multiple offender to eight and one-half years’ confinement for each of the aggravated assault convictions and to eleven months, twenty-nine days’ confinement for the resisting arrest conviction, to be served concurrently. On appeal, he contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and (2) his sentences are excessive and not consistent with the purposes and principles of the Sentencing Reform Act. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Coffee | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Joshua Dunn v. State of Tennessee
Pursuant to a plea agreement that he personally negotiated with the State, the Petitioner, Joshua Dunn, pleaded guilty to violating his probation, one count of especially aggravated robbery, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, and one count of arson. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, all of the Petitioner’s sentences were ordered to run concurrently for a total effective sentence of fifteen years at 100%. The Petitioner filed a timely petition for post-conviction relief and, after a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. In this appeal, the sole issue that the Petitioner raises is that his Trial Counsel’s representation, or the Petitioner’s selfrepresentation, constituted ineffective assistance of counsel because the Petitioner pleaded guilty to especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery without seeing discovery regarding the extent of the victim’s injuries. After our review, we affirm the postconviction court’s denial of relief. |
Bradley | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State vs Orville Losey
The Defendant, Orville Losey, was found guilty by a Coffee County Circuit Court jury of three counts of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. See T.C.A. § 39-13-102 (2006) (amended 2009, 2010). He pled guilty to resisting arrest with a weapon, a Class A misdemeanor. See T.C.A. § 39-16-602 (2010). He was sentenced as a Range II, multiple offender to eight and one-half years’ confinement for each of the aggravated assault convictions and to eleven months, twenty-nine days’ confinement for the resisting arrest conviction, to be served concurrently. On appeal, he contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and (2) his sentences are excessive and not consistent with the purposes and principles of the Sentencing Reform Act. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Coffee | ||
Tyrone W. Vanlier v. Turney Center Disciplinary Board et al.
An inmate at the Turney Center Industrial Complex filed this petition for writ of certiorari to challenge the ruling of the Turney Center Disciplinary Board that he failed to report for work, imposed a fine, and placed him on probation. After the Board’s ruling was affirmed by the Warden and Commissioner of Correction, this petition was filed. The chancellor dismissed the writ. We affirm the ruling of the chancellor. |
Hickman | Court of Appeals | |
State vs Marvin Bobby Parker
Appellant, Marvin Bobby Parker, was indicted by the Bedford County Grand Jury for two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of assault. After the denial of pretrial diversion, Appellant’s case proceeded to a jury trial. Following a lengthy trial, Appellant was convicted of reckless aggravated assault, two counts of assault, and one count of reckless endangerment for a series of incidents that took place on June 7, 2008, at the Duck River Speedway after a race. Appellant was found not guilty of two counts of reckless endangerment. As a result of the convictions, Appellant was |
Bedford | ||
Antonio Maurice Batts vs State
The petitioner, Antonio Maurice Batts, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for a six-year, Range II sentence with the manner of service to be determined by the trial court. Following the denial of alternative sentencing and an unsuccessful appeal to this court, the petitioner timely filed a petition for post-conviction relief alleging that his guilty plea was |
Davidson |