APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

The defendant pled guilty to six counts of forgery over $1000, a Class D felony, and four counts of forgery, a Class E felony, with the sentences to be set by the trial court. At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range I, standard offender to the maximum terms of four years for each forgery over $1000 conviction and two years for each forgery conviction, with the sentences to be served concurrently in the Department of Correction. The trial court denied the defendant's request for full probation or split confinement. The defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court erred by failing to place its findings on the record and by denying probation or a sentence of split confinement. Based on our review, we affirm the sentences imposed by the trial court.

While serving a sentence in a community corrections program, the defendant was indicted and arrested on two counts of selling and delivering cocaine. His community corrections status was revoked upon proof of the indictment and arrest alone. The defendant claims that proof of an indictment and arrest, standing alone, is insufficient to support a revocation of a community corrections sentence. We agree and reverse the judgment from the trial court.

The Davidson County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant for first degree premeditated murder, felony murder, attempted first degree murder and five counts of reckless endangerment. A Davidson County jury found the Defendant guilty of second degree murder, felony murder, attempted first degree murder and five counts of reckless endangerment. After merging the Defendant's convictions for second degree murder and felony murder, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to thirty-five years for the attempted first degree murder conviction to be served consecutively to the life sentence. The trial court merged the five reckless endangerment convictions and sentenced the Defendant to three years to be served concurrently with the other sentences. The Defendant now appeals, arguing the following: (1) that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on all lesser-included offenses; (2) that the trial court erred by denying the Defendant's motion to suppress a photographic lineup; (3) that insufficient evidence was presented at trial to support the Defendant's convictions; (4) that trial counsel was ineffective; and (5) that the trial court improperly assumed that as a matter of law, the sentences in this case must be served consecutively to a prior federal sentence. Concluding that the trial court committed reversible error (the State concedes), by failing to instruct the jury on certain lesser-included offenses of premeditated murder, felony murder and attempted first degree murder, we reverse those three convictions and remand Counts 1, 2, and 3 to the trial court for a new trial. We affirm the conviction for reckless endangerment in Count 4 and the three year sentence imposed in that count. We also remand Count 4 for the trial court to determine whether the sentence imposed in Count 4 should be served concurrently with or consecutively to the Defendant's federal sentence.

The appellants, Branden Haney and Lawrence Davis, pled guilty in the Cocke County Circuit Court to one count of possession of more than .5 grams of a substance containing cocaine with intent to sell, a Class B felony; one count of possession of more than .5 ounces of marijuana with intent to sell, a Class E felony; and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced Haney as a Range I standard offender to an effective sentence of eight years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction, with the sentence to be suspended and served in a community corrections program. The trial court sentenced Davis as a Range I standard offender to an effective sentence of eight years incarceration, with the sentence to be suspended and served in a community corrections program "after [one] year split confinement in [the] Cocke County Jail." Pursuant to their plea agreements, Haney and Davis reserved the right to appeal certified questions of law challenging the trial court's denial of their motions to suppress. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Supreme Court remanded this case to determine the issue of whether the trial court erred in sentencing the defendant to twelve years for the facilitation of aggravated robbery. The defendant was classified as a Range II offender. Twelve years is outside the range of a Range II offender, Class C felony. We conclude that the sentence is proper in that it does not exceed the range for a Class C felony. Offender classification ranges are non-jurisdictional and may be exceeded. We affirm this sentence.

The defendant was found guilty by a jury of theft of property over ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and sentenced to four years and six months in the county workhouse. She contends the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In July 2000, pursuant to a plea agreement, the Petitioner pled guilty to eight felonies: one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated robbery, one count of attempted especially aggravated robbery, one count of attempted first degree murder, and one count of aggravated assault. The trial court sentenced him pursuant to the agreement to an effective sentence of twenty years with a release eligibility percentage of 30% and a concurrent sentence of twelve years with a release eligibility percentage of 100%. The Petitioner subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, and following a hearing on the petition, the trial court denied relief. This appeal ensued. The Petitioner argues on appeal that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when he entered his pleas and that his pleas were thus not entered knowingly or voluntarily. Having reviewed the record, we conclude that the Petitioner was not denied his right to effective representation at the time that he entered his pleas, and we conclude that the Petitioner entered his pleas knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently. We therefore affirm the trial court's denial of post-conviction relief.

The Appellant, Robert James Yoreck, III, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury for rape, a class B felony. A negotiated plea agreement allowed the Appellant to plead to class C felony aggravated assault. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a nine-year sentence. On appeal, Yoreck argues that his sentence was excessive. After review, we find that plain error dictates the conviction be vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings because aggravated assault is not a lesser included offense of rape.