APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

The petitioner, John Paul Seals, appeals as of right the Hamblen County Criminal Court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, which the court deemed to be filed outside of the statute of limitations. He contends that the trial court should have granted his motion for the appointment of an additional psychological expert in order that he might prove that his mental incompetence tolled the statute of limitations. We affirm the trial court's denial of the petition.

The defendant, Gerald E. Saylor, was convicted by a Washington County Criminal Court jury of voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony, and the trial court sentenced him as a Range III, persistent offender to fifteen years imprisonment. The defendant appeals, claiming that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his confession; (3) the trial court erred in excluding testimony that several hours before the killing the victim had stated to a third party that he was going to kill the defendant; (4) the trial court erred in excluding testimony to rebut the state's inference that the defendant planted weapons on the victim and that the victim had made prior threats to the defendant; (5) the trial court erred by failing to declare a mistrial when the jury heard references to his being "on parole" and "on the run"; and (6) the trial court erred in its application of enhancement and mitigating factors to his sentence. Although we conclude that enhancement factor (5) regarding exceptional cruelty should not have been applied, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Strategic Capital Resources, Inc. and FPE Funding, LLC sued the buyer and seller of the Pirelli tire plant in Nashville and other parties involved in structuring and financing the transaction. The complaint alleged that the buyer and seller breached an agreement with Strategic, and that other parties were guilty of fraud, inducement of breach of contract, conspiracy, and had been unjustly enriched at the expense of Strategic.. The Chancery Court of Davidson County granted the defendants' Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.06 motion to dismiss because Strategic's contract with the buyers did not bind the buyer to deal exclusively with Strategic. We affirm.

We granted this appeal to address the propriety of a trial court's award of child support to a parent who is not the primary residential parent. We hold that the Child Support Guidelines require that child support may be awarded only to the primary residential parent under the parenting plan approved by the trial court. We further hold that the use of a comparative analysis of the parties' earnings is improper under the Child Support Guidelines. We therefore reverse the trial court's judgment, reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remand this case to the trial court for consideration of an award of child support to the primary residential parent, David Wayne Gray.

The jury returned a verdict for the defendant surgeon and hospital in this medical malpractice action. The plaintiff argues on appeal that the trial court committed reversible error at several stages of the trial, including jury selection, witness testimony and jury instructions. We affirm the trial court.

The Petitioner pleaded guilty to one count each of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. The trial court sentenced the Petitioner to nineteen years incarceration on each count, to be served concurrently. The Petitioner subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty pleas were not entered knowingly and voluntarily. The post-conviction court denied relief, and the Petitioner now appeals. Concluding that the Petitioner received effective assistance of counsel and that the Petitioner entered his guilty pleas voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

The Appellant, Christopher Ray Smith, entered “best-interest” pleas of guilty to one count of aggravated rape and one count of aggravated robbery. Following a sentencing hearing, Smith was sentenced to consecutive terms of twenty-five years for aggravated rape and twelve years for aggravated robbery. Additionally, the trial court ordered this effective thirty-seven year sentence to be served consecutively to outstanding aggravated robbery and theft convictions from Humphreys
and Dickson Counties. On appeal, Smith contends the trial court erred in (1) imposing consecutive sentences for his aggravated rape and aggravated robbery convictions and (2) ordering that his Williamson County sentences be served consecutively to his Humphreys County and Dickson County sentences. Finding no error, the judgment of the Williamson County Circuit Court is affirmed.

Plaintiff was discharged from her employment for making a false statement concerning her health in her application for employment to defendant-employer. The false statement was discovered some years after her employment commenced when she sustained an injury at work which had no relation to the false answers in the application. Plaintiff was denied unemployment benefits because of work-related misconduct which was affirmed by the Board of Review. Plaintiff filed a Petition for Judicial Review in the chancery court. The chancery court affirmed the Board of Review, and plaintiff appeals. We affirm.

The Defendant, James McFall, was found guilty by a jury of violating a motor vehicle habitual offender order. The trial court subsequently sentenced the Defendant as a multiple, Range II offender to three years in the Department of Correction, to be served consecutively to a prior sentence. The Defendant now appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the indictment; the sufficiency of the evidence; the trial court's instructions to the jury; and the efficacy of the State's Notice of Intent to Seek Enhanced Punishment. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The Defendant pled guilty to attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery and received a three-year suspended sentence. Approximately nine months later, a probation violation warrant was issued against the Defendant, alleging that the Defendant had violated his probated sentence by failing to report and by failing to attend a sexual perpetrators program. Following a hearing, the trial court revoked the Defendant's probation and ordered him to serve his sentence. This appeal followed. Following a review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The Defendant, Robyn Renee Rainer, pled guilty to one count of possession of cocaine with intent to sell and deliver. Her plea agreement included an agreed sentence of eight years as a Range I standard offender, with the manner of service to be imposed by the trial court. After a hearing, the trial court placed the Defendant on community corrections. Following the Defendant's second violation of the terms of her community corrections sentence, the trial court revoked the Defendant's community corrections status and ordered that her sentence be served in the Department of Correction. The Defendant now appeals the trial court's ruling. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The petitioner, William Brian Belser, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. In this appeal, the petitioner asserts that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

This is a declaratory judgment action brought by an insurer seeking to void a property insurance policy for alleged misrepresentation in the application for the policy. The insured filed a counter claim seeking recovery under the policy. The trial court granted the insurance company's motion for summary judgment and declared the policy void ab initio. We reverse and remand.