APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

The appellan ts, James Montgomery and Tony Carruthers, were each indicted, along with their co-defendant, Jonathan Montgomery, on three counts of the premeditated first degree murders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother, Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker. Prior to trial, Jonathan Montgomery was found hanged in his jail cell. James Montgomery and Tony Carruthers were also indicted on three counts each of the esp ecially aggravated kidnapping of all three victims, and one count each of the especially aggravated robbery of Marcellos Anderson. The appellants were tried and convicted on each charge. The appellants were sentenced to death by electrocution for the three murder convictions and received forty year sentences for each of the other offenses. The jury found the existence of four aggravating circumstances as to each appellant for each murder conviction: 1) the murder was especially heino us, atrocious or cruel in that it involved torture; 2) the appellants committed mass murder; 3) the appellants had previously been convicted of one or more violent felonies; and 4) the murders were committed during the perpetration of especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery. T.C.A. § 39-13-204(i)(2), (5), (7), and (12). On appeal, the appellants raise the following issues concerning alleged errors occurring before trial as well as during both phases of the trial:

In this appeal we address two primary issues: (1) whether an indigent party is liable for payment of outstanding litigation taxes levied under Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-4-602 (1998), and (2) whether the Tennessee Department of Correction had authority to withdraw money from an inmate’s trust account to pay a distress warrant. For the reasons stated herein, we hold that indigent parties become liable for litigation taxes when taxed by the court and that the Tennessee Department of Correction has the authority to deduct money from an inmate trust fund to satisfy a distress warrant. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.