APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

This appeal involves a question of personal jurisdiction over a nonresident corporation. The Chancery Court of Sumner County dismissed the complaint. We affirm.

Each of the captioned parties filed a notice of appeal from a judgment of the Trial Court
awarding to the plaintiff-wife a divorce on grounds of adultery and inappropriate marital
conduct.

This is an appeal by respondent/appellant, Bernice A. Burns (“Wife”), from the order of the trial court granting Wife and petitioner/appellee, Franklin Thomas Burns (“Husband”), a divorce, dividing the marital property, and granting temporary alimony. Wife complains the court erred when it divided the parties’ property and awarded Wife $400.00 alimony per month for six months. The facts out of which this matter arose are as follows.

This is a suit for damages for an alleged retaliatory discharge brought pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-304. As winnowed, the plaintiff alleges that she was discharged because she refused to participate in gambling activities which were illegal under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-501.

This appeal involves a controversy surrounding the appointment of a local city official. The mayor and the city manager of the City of Berry Hill filed a defamation action in the Circuit Court for Davidson County against two city residents who publicly questioned the circumstances surrounding the interim appointment of a member of the Board of Commissioners. The trial court granted the residents’ motion for summary judgment and dismissed the city officials’ complaint. On this appeal, the city officials assert that the trial court should not have granted the summary judgment because the record contains evidence that the residents knew or should have known that their critical statements made to a local newspaper were false. We affirm the trial court.

The majority concludes that venue was proper in Dickson County. I respectfully disagree. In finding venue in Dickson County, the majority, relying upon Girdley v. State, 29 S.W.2d 255 (Tenn. 1930), employs an agency theory to establish the appellant's constructive presence in Dickson County. I am unable to agree with the majority's rational for two reasons. First, in Girdley, the defendant was charged with the offense of uttering or attempting to pass a forged check. Had the appellant in this case been charged with uttering or passing a forged writing, I would agree that venue would have been proper in Dickson County. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-114(b)(1)(D). However, as reflected by the indictment, the State chose to indict the appellant in Dickson County for forgery. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-114(b)(1)(A).

Plaintiff Herbert Carson Branum appeals dismissal of his suit against the City of Maynardville and its Commissioners, seeing reinstatement to his position as Water Commissioner and damages for his wrongful discharge, both compensatory and exemplary. He also seeks an order enjoining the Defendants "from any further ultra vires acts against the Plaintiff" based upon his contention that they had violated certain of our State Statutes.

I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately however because I have reached the conclusion that venue is proper in this case through a somewhat different rationale than that expressed in the majority opinion.

The appellant, Dorothy Sheldon, was convicted by a jury of forgery. She was sentenced as a Range III, persistent offender to four years incarceration. She appeals raising the following issues for our review: 1. Whether the evidence is sufficient to support her conviction; 2. Whether the evidence is sufficient to establish venue in Dickson County; and 3. Whether the manner of service of her sentence is proper. Upon review, we affirm the trial court’s judgment of conviction and sentence.

The appellant, Andrew R. Ewing, and his co-defendant, Derrick C. Brooks, were tried jointly by a jury for first degree murder. Ewing and Brooks were found guilty of felony murder for committing a murder during the perpetration of an aggravated burglary. Both men were sentenced to life in prison. Because Derrick C. Brooks’ appeal has been severed from Andrew R. Ewing’s appeal, we will address only the issues presented by Andrew Ewing in this opinion.

The defendant, Steven Eugene Baker, pled guilty to one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of sexual battery. The trial court imposed concurrent, Range I sentences of nine years and one year, respectively. In this appeal of right, the defendant challenges the length of the sentence and the trial court's denial of alternative sentencing.

The plaintiff, Paul Farnsworth a/k/a Ronnie Bradfield, sued defendants Richard Kenya,1 Stephen Dotson and two John Doe defendants. The complaint alleges that Plaintiff is an inmate at the Lake County Regional Correctional Facility (LCRCF), Richard Kenyon is identified as an employee and Stephen Dotson as the associate warden at LCRCF. The complaint alleges that Plaintiff was given permission to marry while incarcerated, wedding plans were formulated but, within less than 24 hours prior to the wedding, he was advised that the wedding was cancelled.

The appellant, Woody J. Dozier, appeals his jury convictions for the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. Following these convictions, the Circuit Court of Dyer County sentenced the appellant to concurrent sentences of eight years for the aggravated kidnapping conviction and fifteen years for the aggravated rape conviction. On appeal, the appellant raises the following issues:

I. Whether the Chancellor, sitting by interchange, had jurisdiction to try the case;
II. Whether the appellant is entitled to a new trial because ofalleged juror misconduct; and
III. Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain his convictions foraggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping.

After reviewing the record before us, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

This case involves a chancery court review of a decision by a civil service commission. The
commission had ordered the reinstatement of a police officer. The chancery court reversed the
commission’s decision, upholding the termination of the officer’s employment. We affirm the
decision of the chancery court.

 Larry Wayne Stokes, the appellant, was convicted in the Circuit Court of Williamson County of rape of a child, in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-522 (Supp. 1995). He currently serves a fifteen-year sentence in the Department of Correction.

The parental rights of Yvonne Bardin were terminated by the Juvenile Court of Hamilton County and she appeals. Four (4) children are involved. The issue presented for review is whether the evidence is clear and convincing. We find that it is and affirm.

We granted the defendant’s application for permission to appeal in order to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion1 in admitting testimony concerning the results of a certain method of DNA analysis. While we have previously considered the admission of the results of DNA analysis using the “restriction fragment length polymorphism” (RFLP) method, we address for the first time the admission of testimony regarding DNA analysis using the “polymerase chain reaction” (PCR) method. PCR is to be distinguished from RFLP, the method more statistically precise and firmly established in both the scientific and legal community. After a jury-out hearing, the trial court admitted expert testimony about the results of the PCR analysis performed on the defendant’s clothing, and the Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the trial court’s determination.