OPINION D. KELLY THOMAS, Jr. , J. The Defendant, Kyle J. Dodd, was convicted by a jury of driving under the influence (DUI), second offense, a Class A misdemeanor. See Tenn. Code Ann. 55-10-401, -402(a)(2). The trial court imposed a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days with fifty days to be served in confinement and the remainder to be served on supervised probation. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his...
OPINION ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, Jr. , J. The State of Tennessee appeals the Maury County Circuit Court's orders suppressing evidence and dismissing the indictment, which charged the Defendant with driving under the influence (DUI), DUI per se, violating the implied consent law, failure to maintain a motor vehicle within a lane of traffic, and violating the open container law. On appeal, the State contends that the trial court erred by granting the Defendant's motion to suppress the blood...
OPINION ALAN E. GLENN , Judge . The Defendant, Zachary Michael Johnson, was indicted for five counts of rape by force or coercion, a Class B felony, all involving the same victim and occurring over a short period of time. The jury convicted him of the lesser offense of sexual battery, a Class E felony, in two counts of the indictment and acquitted him of the remaining three counts of the indictment. The trial court subsequently sentenced him as Range I, standard offender to concurrent...
OPINION J. ROSS DYER , J. The defendant, Raymond Arthur Klein, appeals his convictions and sentences for aggravated sexual battery and criminal attempt to commit rape of a child. The defendant argues there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict. Additionally, the defendant argues a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him because he was not permitted to introduce the results of a polygraph examination from a prior investigation. Finally,...
OPINION ALAN E. GLENN , J. The Petitioner, Danny O. Owens, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his second degree murder conviction, alleging he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. After review, we affirm the denial of the petition. FACTS The Petitioner was indicted for the first degree premeditated murder of his wife and, following a jury trial, convicted of the lesser offense of second degree murder. The trial court sentenced the Petitioner...
OPINION ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, Jr. , J. This is a consolidated appeal by the State. Holly N. Hilliard ("Ms. Hilliard"), Brian K. Reynolds ("Mr. Reynolds"), and Joseph A. Tester, II ("Mr. Tester") (collectively, "the Defendants") were charged, via presentment, with conspiracy to manufacture over .5 grams of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school. The presentment also charged Ms. Hilliard and Mr. Reynolds with one count of manufacturing greater than .5 grams of methamphetamine within 1,...
OPINION ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , J. A Shelby County jury convicted the Petitioner, Sebastian Pegues, of two counts of first degree felony murder, one count of aggravated child abuse, and one count of aggravated child neglect, and the trial court sentenced him to life plus twenty years of incarceration. This court affirmed the Petitioner's convictions and sentence on appeal. State v. Sebastian Pegues, No. W2014-00854-CCA-R3-CD, 2015 WL 3404736, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, May 27,...
OPINION TIMOTHY L. EASTER , J. Defendant, Roy Allen Carey, was convicted of hindering a secured creditor. He received an alternative sentence of two years' probation after serving ten days in incarceration. On appeal, he argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the amended indictment was void; (3) the bill of particulars was insufficient; (4) the trial court committed error by not providing the requested jury instructions; and (5) the lack of notice as...
OPINION THOMAS T. WOODALL , President Judge . Defendant, Deann Anelia Walls, appeals the trial court's order requiring her to serve in confinement her effective ten-year sentence resulting from her guilty plea to nineteen counts of prescription medication fraud and thirty-six counts of identity theft. Upon reviewing the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. Background Defendant was indicted on and pled guilty to nineteen counts of prescription...
OPINION JAMES CURWOOD WITT, Jr. , J. The defendant, Yangreek Tut Wal, appeals his Davidson County Criminal Court guilty-pleaded convictions of especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated robbery, claiming that his 40-year effective sentence is excessive. Discerning no error, we affirm. Originally charged with two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, and four counts of aggravated rape, the defendant pleaded guilty to two...
OPINION JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS , J. The Petitioner, Brian Dunkley, was convicted after a jury trial of conspiracy to commit first degree murder for his involvement in a plot to murder his wife. The Petitioner filed a post-conviction petition alleging that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel failed to provide advice during plea bargaining, failed to challenge the State's loss or destruction of evidence, failed to suppress evidence on the basis of an...
OPINION CAMILLE R. McMULLEN , J. The Petitioner, Raymond Burford, was convicted of premeditated first degree murder and received a life sentence. He appeals the post-conviction court's denial of relief arguing that trial counsel was ineffective by (1) recalling a witness knowing that she would offer evidence of the Petitioner's prior bad acts that had not been introduced in the State's case in chief and (2) failing to adequately research diminished capacity as a defense. Upon our review,...
OPINION ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , Judge . A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Dequan Hasani Bertrand, of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. The jury acquitted the Defendant of one count of aggravated rape and was unable to reach a verdict as to two other counts of aggravated rape. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to a total effective sentence of twenty-four years. On appeal, the Defendant contends...
OPINION NORMA McGEE OGLE , Judge . The Appellant, Van Trent, was convicted by a Sullivan County Criminal Court Jury of five counts of facilitation of dogfighting. The Appellant received concurrent sentences of eleven months and twenty-nine days for each conviction, sixty days of which was to be served in confinement and the remainder on probation. On appeal, the Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence sustaining his convictions, the trial court's instructing the jury on lesser-...
OPINION TIMOTHY L. EASTER , J. Defendant, Christopher Lee Williams, was convicted of reckless endangerment, aggravated kidnapping, and domestic assault. Defendant raises the following issues on appeal: (1) whether dual convictions for aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury and domestic assault based on bodily injury are proper, and (2) whether the trial court failed to consider a statutory mitigating factor in fashioning Defendant's sentence. After a review, we affirm the...
OPINION J. ROSS DYER , J. A Shelby County Criminal Court jury convicted the defendant, Shanerick Abraham, of aggravated robbery. On appeal, the defendant argues the evidence was insufficient to support his aggravated robbery conviction because the victim voluntarily gave the defendant money, and the alleged taking was temporally remote to the subsequent act of violence. The defendant additionally alleges ineffective assistance of counsel. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of...
OPINION TIMOTHY L. EASTER , J. Defendant, Terry Sherrod, pled guilty in two separate cases to domestic assault and possession of a Schedule IV drug with the intent to sell or deliver. As a result of the guilty pleas, he received an effective sentence of four years to be served on Community Corrections. Subsequently, an affidavit and warrant were filed alleging Defendant violated the conditions of his sentence. After a hearing, the trial court revoked Defendant's Community Corrections...
OPINION ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , J. The Defendant, Corey Forest, was indicted for possession of twenty-six grams of cocaine with the intent to sell in a drug-free school zone, possession of marijuana, and unlawful possession of a firearm. The Defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress the warrantless search of his vehicle. The trial court denied the Defendant's motion, and the Defendant pleaded guilty to the lesser-included offense of possession of more than .5 grams of a Schedule II...
