State of Tennessee v. John Curtis Perry Sr. and Ashley N. Hankins

The Defendants, John Curtis Perry, Sr., and Ashley Nicole Hankins, appeal their convictions for three counts of felony murder for which they were sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, the Defendants, either individually or collectively, argue that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions; (2) the trial court erred in granting and denying various requests to continue the trial; (3) the trial court erroneously admitted evidence of prior bad acts; (4) the trial court erred in limiting the crossexamination of a witness; (5) the trial court erred in excluding a co-defendant’s statement; (6) the trial court erred in instructing the jury regarding the concealment and destruction of evidence; (7) the prosecutor made improper comments during rebuttal closing arguments; and (8) cumulative error warrants relief. Upon reviewing the record, the parties’ briefs, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. However, we remand for entry of corrected judgments reflecting merger of the felony murder convictions into one conviction for each of the Defendants.