State of Tennessee v. Kevin Smith
The defendant, Kevin Smith, was convicted of two counts of spousal rape and one count of aggravated assault, both Class C felonies. After merging the aggravated assault conviction with one of the spousal rape convictions, the trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range I, standard offender to six years for each rape conviction, to be served consecutively, for an effective sentence of twelve years. The issues on appeal are whether the trial court properly concluded that the defense would open the door for the victim to testify about the defendant’s prior bad acts if asked why she did not resist the assault and whether the trial court properly sentenced the defendant. Following our review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Mandell Benton
The defendant, Mandel Benton, who was originally charged with statutory rape, was convicted of attempted statutory rape. The trial court imposed a sentence of one hundred and eighty days to be served in the county jail. In this appeal, the defendant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction. The judgment is affirmed. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Shannon Wade Jacobs v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Shannon Wade Jacobs, filed a petition for post-conviction relief from his 2000 jury conviction of second degree murder in the Giles County Circuit Court, for which he received a sentence of 23 years in the Department of Correction. After the post-conviction court appointed counsel for the petitioner and conducted an evidentiary hearing, the court dismissed the petition. The petitioner appeals. Upon our review, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief. |
Giles | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
James O. Martin v. State of Tennessee
The Appellant, James O. Martin, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief by the Knox County Criminal Court. Martin is currently serving a twenty-two year sentence as a result of his jury conviction for aggravated arson. On appeal, Martin argues that the trial court erred "by failing to grant post-conviction relief." Specifically, he argues that his conviction was unlawfully obtained as a result of juror misconduct and bias of the juror at his trial. After review of the record, the denial of post-conviction relief is affirmed. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Gary Lee Silcox
The Defendant, Gary Lee Silcox, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide, aggravated assault, and theft of property valued over $1000. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of ten years. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for criminally negligent homicide; and (2) the trial court improperly ordered that the Defendant's sentences run consecutively. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Campbell | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
James Rimmer v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, James Rimmer, appeals from the Shelby County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition seeking post-conviction relief on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel. After a thorough review of the issues and applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the lower court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Cortez D. Hubbard
The Appellant, Cortez D. Hubbard, appeals the sentencing decision of the Shelby County Criminal Court which resulted in the imposition of an effective eight-year sentence of incarceration. On appeal, Hubbard challenges the trial court’s denial of alternative sentencing. After review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Thomas Allen Franks, II
The defendant, Thomas Allen Franks, II, was convicted of aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, evading arrest, and resisting arrest. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences of ten years for aggravated burglary and six years for aggravated assault. There were concurrent sentences of eleven months and twenty-nine days each for misdemeanor evading arrest and resisting arrest. The effective sentence is, therefore, sixteen years. In this appeal as of right, the single issue presented for review is whether the trial court erred by declining to grant a continuance or other relief when the state filed notice of its intent to use impeaching convictions just before the beginning of the trial. The judgments are affirmed. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Samuel T. Cravens
The defendant, Samuel T. Cravens, was convicted by a Fentress County jury of two counts of vehicular assault and one count of assault. The defendant argues on appeal that the evidence fails to support the convictions because the witness testimony upon which the convictions are based is inherently impossible and irreconcilable with the physical evidence and because the state failed to prove that the defendant's intoxication was the proximate cause of the victims' injuries. After thoroughly reviewing the record and applicable authorities, we find sufficient evidence to support the convictions and, therefore, affirm the trial court's judgments. |
Fentress | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Lawrence Ralph, Sr.
Following a jury trial, Defendant, Lawrence Ralph, Sr., was convicted of failure to display a driver's license, a Class C misdemeanor; resisting arrest, a Class B misdemeanor; and simple possession of a Schedule III controlled substance, a Class A misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of thirty days for his failure to display a driver's license conviction, six months for his resisting arrest conviction, and eleven months, twenty-nine days for his simple possession conviction, for an effective sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days. The trial court suspended all but 120 days of Defendant's effective sentence, and placed Defendant on probation. Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for simple possession. On appeal, Defendant argues that: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for resisting arrest and failure to display a driver's license; and (3) the trial court erred in determining the percentage of Defendant's effective sentence which must be served in confinement. After a review of the record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Warren | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Larry Dale Driver
The Robertson County Circuit Court convicted the defendant, Larry Dale Driver, of assault, a Class A misdemeanor, following a bench trial. The trial court imposed a sentence of eleven months, twenty-nine days, with probation following 180 days in jail. On appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred by denying him judicial diversion. We affirm the trial court. |
Robertson | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Gregory Mullins - Dissenting
I concur in the majority’s decision finding the evidence sufficient to support the Defendant’s convictions for violating the vehicle registration law, speeding, driving on a suspended license, and felony evading arrest. I respectfully disagree that principles of double jeopardy under Tennessee’s constitution require the merger of the Defendant’s conviction for misdemeanor evading arrest with his felony evading arrest conviction. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Gregory Mullins
The defendant, Gregory Mullins, was convicted of two counts of violating the vehicle registration law, two counts of driving on a suspended license, two counts of criminal impersonation, one count of speeding, one count of misdemeanor evading arrest, and one count of felony evading arrest. The trial court imposed a Range III, career offender sentence of six years for the felony evading arrest offense; concurrent terms of forty-five days for each of the driving on a suspended license offenses; eleven months, twenty-nine days for the misdemeanor evading arrest offense; and forty-five days for each of the criminal impersonation offenses. In addition, the defendant was fined $50 for each of the vehicle registration offenses; $50 for the speeding offense; $500 for each of the driving on a suspended license offenses; $3,000 for the felony evading arrest offense; $2,500 for the misdemeanor evading arrest offense; $500 for one of the impersonation offenses; and $250 for the remaining impersonation offense. In this appeal, the defendant asserts that the evidence is not sufficient to support several of his convictions and that the dual convictions for misdemeanor evading arrest and felony evading arrest violate principles of double jeopardy. Because the convictions for felony and misdemeanor evading arrest violate the principles of double jeopardy, the conviction for misdemeanor evading arrest must be merged into the conviction for felony evading arrest. Otherwise, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. John Dillihunt
The defendant, John Dillihunt, was convicted of delivery of less than .5 grams of cocaine within 1000 feet of a school, a Class B felony, for which he was sentenced as a Range I, standard offender, to eight years in the Department of Correction to be served at 100% and fined $7500. On appeal, although the defendant raises four issues, we believe they can be condensed into one: whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court but remand for entry of a corrected judgment. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
C.S.O. Norvell, Jr. v. David Mills, Warden
Petitioner, C.S.O. Norvell, Jr., filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, attacking his conviction for second degree murder in the Tipton County Circuit Court. The petition was summarily dismissed by the trial court without an evidentiary hearing. Petitioner has appealed, arguing that his conviction is void because he received an illegal sentence. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Tipton | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Wilson H. Tucker v. Stephen Dotson, Warden
The petitioner, Wilson H. Tucker, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Hardeman County Circuit Court. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition, and the petitioner timely appealed. Upon review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court. |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Lloyd Earl Williams v. Tony Parker, Warden
Petitioner, Lloyd Earl Williams, filed his second petition for writ of habeas corpus relief in the Lake County Circuit Court, attacking judgments of conviction entered against him in the Washington County Criminal Court. In 1993, Petitioner was convicted and sentenced in abstentia, following a jury trial, of sale of cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine with intent to sell, and one count of conspiracy to sell cocaine, with an effective sentence of fifty-four (54) years. He was taken into custody in 2001. A petition for post-conviction relief was dismissed for not being filed within the applicable statute of limitations. His first petition for writ of habeas corpus attacked the convictions based upon his being tried and sentenced in abstentia. Dismissal of that petition was affirmed on appeal. See Lloyd Earl Williams v. State, No. W2003-02348-CCA-R3-HC, 2004 WL 948370 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, April 29, 2004), perm. to appeal denied (Tenn. September 2, 2004). In this second petition for habeas corpus relief, Petitioner alleges that he is entitled to habeas corpus relief because the sentences were imposed, both as to length and consecutive service, by a judge and not the jury in violation of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 125 S. Ct. 2531, 159 L. Ed. 2d 403 (2004) and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000). The trial court summarily dismissed the petition without an evidentiary hearing. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Lake | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Reginald D. Baldon v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner challenges the denial of his post-conviction petition, which asserted various instances of ineffective assistance of counsel. Upon review, we conclude that the evidence does not preponderate against the post-conviction court’s findings; therefore, we affirm. |
Lauderdale | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Earnest Gwen Humphrey - Concurring
I concur in the majority opinion, but I believe one issue deserves further |
White | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Earnest Gwen Humphrey
The appellant, Earnest Gwen Humphrey, was convicted by a jury in the White County Criminal Court of second degree murder. The trial court imposed a sentence of twenty-two years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the appellant raises multiple issues for our review, including challenges to the voir dire of the jury, the sufficiency of the evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, and the jury instructions. Upon our review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
White | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Marlon Avery Bussell
Defendant, Marlon Avery Bussell, was indicted for first degree felony murder in count one, and for attempted especially aggravated robbery in count two. Following a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of the lesser included offense of criminally negligent homicide, a Class E felony, in count one, and of the lesser included offense of attempted robbery, a Class D felony, in count two. The trial court sentenced Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to two years for his criminally negligent homicide conviction and four years for his attempted robbery conviction, and ordered the sentences to be served concurrently. The trial court denied Defendant's request that he be granted alternative sentencing, and ordered Defendant to serve his sentences in confinement. On appeal, Defendant challenges the length of his sentences and the trial court's denial of alternative sentencing. He does not challenge the sufficiency of the convicting evidence. Following a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Knox | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Jessie Levent Tharpe
The Appellant, Jessie Levent Tharpe, was convicted by a Henry County jury of evading arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, and Class B felony possession of cocaine. He was subsequently sentenced to an effective eight-year sentence, which was suspended upon conditions of probation. On appeal, Tharpe raises the single issue of sufficiency of the evidence. Specifically, Tharpe challenges his convictions based upon inconsistencies in the testimony of the State’s witnesses. After review of the evidence presented, we find the evidence sufficient and affirm the judgments of conviction. |
Henry | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
George Osborne Wade v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner challenges the denial of his post-conviction petition, in which he contended, inter alia, that counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the composition of the jury pool. Upon review, we conclude that the petitioner failed to demonstrate that the venire was violative of his Sixth Amendment rights. As such, he has likewise failed to prove that counsel’s failure to object to the venire amounted to deficient performance or resulted in prejudice to him. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. |
Obion | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Willie L. Hicks, Jr. v. State of Tennessee
The petitioner, Willie L. Hicks, appeals from the trial court's order dismissing his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The state has filed a motion requesting that this court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The petitioner has failed to establish that he is entitled to habeas corpus relief. Accordingly, the state's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. |
Sullivan | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Larry Vaughn, alias Demertruis Moore
The defendant, Larry Vaughn, alias Demertruis Moore, appeals the revocation of his community corrections sentence by the Hamilton County Criminal Court. He argues that the record does not contain sufficient evidence to support the revocation. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Hamilton | Court of Criminal Appeals |
