Matthew Moates v. State of Tennessee

The petitioner, Matthew L. Moates, appeals the Monroe County Criminal Court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his conviction for aggravated robbery and resulting sixteen-year sentence. He claims (1) that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to call witnesses to testify at trial about the length of his hair at the time of the robbery, (2) that the state improperly struck an African-American juror from the jury, (3) that he is entitled to a new trial because he was not present during a conference in which the state and his trial attorney discussed the African-American juror's dismissal, and (4) that a state witness improperly communicated with a juror during his trial. We affirm the trial court's denial of the petition.