April 5, 2000 Volume 6 -- Number 051 What follows is the case style or name, first paragraph, author's name, and the names of attorneys for the parties of each opinion released eletronically today to TBALink. This Issue (IN THIS ORDER):   00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court Workers' Compensation Panel 00 New Document(s) or Proposed Rule(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court 01 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Appeals 02 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Attorney General (PDF format) 00 New Judicial Ethics Opinion(s) 00 New Formal Ethics Opinion(s) from the Board of Professional Responsibility   There are three ways for TBALink members to get the full-text versions of these opinions from the Web: Do a key word search in the Search Link area of TBALink. This option will allow you to view and save a plain-text version of the opinion. Browse the Opinion List area of TBALink. This option will allow you to download the original version of the opinion. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This option will allow you to download the original document. Lucian T. Pera Editor-in-Chief, TBALink LAURA HENDERSON VS. MEMBERS OF BENTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION Court:TCA Attorneys: James L. Harris, Nashville, Tennessee Attorney for Plaintiff/Appellant. John W. Whitworth, Camden, Tennessee Attorney for Defendant/Appellee Judge: FARMER First Paragraph: Defendant Laura Henderson became employed as a teacher by the Benton County School System in 1993. During all times relevant to this appeal, Ms. Henderson taught fifth through eighth grade students at Holladay School. In a letter dated June 23, 1998, Superintendent Jerry Dinwiddie suspended Ms. Henderson from her teaching duties pending the resolution of certain allegations of misconduct made against her. Additionally, Superintendent Dinwiddie notified Ms. Henderson that he was charging her with Òunprofessional conduct/conduct unbecoming a member of the teaching professionÓ and that he would be recommending to the Benton County Board of Education (ÒBoardÓ) that she be dismissed. A hearing on the matter was held before the Board on August 20, 1998, resulting in the BoardÕs termination of Ms. HendersonÕs employment. Ms. Henderson subsequently filed a ÒPetition for Writ of CertiorariÓ with the Benton County Chancery Court seeking judicial review of the BoardÕs ruling. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/Hendersonl.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE VS. JEREMY M. BATEY. Court:TCCA Attorneys: Michael J. Flanagan, Dale M. Quillen, Nashville, Tennessee and William H. Ortwein, Chattanooga, Tennessee for appellant, Jeremy M. Batey. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Lucian D. Geise, Assistant Attorney General, Victor S. Johnson, District Attorney General, and Paul DeWitt, Assistant District Attorney for appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: A Davidson County jury convicted the appellant, Jeremy M. Batey, of one count of reckless homicide, a Class D felony. The trial court sentenced the appellant as a Range I offender to three years incarceration in the local workhouse. On appeal the appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying him an alternative sentence solely on the basis that the crime involved a death. We hold that where the legislature has provided for alternative sentencing in certain homicide offenses, the denial of an alternative sentence solely on the basis of the victimÕs death is erroneous. However, in the instant case the circumstances of the offense, including illegal drug and alcohol use which contributed to the offense, and the appellantÕs history of alcohol and drug abuse, including the use of marijuana 2 _ years after the offense and approximately four months prior to his trial justify the denial of alternative sentencing. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/bateyjer.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE VS. DOLWIN DEON CORMIA, Court:TCCA Attorneys: Steven D. Brown (on appeal), Mark A. Little, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dolwin Deon Cormia Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Patricia C. Kussmann, Nashville, Tennessee, William H. Cox, III, District Attorney General, David Denny and Dean Ferraro, Assistant District Attorneys General, Chattanooga, Tennessee Judge: WITT First Paragraph: The defendant was convicted of the 1996 first degree murder of Welton Green, Jr., for which he received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and of abuse of a corpse, for which he received a concurrent two year sentence. In this Rule 3 appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, the use of lay witness opinion evidence, the use of evidence which he says contravenes Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b), and the trial courtÕs instructions to the jury on the elements of first degree murder. We affirm the trial courtÕs judgment. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/cormiadd.wpd PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! Feel free to forward this Opinion Flash on to anyone you know of with an e-mail address. GET A FULL-TEXT COPY OF AN OPINION! See the intrsuctions at the beginning of this edition of Opinion Flash. 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