June 29, 2001 Volume 7 — Number 119 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 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Appeals 06 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. Howard H. Vogel Knoxville, Tennessee Editor-in-Chief, TBALink STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WILLIAM GREER Court:TCCA Attorneys: Mark Stewart, Winchester, Tennessee, for the Appellant, William Greer. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael Moore, Solicitor General, Thomas E. Williams, III, Assistant Attorney General, C. Michael Layne, District Attorney General, and Kenneth J. Shelton, Jr. and Stephen E. Weitzman, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES First Paragraph: The Appellant, William Greer, was indicted on one count of theft of property under $500, one count of fraudulent use of a debit card, and one count of misdemeanor assault. Prior to trial, the assault charge was severed. A Coffee County jury found the Appellant guilty of one count of fraudulent use of a debit card, a class A misdemeanor. The Appellant was sentenced to ninety (90) days in the Coffee County jail. Greer appeals his conviction contending that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and (2) the unsolicited comments of the victim relating to the Appellant's severed charge of assault resulted in reversible error. After review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/greerwm.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. STEVE A. JACKSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender; Paula R. Voss, Assistant District Public Defender, Knoxville, Tennessee, for appellant, Steve A. Jackson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; R. Stephen Jobe, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; Steve Garrett, Patti Cristil, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: A Knox County jury convicted the defendant of aggravated burglary. For this offense the trial court sentenced him to twelve years as a Range III, persistent offender. Through the instant appeal the defendant challenges both the validity of his convictions and his sentence. More specifically, he alleges that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's verdict of guilty; that the trial court did not appropriately carry out its role as the thirteenth juror; that the copies of prior convictions used to enhance his sentence were not properly certified; and that one of these prior convictions from another state should not have been utilized in sentencing because the State failed to prove that the offense would have been a crime in Tennessee. After reviewing the record, we find that these claims lack merit and, therefore, affirm the lower court's actions. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jacksonsteve.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. AARON JAMES Court:TCCA Attorneys: Karl F. Dean, District Public Defender; Wendy S. Tucker (at trial) and Jeffrey A. DeVasher (on appeal), Assistant Public Defenders, for the Appellant, Aaron James. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael Moore, Solicitor General, Jennifer L. Smith, Assistant Attorney General, Victor S. (Torry) Johnson, III, District Attorney General, and Bret Thomas Gunn, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES First Paragraph: The Appellant, an inmate at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, was convicted by a jury of attempted felony escape, aggravated robbery and especially aggravated kidnapping stemming from a failed prison escape. The Appellant was incarcerated at the Riverbend facility as a result of his prior convictions for especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping and second degree murder. The Appellant challenges on appeal his convictions for aggravated robbery and especially aggravated kidnapping, arguing (1) sufficiency of the convicting evidence, (2) systematic removal of African-Americans from the petit jury in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, and (3) the prejudicial admission into evidence of the Appellant's prior convictions for especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, and second degree murder. The State argues that proof of the Appellant's prior convictions was an essential element of the felony escape charge and, therefore, admissible. After review, we find reversible error in the admission in the instant case of the Appellant's prior convictions for especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping and second degree murder. As such, the judgments of convictions are reversed and remanded for a new trial. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jamesaaron.wpd WITT CONCURRING http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jamesaaroncon.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANTONIO DWAYNE JOHNSON Court:TCCA First Paragraph: The Appellant, Antonio Dwayne Johnson, appeals, pro se, the sentencing decision of the Montgomery County Circuit Court revoking his Community Corrections sentence and ordering service of the sentence in the Department of Correction. On March 12, 1998, the Appellant entered an "open" guilty plea to the charge of aggravated robbery by use of a deadly weapon, a class B felony. The trial court subsequently ordered that the Appellant serve his eight year sentence in the Community Corrections program. On March 24, 1999, a violation warrant issued. On appeal, the Appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion in revoking the Appellant's non- incarcerative status and placing him in the custody of the Department of Correction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court pursuant to Rule 20, Tenn. Ct. Crim. App. R. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/johnsonadord.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TAKEITA M. LOCKE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Wade V. Davies (on appeal) and Gerald Lee Gulley, Jr. (at trial), Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Takeita M. Locke. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth B. Marney, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and G. Scott Green, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN First Paragraph: The defendant was convicted in the Knox County Criminal Court of especially aggravated robbery and felony murder. She timely appealed, arguing that the State had failed to show that statements she gave while a juvenile were admissible, that the trial court erred in not instructing as to lesser- included offenses or that the jury must find whether felony murder was a "natural and probable consequence" of especially aggravated robbery, and that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the convictions. Based upon our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/locke.wpd RONALD PAUL v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: William F. Kroeger, Springfield, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Ronald Paul. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael Moore, Solicitor General, Elizabeth T. Ryan, Assistant Attorney General, Dent Morriss, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES First Paragraph: The Appellant, Ronald Paul, appeals the dismissal of his pro se petition for post-conviction relief by the Robertson County Circuit Court. Paul, a correctional inmate, timely delivered his petition to the proper prison authorities; however, he inadvertently addressed the envelope containing his petition to the wrong city. The petition was returned to Paul, who, on the same day, corrected his mistake and re-delivered to prison authorities for mailing. These events occurred one day after the one year period for filing had expired. On appeal, Paul argues that the trial court erred in finding his post-conviction petition timed-barred. After review, we hold that Paul's petition was deemed "filed" for purposes of Supreme Court Rule 28 when it was first delivered to prison authorities and, as such, was timely. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/paulronald.wpd PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! 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