Opinion Flash

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
04	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. KATHRYN LEE ADLER

Court:TCCA

Attorneys:

Anthony Helm, Bartlett, Tennessee (at trial and on appeal), and Mike
Roberts, Memphis, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, Kathryn Lee
Adler.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kim R. Helper,
Assistant Attorney General; Elizabeth T. Rice, District Attorney
General; and Colin A. Campbell, Assistant District Attorney General,
for the appellee, State of Tennessee.                           

Judge: RILEY

First Paragraph:

The Fayette County Grand Jury returned an indictment against the
defendant alleging one count of aggravated child neglect and a second
count of aggravated child abuse.  A jury convicted the defendant of
the indicted charge of aggravated child neglect and the
lesser-included offense of felony child abuse.  The trial court
sentenced the defendant to concurrent sentences of twenty years and
two years, respectively.  In this appeal, the defendant alleges (1)
the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction for aggravated
child neglect; (2) the applicable child abuse/neglect statutes are
unconstitutionally vague and overbroad; (3) the trial court erred by
refusing to charge reckless endangerment as a lesser-included offense
of aggravated child neglect; and (4) the defendant's sentence is
excessive.  After a thorough review of the record, we find no
reversible error and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/adlerkl.wpd

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. OTIS CAMPBELL

Court:TCCA

Attorneys:

C. Michael Robbins, Memphis, Tennessee (on appeal); George Morton
Googe, District Public Defender; and Vanessa D. King, Assistant
District Public Defender, Jackson, Tennessee (at trial and on appeal),
for the appellant, Otis Campbell.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kim R. Helper,
Assistant Attorney General; James G. Woodall, District Attorney
General; and Shaun A. Brown, Assistant District Attorney General, for
the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: GLENN

First Paragraph:

The defendant, Otis Campbell, was convicted of two misdemeanor counts
of a three-count indictment and sentenced to eleven months and
twenty-nine days for possession of cocaine and possession of
marijuana.  The trial court ordered that the sentences be served
consecutively to each other as well as to two other sentences for
which he had earlier been placed into the community corrections
program.  He timely appealed, presenting as his sole argument the
claim that the trial court erred in ordering that all of the sentences
be served consecutively.  We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/campbello.wpd

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. PAUL PAYNE, JR.

Court:TCCA

Attorneys:

Michael W. Whitaker, Covington, Tennessee, for the appellant, Paul
Payne, Jr.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Mark E. Davidson,
Assistant Attorney General; and Kim Linville, Assistant District
Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.                         

Judge: WADE

First Paragraph:

The defendant, Paul Payne, Jr., was convicted in a bench trial of
driving under the influence of an intoxicant.  The trial court imposed
a sentence of 11 months and 29 days and suspended all but 48 hours. 
The defendant was fined $350.00.  In this appeal of right, the
defendant complains that the stop of his vehicle was unlawful, that
the evidence at trial was insufficient, and that there was no
reasonable basis for the administration of the blood alcohol test. 
The judgment is affirmed.

http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/paynep.wpd

ERIC WALLACE v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Court:TCCA

Attorneys:   

C. Anne Tipton, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Eric Wallace.

Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer,
Assistant Attorney General; and Camille McMullen, Assistant District
Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: WADE

First Paragraph:

The petitioner, Eric Wallace, appeals the trial court's denial of his
petition for post-conviction relief.  The issues presented for review
are (1) whether the petitioner received effective assistance of
counsel; (2) whether the petitioner was denied the right to a speedy
trial; and (3) whether the state used improper impeachment evidence. 
Because the evidence does not preponderate against the findings of the
trial court, the order denying post-conviction relief is affirmed.

http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/wallacee.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.

JOIN TBALink!
While Opinion Flash is a free service of the Tennessee Bar Association, you must be a subscriber to TBALink, the premier Web site for Tennessee attorneys, in order to access the full-text of the opinions or enjoy many other features of TBALink. TBA members may join TBALink for just $50 per year. To join, go to: http://www.tba.org/join.html/

SUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH!
Would you like to receive the TBALink Opinion Flash free each day by e-mail? Anyone, whether a TBA member or not, is welcome to subscribe ... it's free!

For the Plain Text Version:
1) Send an e-mail message to: Opinion-Flash@tba.org
2) In the SUBJECT of the message type: SUBSCRIBE
3) Leave the body of the message blank

For the HTML Text Version:
1) Send an e-mail message to: Opinion-Flash@tba.org
2) In the SUBJECT of the message type: SUBSCRIBE HTML
3) Leave the body of the message blank

UNSUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH? ... SURELY NOT!

To STOP receiving TBALink Opinion-Flash:
1) Send an e-mail message to: Opinion-Flash@tba.org
2) In the SUBJECT of the message type: UNSUBSCRIBE
3) Leave the body of the message blank