Opinion FlashOctober 4, 2002Volume 8 — Number 175 Following this index are summaries of each case, including its name, first paragraph, author's name, and the names of attorneys for the parties of each opinion. This Issue (IN THIS ORDER):
TBA members can get the full-text versions of these opinions three ways detailed below. All methods require a TBA username and password. If you have forgotten your password, you can look it up on-line at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi . If you are a TBA member, but do not have a username and password, you can receive one online at http://www.tba.org/signup.mgi. Here's how you can obtain full-text version. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This option will allow you to download the original document. Howard H. Vogel STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAMON L. BAUGH Court:TCCA Attorneys: F. Shayne Brasfield, Franklin, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Damon L. Baugh. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kim R. Helper, Assistant Attorney General; Ronald L. Davis, District Attorney General; and Derek K. Smith, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WEDEMEYER First Paragraph: The Williamson County Grand Jury indicted the Defendant for one count of possession of more than 0.5 grams of cocaine for resale, a Class B felony, and for one count of simple possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor. The Defendant filed a motion to suppress the cocaine and marijuana obtained during his arrest, alleging that the search of his car was unconstitutional. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. A Williamson County jury convicted the Defendant of the charged offenses. The Defendant now appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the cocaine and marijuana obtained pursuant to his arrest. Concluding that the search of the Defendant's car was constitutional, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/baughdl.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WANDA HINSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Jerry Scott and John L. Kea, Murfreesboro, Tennessee for the appellant, Wanda Hinson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; Ron Davis, District Attorney General; and Jeffrey L. Long, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: A Lewis County jury convicted the defendant, Wanda Hinson, of criminally negligent homicide, for which she received a one and a half year sentence, and especially aggravated burglary, for which she received a twenty-two year sentence. The trial court ordered the defendant to serve these sentences concurrently. The defendant now appeals her convictions, alleging (1) that the trial court erred by admitting a hearsay statement, (2) that the trial court erred by failing to grant a mistrial when the state improperly impeached the defendant's only alibi witness, (3) that the evidence is insufficient to support her convictions, and (4) that the trial court erred by failing to grant the defendant a new trial based on the state's failure to provide certain exculpatory evidence. For the reasons outlined below, we find that none of these allegations merit relief and accordingly affirm the decision of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/hinsonw_opn.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WANDA HINSON Court:TCCA WELLES DISSENTING http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/hinsonw_dis.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ALAN PARRIGAN Court:TCCA Attorneys: C. Michael Robbins, Memphis, Tennessee, on appeal and Beverly White, Assistant Public Defender, Pulaski, Tennessee, at trial and on appeal, for appellant, Alan Parrigan. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Elizabeth B. Marney, Assistant Attorney General; Mike Bottoms, District Attorney General; and J. Douglas Dicus, Assistant District Attorney General, for appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: The appellant, Alan Parrigan, was convicted of the offense of aggravated sexual battery. He received a sentence of ten years incarceration to be served consecutively to a sentence he was serving at the time of the commission of the instant offense. On appeal he raises three errors for our consideration. First, the appellant maintains that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of child abuse and neglect. Second, he alleges that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict. Finally, the appellant contends consecutive sentencing is unwarranted in his case. After a thorough review of the record, we find that although the failure to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offenses of child abuse and neglect was error, the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition, we find that the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict and that consecutive sentencing is fully supported by the record. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/parriganalan.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ERWIN SCOTT PATTERSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Ardena J. Garth, Public Defender (on appeal), Donna Robinson, Assistant Public Defender (on appeal), and Myrlene Marsa and Christian J. Coder, Assistant Public Defenders (at trial), for the appellant, Erwin Scott Patterson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Kathy D. Aslinger, Assistant Attorney General; and Thomas E. Kimball, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WADE First Paragraph: The defendant, Erwin Scott Patterson, entered pleas of guilt to three counts of vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, and violation of the driver's license law. A charge of driving under the influence of an intoxicant was dismissed. The trial court imposed a sentence of four years for one count of vehicular assault, two years for the remaining vehicular assault convictions, two years for reckless endangerment, and 30 days for violation of the driver's license law. An application for alternative sentencing was denied. In this appeal, the defendant contends that the four-year sentence for vehicular assault was excessive and that the trial court erred by denying an alternative sentence. The judgments are affirmed as modified. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/pattersones.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MARTHIAS S. PHILLIPS and LANARD KEITH ARMSTRONG Court:TCCA Attorneys: Sam E. Wallace, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee for appellant, Marthias S. Phillips, and Dianne Turner, Nashville, Tennessee for appellant, Lanard Keith Armstrong. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, District Attorney General; Bret Gunn and Katrin Miller, Assistant District Attorneys General, for appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: A Davidson County jury found the defendants, Marthias S. Phillips and Lanard Keith Armstrong, guilty of facilitation of first-degree murder, criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated kidnapping, and criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated robbery. The trial court sentenced both defendants to serve 4-year sentences for their criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated kidnapping convictions, 4-year sentences for their criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated robbery convictions, and 20-year sentences for their facilitation of first-degree murder convictions. The trial court sentenced both defendants as Range I offenders and ordered them to serve their 4-year sentences for criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated kidnapping concurrently to their 20-year sentences for facilitation of first-degree murder. The court then ordered them to serve their 4-year sentences for criminal attempt to facilitate especially aggravated robbery consecutively to their concurrent 20-year sentences, resulting in an effective sentence of 24 years. The defendants now bring the instant appeal. Defendant Armstrong and Defendant Phillips both challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, the propriety of the trial court's jury instructions, and the effectiveness of their trial counsel. Defendant Armstrong additionally challenges the propriety of his sentence. After thoroughly reviewing the record and applicable law, we find that none of these allegations merit relief. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/phillipsarmstrong.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHRISTOPHER ROBERT SMITH Court:TCCA Attorneys: Jay Norman, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Christopher Robert Smith. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Thomas E. Williams, III, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and John Zimmerman and Tammy Meade, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: MCGEE OGLE First Paragraph: The appellant, Christopher Robert Smith, was convicted in the Criminal Court of Davidson County of conspiracy to possess with the intent to manufacture, deliver or sell 300 grams or more of any substance containing cocaine, a Class A felony. The trial court sentenced the appellant to twenty- four years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction and imposed a fifty thousand dollar ($50,000) fine. On appeal, the appellant complains that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that his sentence was excessive. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/smithcr.wpd TERRY W. SMITH v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Wade Bobo, Ashland City, Tennessee, for the appellant, Terry W. Smith. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General; Dan Mitchum Alsobrooks, District Attorney General; and Robert S. Wilson, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: RILEY First Paragraph: This is an appeal from the denial of post-conviction relief concerning petitioner's conviction for aggravated kidnapping. The sole issue in this appeal is whether the petitioner was deprived of effective assistance of counsel when trial counsel, during the trial of the case, "opened the door" to the state's introduction of evidence of defendant's prior arrests. We agree with the post-conviction court's finding that petitioner failed to establish prejudice; thus, we affirm the judgment of the post- conviction court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/smithtw.wpd ROBERT SPOONER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: William L. Eledge, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Robert Spooner. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General; and J. Douglas Dicus, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WITT First Paragraph: Robert Spooner appeals from the Wayne County Circuit Court's denial of his petition for the writ of habeas corpus. The petition was filed in an effort to avoid Spooner's extradition to the state of Alabama, where he is charged with having violated his probation on a conviction of receiving stolen property. Because the lower court properly denied the petition, we affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/spoonerrobert.wpd CHARLES WILLIAM YOUNG v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: William J. Eledge, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, for the appellant, Charles William Young. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General; Mike McCown, District Attorney General; and Weakley E. Barnard, Assistant District Attorney General for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: The appellant, Charles WilliamYoung, was convicted in a jury trial of the offense of theft over $500. He was sentenced to one year and six months and ordered to serve 60 days of incarceration, to pay a $500 fine and restitution of $800. The appellant's probation was revoked for the first time in 1997, but he was again placed on probation for 18 months. Two years later his probation was again revoked and the appellant was ordered to serve his original sentence with 94 days of jail credit. He subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, or in the alternative, a writ of habeas corpus and alleged inter alia that a number of alleged constitutional errors occurred at both probation revocation hearings. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition. We hold that the Post-Conviction Procedures Act, Tennessee Code Annotated Section 40-30- 201, et seq., does not provide a cause of action for a collateral attack on a probation revocation proceeding. Moreover, the appellant's allegations, taken as true, would at most render the results of the probation revocation proceedings voidable, not void, and therefore the writ of habeas corpus is not available to the appellant. The judgment of the trial court is therefore affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/youngcharles.wpd PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! GET A FULL-TEXT COPY OF AN OPINION! JOIN THE TENNESSEE BAR ASSOCIATION! SUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH! UNSUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH? ... SURELY NOT! But if you must, visit the TBALink web site at: http://www.tba.org/op-flash.mgi Home • Contact Us • PageFinder • What's New • Help |
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