Opinion FlashOctober 26, 2004Volume 10 — Number 206 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 ANTONIO M. BATTS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Antonio M. Batts, pro se, Clifton, Tennessee. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Thomas E. Williams, III, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: This matter is before the Court upon the State's motion to affirm the judgment of the trial court by memorandum opinion pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The appellant has appealed the trial court's order summarily dismissing the appellant's petition for the writ of habeas corpus. In that petition the appellant alleges that the indictment which forms the basis of his conviction for aggravated robbery is void because it fails to allege sufficient facts to vest jurisdiction in the convicting court. Upon a review of the record in this case we are persuaded that the trial court was correct in summarily dismissing the habeas corpus petition and that this case meets the criteria for affirmance pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/battsantonio.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TALLIS S. BONDS Court:TCCA Attorneys: Charles E. Walker, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Tallis S. Bonds. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Richard H. Dunavant, Assistant Attorney General; Derek Keith Smith, District Attorney General Pro Tem; and Mary Katharine White, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: OGLE First Paragraph: The appellant, Tallis S. Bonds, pled guilty in the Williamson County Circuit Court to driving on a suspended license, second offense. Following a hearing, the trial court imposed a five hundred dollar ($500) fine and sentenced the appellant to ten months confinement in the county jail to be served at seventy-five percent (75%). On appeal, the appellant argues that the trial court erred by denying probation and by failing to consider as mitigating that the appellant's conduct neither caused nor threatened serious bodily injury. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/bondstalliss.wpd PETE WAYNE DUNCAN v. STATE OF TENNESSEE PAROLE BOARD Court:TCCA Attorneys: Pete Duncan, pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Rachel E. Willis, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WILLIAMS First Paragraph: This matter is before the Court upon the State's motion to affirm the judgment of the trial court by opinion pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Petitioner is appealing the trial court's denial of habeas corpus relief. A review of the record reveals that the Petitioner is not entitled to habeas corpus relief. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/duncanpetew.wpd JEREMY WAYNE HUMPHREY v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Jeremy Wayne Humphrey, pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Elizabeth Ryan, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES First Paragraph: The Petitioner, Jeremy Wayne Humphrey, appeals the trial court's dismissal of his petition for post conviction relief or in the alternative for habeas corpus relief. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Petitioner filed his petition outside the statute of limitations for post-conviction purposes. Further, the petitioner does not state any cognizable habeas corpus claims. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/humphreyjeremyw.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ERIC TODD JACKSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Gregory D. Smith, Clarksville, Tennessee (on appeal) and Ken Goble, Clarksville, Tennessee (at trial) for the appellant, Eric Todd Jackson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer, Assistant Attorney General; John Wesley Carney, Jr., District Attorney General; and Lance A. Baker, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WOODALL First Paragraph: Petitioner has appealed from the trial court's dismissal of his petition requesting coram nobis and habeas corpus relief. The State has filed a motion pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, for this Court to affirm the judgment of the trial court by memorandum opinion. We grant the motion and affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jacksonerictodd.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LOUIS CLYDE JACKSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender, and Mary Ellen Coleman, Assistant Public Defender (on appeal); and Stanley R. Barnett, Knoxville, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, Louis Clyde Jackson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; John H. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Patricia A. Cristil, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: TIPTON First Paragraph: The petitioner, Louis Clyde Jackson, appeals the trial court's denial of his Motion to Correct and/or Amend Judgment in which he asked the trial court to apply pretrial jail credit to his sentences. We hold that this case is not properly before us because no appeal as of right exists from the trial court's dismissal of the motion, and we dismiss the appeal. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jacksonlouisclyde.wpd MARSHALL D. JOHNSON v. KEVIN MYERS, WARDEN Court:TCCA Attorneys: Marshall D. Johnson, Appellant, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Helena Walton Yarbrough, Assistant Attorney General; T, Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General; and Christine M. Lapps, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WITT First Paragraph: Marshall D. Johnson appeals from the Wayne County Circuit Court's denial of his petition for the writ of habeas corpus, in which he alleges that he is being illegally restrained because the indictment which forms the basis of his three convictions of aggravated robbery is void, and thereby, the convicting court was without subject matter jurisdiction to impose convictions for the offenses. Because we, like the lower court, disagree, we affirm the lower court's dismissal of the petition. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/johnsonmarshalld.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ERIC MATTHEWS Court:TCCA Attorneys: Brett B. Stein, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Eric Matthews. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Paul Hagerman and Michael McCusker, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN First Paragraph: The defendant, Eric Matthews, was charged by the Shelby County Grand Jury in two separate indictments with especially aggravated kidnapping, a Class A felony, aggravated kidnapping, a Class B felony, and two counts of aggravated rape, a Class B felony, based on events involving the victim, V.T., that occurred on August 14, 1999, in the Whitehaven area of Memphis. Following his 2003 trial, he was acquitted of the rape counts and convicted in both the especially aggravated and aggravated kidnapping counts of the lesser-included charge of kidnapping, a Class C felony. Applying four enhancement and no mitigating factors, the trial court sentenced the defendant as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent terms of five years in the county workhouse. In a timely appeal to this court, the defendant challenges both the sufficiency of the evidence and the sentencing imposed. Based on our review of the record and applicable law, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the convictions but that the trial court erred by failing to merge the kidnapping convictions into a single judgment of conviction. We further conclude that three of the four enhancement factors were applied in error under the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. ___, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004), which was released after the sentencing was imposed in this case. Accordingly, we affirm the convictions, but order that they be merged into a single conviction and modify the sentence imposed from five to four years, to be served in the county workhouse. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/mattheric.wpd CHARLES MULLINS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Charles Mullins, Pro Se, Clifton, Tennessee. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael Moore, Solicitor General; Rachel E. Willis, Assistant Attorney General; Mike Bottoms, District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES First Paragraph: The Appellant, Charles Mullins, proceeding pro se, appeals the Maury County Circuit Court's summary dismissal of his motion to correct an illegal sentence. On appeal, Mullins argues that his effective thirty-two-year sentence for two counts of aggravated sexual battery is illegal because (1) the judgment forms provide for an improper release eligibility date and (2) the trial court failed to award pretrial jail credits on the judgment forms. Finding merit to the Appellant's contentions, we remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/mullinscharles.wpd WILLIAM H. STITTS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: William Herbert Stitts, pro se, Clifton, Tennessee. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Elizabeth Bingham Marney, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: This matter is before the Court upon the State's motion to affirm the judgment of the trial court by memorandum opinion pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The appellant has appealed the trial court's order summarily dismissing the appellant's petition for the writ of habeas corpus. In that petition the appellant alleges that the indictment which forms the basis of his conviction for especially aggravated robbery is void because it fails to allege sufficient facts to vest jurisdiction in the convicting court. Upon a review of the record in this case we are persuaded that the trial court was correct in summarily dismissing the habeas corpus petition and that this case meets the criteria for affirmance pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/stittswilliam.wpd KENNETH B. WHITE, PRO SE v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Kenneth B. White, pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Helena Walton Yarbrough, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WEDEMEYER First Paragraph: The Petitioner, Kenneth B. White, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. After a review of the record, this court determines that petitioner's claims must fail. Petitioner has failed to present any evidence that his sentence has expired or that his conviction for vehicular homicide by intoxication is void. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/whitekenneth.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. STEVE A. WHITE Court:TCCA Attorneys: James S. Haywood, Jr., Brownsville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Steve A. White. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael Markham, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and James Lammey, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. Judge: WOODALL First Paragraph: Defendant, Steve A. White, appeals the trial court's order amending Defendant's judgment to grant restitution to the victim in his case. Because the trial court did not have jurisdiction to amend Defendant's judgment, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for reinstatement of the judgment of conviction as originally entered. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/whitestevea.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHARLES WILLIAMS Court:TCCA Attorneys: Gene G. Scott, Jr., Johnson City, Tennessee, for the appellant, Charles Williams. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Helena W. Yarborough, Assistant Attorney General; Greeley Wells, District Attorney General; and James F. Goodwin, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH First Paragraph: The appellant, Charles Williams, was convicted by a jury for possession of over .5 grams of cocaine with intent to sell and conspiracy to possess over .5 grams of cocaine with intent to sell. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the appellant as a Range II Offender to eighteen years on the possession with intent to sell conviction and eight years on the conspiracy conviction, to be served concurrently for an effective sentence of eighteen years. The appellant was also fined a total of $20,000 for the two convictions. After the denial of a motion for new trial, the appellant presents the following issues on appeal: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the jury verdict; and (2) whether the convictions for both possession of cocaine and conspiracy to possess cocaine violate the appellant's due process rights per State v. Anthony, 817 S.W.2d 299 (Tenn. 1991). Because the evidence is sufficient to support the jury verdict and we have determined that the appellant's due process rights were not violated, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/williamscharles.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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