Dial in to great CLE seminars The TennBarU Teleseminar series offers you the chance to hear leading national experts discuss timely topics from the convenience of your office or home. All TennBarU Teleseminars are broadcast via telephone at noon central time. http://www.tba.org/TennBarU    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 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. 00 - TN Supreme Court 00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 01 - TN Court of Appeals 05 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals 02 - TN Attorney General Opinions 00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions 00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR 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 or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on-line at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi Here's how you can obtain full-text version. We recommend you download the Opinions to your computer and then open them from there. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This should give you the option to download the original document. If not, you may need to right-click on the URL to get the option to save the file to your computer. 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. Howard H. Vogel Knoxville, Tennessee Editor-in-Chief, TBALink RODNEY WILSON, ET AL. v. GERALD W. PICKENS Court: TCA Attorneys: Sam F. Cole, Jr., Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Gerald W. Pickens. Mimi Phillips and R. H. Chockley, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellees, Rodney Wilson andRobbie Wilson. Judge: FARMER The trial court determined Plaintiffs had standing to bring this malpractice action against theirattorney and that they properly filed the action within the statute of limitations under the discovery rule. The trial court apportioned fault between Plaintiffs, Defendant, and nonpartyShelby County. The court awarded Plaintiffs damages for costs incurred, but did not award damages for lost property value. We affirm the trial courtâs determination that Plaintiffs hadstanding and brought their action within the limitations period. We reverse the trial courtâs finding regarding causation, and hold Plaintiffs were at least 50% at fault in this case. Judgmentfor Plaintiffs is reversed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/wilsonr101805.pdf ERNEST ANDERSON v. DAVID MILLS, WARDEN Court: TCCA Attorneys: Ernest Anderson, pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Brian Clay Johnson, Assistant AttorneyGeneral, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: MCLIN This matter is before the Court upon the Stateâs motion to affirm the judgment of the trial courtby 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 thePetitioner 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/2005/andersone101805.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LONNIE M. MACLIN Court: TCCA Attorneys: Claiborne H. Ferguson, Memphis, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Lonnie M. Maclin. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Seth P. Kestner, Assistant Attorney General;William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Tim Hoover and Michelle Parks, Assistant District Attorney Generals, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES The Appellant, Lonnie M. Maclin, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of first degree felonymurder, attempted aggravated robbery, misdemeanor reckless endangerment, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, reckless aggravated assault, and two counts ofaggravated assault. As a result of these convictions, Maclin received an effective sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, Maclin raises three issues for our review: (1) whether the indictmentwas invalid for failure to provide ãadequate notice of the offenses charged in the indictment, or the court erred in the instruction to the juryä; (2) whether the evidence is sufficient to support hisconviction for felony murder; and (3) whether his conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping violates State v. Anthony, 817 S.W.2d 299 (Tenn. 1991). After review of the record,we affirm the judgments of conviction. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/maclinl101805.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JEROME MAYO Court: TCCA Attorneys: Russell Church (at trial) and Roger E. Nell (on appeal), Assistant Public Defenders, Clarksville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jerome Mayo. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Assistant Attorney General; John Carney, District Attorney General; and Dan Brollier, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES This is an appeal as of right from a conviction on a jury verdict of aggravated robbery, and an appeal by the State from the sentencing decision. The Defendant originally received an enhanced sentence of eighteen years as a Range II, multiple offender, but his sentence was subsequently reduced to fifteen years by the trial court based upon Blakely v. Washington, 124 S.Ct. 2531 (2004). On appeal, the Defendant argues there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction for aggravated robbery. The State appeals the modified sentence, arguing the trial court erred in reducing the Defendantâs sentence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court as to the conviction, but remand for resentencing in accordance with this opinion. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/mayoj101805.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LONNIE LEE OWENS Court: TCCA Attorneys: Robert T. Carter and Roger J. Bean, Tullahoma, Tennessee, for the appellant, Lonnie Lee Owens. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Brian C. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General; J. Michael Taylor, District Attorney General; and Steve Blount, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES The Defendant, Lonnie Lee Owens, was convicted by a jury of second degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and theft over $10,000. The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range I, standard offender to twenty-five years for the murder, one year for the abuse of a corpse, and four years for the theft. The trial court ordered these sentences to be served consecutively in the Department of Correction for an effective term of thirty years. In this direct appeal, the Defendant challenges the length of his sentence for the murder and also challenges the trial courtâs order that his sentences be served consecutively. We reduce the Defendantâs sentence for the second degree murder conviction to twenty-four years. We further reverse the trial courtâs imposition of consecutive sentences. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/owensl101805.pdf NICHOLAS SANDERS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Nicholas Sanders, pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Elizabeth Bingham Marney, Assistant AttorneyGeneral, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN The Petitioner, Nicholas Sanders, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for habeas corpusrelief. 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 has failed toallege any ground that would render the judgment of conviction void. Accordingly, we grant the Stateâs motion and affirm the judgment of the lower court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/sandersn101805.pdf Legality of Texas HoldâEm Poker Tournaments with Jackpot Prize TN Attorney General Opinions Date: 2005-10-14 Opinion Number: 05-159 http://www.tba.org/tba_files/AG/2005/op159.pdf Waiver of Jury Setting Fines in a Criminal Trial TN Attorney General Opinions Date: 2005-10-17 Opinion Number: 05-160 http://www.tba.org/tba_files/AG/2005/op160.pdf   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 instructions at the beginning of this edition of Opinion Flash. JOIN THE TENNESSEE BAR ASSOCIATION! While Opinion Flash is a free service of the Tennessee Bar Association, you must be a member of the Tennessee Bar Association in order to access the full text of the opinions or enjoy the many other features of TBALink. To join the TBA go to: http://www.tba.org/join_bar.mgi 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! Sign up for text or HTML version. Visit the TBALink web site at: http://www.tba.org/op-flash.mgi UNSUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH? ... SURELY NOT! But if you must, visit the TBALink web site at: http://www.tba.org/op-flash.mgi TBALink Home • Contact Us • PageFinder • What's New • Help © Copyright 2005 Tennessee Bar Association