New Developments in Workers' Comp Law Discover all of the recent developments in workers' compensation law in Tennessee ÷ both in the courts and in the legislature ÷ in a new course developed by Virginia Mayo, editor of Tennessee Attorneys Memo and Tennessee Workers' Comp Reporter. http://www.tnbaru.com/coursecatalog.php    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Friday, November 04, 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 06 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals 01 - 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 STATE OF TENNESSEE ex rel. WENDY S. RUSHING v. CHRISTOPHER B. SPAIN Court: TCA Attorneys: Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter and Warren Jasper, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellant, State of Tennessee. Christopher B. Spain, Pro se. Judge: DAVID R. FARMER The trial court denied the Stateâs petition for child support and retroactive child support for Respondent/Fatherâs two minor children. We reverse. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/rushing.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CATHERINE MAY COOPER Court: TCCA Attorneys: Stephen M. Wallace, District Public Defender, and Richard A. Tate, Assistant Public Defender,for the appellant, Catherine May Cooper. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Brian C. Johnson, Assistant AttorneyGeneral; H. Greeley Wells, Jr., District Attorney General; and Kent L. Chitwood, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: JOSEPH M. TIPTON, The defendant, Catherine May Cooper, pled guilty to one count of attempt to obtain a controlledsubstance by altered prescription, a Class D felony, and one count of felony failure to appear, a Class E felony. The Sullivan County Criminal Court sentenced her to two years for the Class Dfelony and one year for the Class E felony to be served concurrently in the Department of Correction as a Range I, standard offender. The defendant appeals, contending that the trialcourt erred in denying her probation or alternative sentencing. We affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/coopercatherinemay.pdf WAYNE MICHAEL FULLER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Mark Stephens, District Public Defender; and John Halstead, Assistant District Public Defender,for the Appellant, Wayne Michael Fuller. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Kathy D. Aslinger, Assistant Attorney General;Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Leslie Nassios, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., The petitioner, Wayne Michael Fuller, appeals the Knox County Criminal Courtâs denial of post-conviction relief. His post-conviction petition attacked his 1998 guilty-pleaded convictions and sentence for seven counts of statutory rape and one count of contributing to the delinquency of aminor. The petitioner received maximum two-year sentences for each statutory rape conviction and 11 months, 29 days for the contributing to the delinquency of a minor conviction. The courtordered five of the statutory rape sentences to be served consecutively, resulting in an effective sentence of ten years. The post-conviction petition, amended on multiple occasions, allegedineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel and violations of Blakely v. Washington and of the petitionerâs right against self-incrimination. The post-conviction court denied relief, andwe affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/fullerwaynemichael.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WILLIAM A. HAWKINS Court: TCCA Attorneys: Stephen M. Wallace, Blountville, Tennessee, for the appellant, William A. Hawkins. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kathy D. Aslinger, Assistant AttorneyGeneral; H. Greeley Wells, Jr., District Attorney General; and Barry P. Staubus and William B. Harper, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: NORMA MCGEE OGLE The appellant, William A. Hawkins, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder, and hereceived a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, the trial courtâs evidentiary rulings, and the jury instructions. Following ourreview, we affirm the judgment of the trial court but remand for entry of a corrected judgment to reflect the correct date of the judgment. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/hawkinswilliam.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LISA DURBIN HOWARD Court: TCCA Attorneys: Robin Rubin Flores, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Lisa Durbin Howard. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David E. Coenen, Assistant Attorney General;Jerry N. Estes, District Attorney General; and John H. Bledsoe, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: NORMA MCGEE OGLE A Bradley County Criminal Court jury convicted the appellant, Lisa Durbin Howard, of firstdegree premeditated murder, and the trial court sentenced her to life imprisonment. The appellant appeals her conviction, claiming (1) that the trial courtâs comments to the jury duringdeliberations amounted to an improper ãdynamiteä or Allen charge; (2) that the trial court erred by excluding a defense expertâs testimony; (3) that the State impermissibly excluded the onlyAfrican-American from the jury pool; (4) that juror misconduct denied her the right to a fair and impartial jury; (5) that the State failed to preserve the audiotaped recording of the preliminaryhearing as required by Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 5.1(a); and (6) that the trial court erred by not conducting a proper jury poll. We conclude that the appellant has waived theseissues because she failed to file a timely motion for new trial. Moreover, we discern no plain error and affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/howardlisadurbin.pdf STACY ALLEN MELTON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Greg W. Eichelman, District Public Defender; and Deanna M. Snyder, Assistant PublicDefender, for the appellant, Stacy Allen Melton. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David E. Coenen, Assistant Attorney General;C. Berkeley Bell, Jr., District Attorney General; and Cecil Clayton Mills, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: JOSEPH M. TIPTON The petitioner, Stacy Allen Melton, appeals from the Greene County Criminal Courtâs dismissalof his petition for post-conviction relief from his guilty plea to especially aggravated kidnapping, a Class A felony, and attempted second degree murder, a Class B felony. He contends that hisguilty plea was involuntary and that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/meltonstacyallen.pdf ALAN E. MONDAY v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: J. Liddell Kirk, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Alan E. Monday. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Brent C. Cherry, Assistant Attorney General;Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Philip H. Morton, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: JOSEPH M. TIPTON The petitioner, Alan E. Monday, appeals from the Knox County Criminal Courtâs dismissal ofhis petition for post-conviction relief from his conviction for reckless homicide, a Class D felony. He contends that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorneyadvised him not to testify and failed to call a favorable witness. We affirm the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/mondayalane.pdf Direct Appropriation Grant to Corporation for which Legislator is President TN Attorney General Opinions Date: 0000-00-00 Opinion Number: 05-169 http://www.tba.org/tba_files/AG/2005/OP169.pdf   PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! Feel free to forward this Opinion Flash on to anyone you know of with an e-mail address. 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