 |
| Monday, September 12, 2011 |
|
| |
| |
Court of Judiciary showdown set for Sept. 20-21
A fight over who runs the judicial branch of state government
will come to a head Sept. 20 and 21 during legislative hearings on the Court of the Judiciary. Appointed by Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell, the joint committee holding the hearings "is stacked with outspoken judicial branch critics," the City Paper writes.
Judges say their foes are trying to intimidate the judicial branch to produce more conservative rulings on social issues, while
social conservatives want "to grab the power" to appoint the majority of the commission's members and put it in the hands of allies in the Republican-run legislature.
Read the story in The City Paper
|
TODAY'S OPINIONS
Click on the category of your choice to view summaries of today’s opinions from that court, or other body. A link at the end of each case summary will let you download the full opinion in PDF format. To search all opinions in the TBALink database or to obtain a text version of each opinion, go to our OpinionSearch page. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on TBALink at the TBA's Membership Central.
01 - TN Supreme Court
00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
00 - TN Court of Appeals
03 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
00 - TN Attorney General Opinions
00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions
00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR
00 - TN Supreme Court - Disciplinary Orders
You can obtain full-text versions of the opinions two ways. We recommend that you download the Opinions to your computer and then
open them from there. 1) 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. 2) 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SUPREME COURT DISCRETIONARY APPEALS Grants & Denials List
Court: TSC
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC/2011/certlist_091211.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DEQUON LETRAY BOYD and JEMAROW DEVERIUS TILLISON
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Mike A. Little, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dequon Letray Boyd; and Daniel J. Ripper, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jemarow Deverius Tillison.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; William H. Cox, III, District Attorney General, Boyd Patterson, Assistant District
Attorney General; and Steven E. Smith, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.
Judge: WOODALL
Defendants Jemarow Deverius Tillison and Dequon Letray Boyd were originally indicted separately by the Hamilton County Grand Jury for offenses that occurred in the same
shooting incident against the same victims. Upon motion of the State and by agreement between the parties, the indictments were consolidated, and a superceding indictment charged both defendants with attempted first degree premeditated murder of Darlisa Wynn; first degree premeditated murder of Casey Woods; felony murder of Casey Woods; especially aggravated robbery of Darlisa Wynn; aggravated assault of Darlisa Wynn; reckless endangerment; and especially aggravated burglary of the home of Kysha Henderson. Following a jury trial, Defendant Boyd was convicted of attempted first degree premeditated murder; first degree premeditated murder; felony murder; two counts of aggravated assault, one as charged and the other as a lesser-included offense of especially aggravated robbery;
reckless endangerment; and aggravated criminal trespass as a lesser-included offense of especially aggravated burglary. Defendant Boyd's felony murder conviction was merged
with his conviction for first degree murder, and both aggravated assault convictions were merged with his conviction for attempted first degree murder. He received an effective sentence of life imprisonment. Defendant Tillison was convicted of facilitation of attempted first degree premeditated murder; facilitation of first degree premeditated murder; facilitation of felony murder; aggravated assault of Darlisa Wynn; attempted aggravated assault, a lesser included offense of aggravated assault; reckless endangerment; and aggravated criminal trespass, a lesser-included offense of especially aggravated burglary. He was sentenced to an effective sentence of 25 years imprisonment. On appeal, both Defendants challenge the
sufficiency of the convicting evidence. Defendant Boyd also raises the following additional issues: 1) whether the trial court erred by not granting a mistrial following testimony that he was a gang member; and 2) whether the prosecutor's statement during closing argument that the jury had a duty to the community to convict constitutes misconduct. After a careful review of the record before us, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/boydd_091211.pdf
TERRANCE CECIL v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Larry Samuel Patterson, Jr, Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Terrance Cecil.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Matthew Bryant Haskell, Assistant Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General, and Brent Cooper, Assistant District Attorney General or the appellee, the State of Tennessee.
Judge: WOODALL
Petitioner, Terrance Cecil, was found guilty by a Maury County jury of possessing twenty-six grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell, a Class B felony, and was sentenced to serve ten
years in the Department of Correction as a Range I standard offender. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed the judgment. See State v. Terrance Cecil, No. M2004-00161-CCA-R3-CD,
2004 WL 3044896 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 30, 2004) app. denied (Tenn. May 23, 2005). Petitioner timely filed a petition for post-conviction relief. The post-conviction court granted
relief to the extent of setting aside the sentence and granting a new sentencing hearing. The State has not appealed from that order. Petitioner has appealed from the post-conviction
court's denial of the relief requested by Petitioner to set aside his conviction. After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that Petitioner failed to prove that he suffered
any prejudice from any alleged deficiencies by his counsel. Since the prejudice prong was not proven, we need not address the alleged deficiencies of counsel. Accordingly, the
judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/cecilt_091211.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. KENNETH McINTYRE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
F. Michie Gibson, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee for the Defendant-Appellant, Kenneth McIntyre.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Nicholas W. Spangler, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. (Torry) Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Kyle
Anderson, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCMULLEN
The Defendant-Appellant, Kenneth McIntyre, pled guilty to a violation of the habitual motor vehicle offender (HMVO) order, a class E felony, and passing worthless checks under the
value of $500, a class A misdemeanor. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the Defendant-Appellant agreed to be sentenced as a career offender with the time and manner
of the sentence to be determined by the trial court. The Defendant-Appellant received a six-year term of imprisonment for the HMVO conviction, and eleven months and twenty-nine days imprisonment for the worthless check conviction. The trial court ordered these sentences to be served concurrently. In this appeal, the Defendant-Appellant argues the trial court erred in imposing sentence. Because the Defendant-Appellant filed his notice of appeal more than five months after the judgment became final, we dismiss this appeal.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/mcintyrek_091211.pdf
|
|
 |
|
| TODAY'S NEWS |
|
Legal News
General Assembly News
TBA Member Services
|
| Legal News |
| Haynes to retire from bench |
| Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Barbara Haynes announced her retirement today after serving on the bench for 29 years. Her retirement will take effect on Nov. 15.
Haynes began her judicial career in 1982 as a Davidson County General Sessions Court judge. In 1990, Haynes was elected circuit court judge in the 20th Judicial District, which serves Davidson County.
|
Learn more from the AOC
|
| ABA commission: Amend ethics rules relating to law practice globalization |
| The American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20, in its release of initial proposals for comment, is recommending amendments to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other association policies to take into account the proliferation of new technologies, including cross-border practice issues, lawyer mobility and differences in lawyer rules across jurisdictions. |
Get the details from the ABA
|
| Apply for Court of Criminal Appeals seat by Oct. 7 |
| The Judicial Nominating Commission is now accepting applications for the vacancy on the Court of Criminal Appeals created by the death of Judge J.C. McLin.
Interested applicants must be licensed attorneys who are at least 30, a resident of the state for the past five years and a resident of the western grand division of the state. Deadline to apply is noon CDT, Oct. 7. |
Get more information and an application
|
| Editorial: Voters must be educated on new ID law |
| In an editorial, the News Sentinel applauds the state Election Commission for its efforts to educate the public about the upcoming new voter photo ID law. The paper says challenges to the law, and ones like it in other states, are likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but
until such a ruling, voters need to be educated about the provisions of the law. |
Read the editorial in the News Sentinel
|
| Ohio looks into the fairness of death penalty |
| Ohio's top court and state bar association will form a joint task force to review the administration of the state's death penalty, the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court said last week.
The task force will not, however, address whether Ohio should or should not have a death penalty, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said in a recent speech.
The task force is intended to "ensure that Ohio's death penalty is administered in the most fair, efficient, and judicious manner possible," O'Connor said in her address. |
WREG carried this Reuters story
|
| Moreland backs drug courts |
| With the possibility that Davidson County Drug Court's founder and presiding judge, Seth Norman, may retire, General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland says he will do all he can to make sure the county's two drug courts are sustainable.
"I would fight for them to continue to exist. It's so valuable," Moreland, who has run the misdemeanor drug court for eight years, says. |
The Tennessean has the story
|
| Dogs remove too much stress, PD argues |
| Dogs have been used to comfort children testifying or being interviewed in court cases for about 20 years, but recently
a New York lawyer became the first in the nation to appeal his client's conviction of raping and impregnating a 15-year-old girl because a dog was used to comfort her during her testimony at trial.
Stephen Levine, the lawyer who filed the appeal, said that the use of the dogs can affect testimony.
"The stress witnesses feel when they have to testify at trial tends to undo falsehoods," said Levine, a public defender in Poughkeepsie, New York. "Removing the stress deprives the defendant of a fair trial." |
WREG carried this Reuters story
|
| Editorial: Commissioner is social justice advocate |
| In an editorial, the Commercial Appeal says the Shelby County Commission and community "will lose a tireless advocate of social justice for victims and children" when
Mike Carpenter
leaves the commission later this year. |
Read it in the Commercial Appeal
|
| Study of jailhouse phone calls suprises researchers |
| New research into telephone conversations between men charged with felony domestic violence and their victims may change the way
victim advocates and prosecutors work with domestic violence victims to prosecute abusers, according to researchers. It turns out, the men are not threatening their victims, as was assumed, but are using trickier methods of coercion. |
The Cannon Courier has more
|
| General Assembly News |
| Rebble Johnson appointed to commission |
| Cleveland attorney Rebble Johnson was appointed to the Post-Conviction Defender Oversight Commission recently by Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell.
The three-year appointment is effective immediately under new legislation passed earlier this year in the 107th General Assembly that terminated the previous Post-Conviction Defender Commission on June 30. |
The Cleveland Daily Banner reports
|
| TBA Member Services |
| CompuPay offers deals for TBA members |
| CompuPay is proud to serve as the official payroll services provider for the Tennessee Bar Association. To serve Tennessee attorneys the company is offering two months of free payroll processing for all TBA members and waiving set up fees for members with up to 99 employees. |
Learn more about CompuPay's benefits
|
| |
|
| |
Discontinue your TBA Today subscription? ... Surely not!
But if you must, visit the TBALink web site at:
http://www.tba2.org/tbatoday/unsub_tbatoday.php
Questions, comments: Email us at TBAToday@tnbar.org
About this publication: Today's News is a compilation of digests of news reports of interest to Tennessee lawyers compiled by TBA staff, links to digested press releases, and occasional stories about the TBA and other activities written by the TBA staff or members. Statements or opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tennessee Bar Association, its officers, board or staff.
© Copyright 2011 Tennessee Bar Association
|
|
|
