STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MICHAEL JOE CUNNINGHAM - Articles

All Content

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MICHAEL JOE CUNNINGHAM

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jun 5, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Joseph E. Ford, Winchester, Tennessee (on appeal), and Quinn Rodriguez, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (at revocation hearing) for the appellant, Michael Joe Cunningham.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Katie Neff, Assistant Attorney General; Courtney Lynch, District Attorney General; and Casey Little, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): AYERS

Defendant, Michael Joe Cunningham, pled guilty in two separate cases to one count of making a false report and one count possession of twenty-six grams or more of methamphetamine. He received an effective fourteen-year community corrections sentence that was later transferred to probation. Following a hearing on a warrant for violation of his probation based on Defendant’s arrest for new offenses, the trial court revoked Defendant’s probation and ordered him to serve his original sentence incarcerated. Defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion by fully revoking his probation rather than ordering treatment for his drug addiction. Upon review of the record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Attachments: