STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOSEPH WERT - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOSEPH WERT

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Oct 28, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: William D. Massey and Seth M. Segraves, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Joseph Wert.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Johnny Cerisano, Assistant Attorney General; Neil Thompson, District Attorney General; and W. Michael Thorne and Deven Wilson Whitfield, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): HIXSON

The Defendant, Joseph Wert, appeals from his conviction for voluntary manslaughter, for which he received a six-year sentence. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) the trial court erred by excluding a text message exchange between two non-testifying individuals discussing the victim’s statement on the day of the shooting; (2) the trial court erred by allowing the State to read in front of the jury several unauthenticated text messages on the victim’s ex-wife’s cell phone between the victim, his ex-wife, and their minor daughter; (3) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during its closing argument when it referenced the text messages between the victim, his ex-wife, and their minor daughter, and the trial court erred by overruling his contemporaneous objection thereto; (4) the trial court erred by refusing to provide a jury instruction regarding the presumed reasonableness of his use of deadly force against the victim pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-11-611(c), commonly known as “castle doctrine.”; and (5) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because the State failed to disprove his self-defense claim beyond a reasonable doubt. Finally, he contends that cumulative error entitles him to a new trial. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

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