DWIGHT RANDALL WALTON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE - Articles

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DWIGHT RANDALL WALTON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Dec 5, 2025

Head Comment: CORRECTION: This Opinion has been changed to reflect that the Petitioner was convicted of two counts of rape of a child, two counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means, and three counts of aggravated sexual battery.

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Joseph W. McMurray, Kingsport, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dwight Randall Walton.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Johnny Cerisano, Assistant Attorney General; Barry P. Staubus, District Attorney General; and Matthew W. Darby, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): WEDEMEYER

In 2012, a Sullivan County jury convicted the Petitioner, Dwight Randall Walton, of two counts of rape of a child, two counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means, and three counts of aggravated sexual battery. For these convictions, he received an effective sentence of fifty years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. State v. Walton, No. E2014-02319-CCA-R3-CD, 2015 WL 5554573, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 21, 2015), no perm. app. filed. On direct appeal, this court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to support each conviction, except one of the aggravated sexual battery convictions (Count 3). Id. Concluding that the evidence was insufficient to support one of the aggravated sexual battery conviction, we reversed and dismissed that conviction. Thereafter, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction court denied his petition after a hearing. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.

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