STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHELSEA LOUISE SMITH - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHELSEA LOUISE SMITH

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jul 9, 2026

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Michael J. Flanagan (on appeal), Nashville, Tennessee; and Olin J. Baker and F. Lee Spratt (at trial), Charlotte, Tennessee, for the appellant, Chelsea Louise Smith.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Nicholas W. Spangler, Special Counsel; Ray Crouch, Jr., District Attorney General; and Jennifer J. Stribling, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): HOLLOWAY

Defendant, Chelsea Louise Smith, appeals her Dickson County Circuit Court convictions for aggravated child abuse and first-degree felony murder committed in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse, for which she received sentences of fifteen years and life, respectively. Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support her convictions; that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding the proposed testimony of her expert in biomechanics; and that her constitutional right to present a defense was violated by the trial court’s exclusion of the proposed expert testimony. Following a thorough review, we affirm.

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