STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JONATHAN MICHAEL ATHA - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JONATHAN MICHAEL ATHA

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 20, 2019

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1:

William L. Wheatley, for the appellant, Jonathan Michael Atha.

Attorneys 2:

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Alexander C. Vey, Assistant Attorney General; Jimmy Dunn, District Attorney General; and George C. Ioannides and Timothy Norris, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): THOMAS

The Defendant, Jonathan Michael Atha, was convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated rape, four counts of aggravated robbery, and three counts of aggravated kidnapping, for which he received an effective sentence of fifty years’ incarceration. On appeal, the Defendant argues (1) that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress the victims’ in-court identifications of the Defendant; (2) that the trial court erred by declining to issue a limiting jury instruction regarding the State’s failure to preserve evidence; (3) that the trial court erred in ordering the Defendant to serve consecutive sentences for aggravated rape; and (4) that the cumulative effect of these errors deprived the Defendant of a fair trial. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

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