STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RODNEY DARNELL ROBINSON - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RODNEY DARNELL ROBINSON

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Apr 21, 2020

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Benjamin K. Raybin (on appeal) and Brent Horst (at trial), Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Rodney Darnell Robinson.

Attorneys 2: Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Caitlin Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Glenn Funk, District Attorney General; and Megan King and Doug Thurman, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): HOLLOWAY

Rodney Darnell Robinson (“Defendant”) was convicted in Davidson County Criminal Court of two counts of child abuse, five counts of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of rape of a child, two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, two counts of rape, and one count of attempted rape of a child, for which he received an effective sentence of sixty years’ incarceration. On appeal, Defendant contends that: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) he was denied the effective assistance of counsel; (3) the trial court erred by allowing trial counsel to proceed while “clearly ill”; (4) the trial court failed to remedy statements made during voir dire by a potential juror, thereby depriving Defendant of a fair trial; (5) the trial court erred in allowing cumulative testimony in the cross-examination of Defendant; (6) the trial court erred in allowing improper leading questions to a witness; (7) the trial court erred in the admission of certain evidence; (8) the trial court erred in the exclusion of certain evidence; (9) there was an appearance of bias from the trial judge that violated Defendant’s due process rights; and (10) cumulative error requires a new trial. Following a thorough review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

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