STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RICHARD G. WILLIAMS, KIPLING COLBERT, JR., AND CHRISTOPHER BASSETT, JR. - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RICHARD G. WILLIAMS, KIPLING COLBERT, JR., AND CHRISTOPHER BASSETT, JR.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 18, 2022

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Gerald L. Gulley, Jr. (on appeal), and Christopher M. Rodgers (at trial), Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Richard G. Williams.

Attorneys 2: Rhonda F. Lee, Powell, Tennessee, for the appellant, Kipling Colbert, Jr.

Attorneys 3: T. Scott Jones, Gena Lewis, and Kelly Tanner (at trial only), Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Christopher Bassett, Jr.

Attorneys 4: Thomas H. Castelli and Stella Yarbrough, Nashville, Tennessee, for the amicus curiae, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Tennessee.

Attorneys 5: Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Garrett D. Ward, Assistant Attorney General; Charme P. Allen, District Attorney General; and Philip M. Morton and Ta Kisha M. Fitzgerald, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): WEDEMEYER

A Knox County jury convicted the defendants, Richard G. Williams, Kipling Colbert, Jr., and Christopher Bassett, Jr., of multiple felonies based on the December 17, 2015 shooting death of fifteen-year-old Zaevion Dobson. On appeal, all of the defendants challenge the trial court’s admission of a YouTube video of the defendants rapping. Defendant Bassett appeals the trial court’s denial of the motion to suppress his statement to the police. Defendants Colbert and Williams challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, and Defendant Williams, solely, asserts that the trial court erred when it admitted evidence of his involvement in an April 2016 shooting and that the effect of cumulative errors during the trial warrants appellate relief. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

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