STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAVID JOHNSON - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAVID JOHNSON

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Apr 18, 2022

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Shae Atkinson (at hearing on remand and on appeal), Robert Golder (on appeal), Claiborne Ferguson (at trial), and Hayden Lawyer (at the motion for a new trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, David Johnson.

Attorneys 2: Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Samantha L. Simpson, Assistant Attorney General; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Cavett Ostner and Dru Carpenter, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): WILLIAMS

On October 12, 2018, a Shelby County jury convicted the Defendant, David Johnson, of aggravated rape committed in February 2000, based on DNA evidence linking him to the crime. On appeal, the Defendant asserts that he is entitled to have the conviction reversed and dismissed because he was not timely indicted. He also argues that the State failed to establish the chain of custody of the DNA evidence. We conclude that the Defendant was timely indicted through a “John Doe” indictment and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the chain of custody was adequately established for the DNA evidence. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

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