STATE OF TENNESSEE v. QUENTIN DEAN BIRD - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. QUENTIN DEAN BIRD

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Apr 19, 2022

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: H. Reid Poland III, Clarksville, Tennessee; and James Phillips, Oak Grove, Kentucky, for the Appellant, Quentin Dean Bird.

Attorneys 2: Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Richard D. Douglas, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Robert Nash, District Attorney General; and Arthur F. Beiber, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): MONTGOMERY

The Defendant, Quentin Dean Bird, was convicted by a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury of two counts of first degree premeditated murder. See T.C.A. 39-13-202(a)(1) (2014) (subsequently amended). The jury imposed sentences of life without the possibility of parole, which the trial court ordered to be served consecutively to each other. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) he was deprived of his right to equal protection under the law when the State exercised a peremptory challenge against a black prospective juror without articulating a valid race-neutral reason, (2) the trial court erred in admitting graphic autopsy photographs, (3) the sentence of life without parole for the murder of one of the victims was excessive and constituted double jeopardy because the facts used to establish the enhancement factor were also used to enhance the sentence for the murder of the second victim, and (4) the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentences based upon its finding that the Defendant was a dangerous offender. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

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