STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANTONIO DONTE JENKINS, A.K.A. ANTONIO DONTE GORDON JENKINS - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANTONIO DONTE JENKINS, A.K.A. ANTONIO DONTE GORDON JENKINS

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 8, 2023

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Jay Norman, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Antonio Donte Jenkins, a.k.a. Antonio Donte Gordon Jenkins.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Richard D. Douglas, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Joseph E. Clifton and Addie Askew, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): GREENHOLTZ

A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Antonio Donte Jenkins, a.k.a. Antonio Donte Gordon Jenkins, of second degree murder and felony reckless endangerment. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve an effective sentence of twenty-seven years. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for second degree murder. He also asserts that the trial court erred by (1) instructing the jury on criminal responsibility; (2) failing to declare a mistrial after a State’s witness testified that the Defendant had an outstanding warrant; (3) allowing portions of a witness’s testimony from the juvenile transfer hearing to be read into evidence; (4) allowing evidence that had not been presented during trial into the jury room during deliberations; and (5) imposing an excessive sentence. We respectfully conclude that the jury should not have been instructed on criminal responsibility and that the error was not harmless. For this reason, we vacate the Defendant’s conviction for second degree murder and remand for a new trial. Finally, although we also affirm the Defendant’s conviction and sentence for reckless endangerment, we remand for entry of an amended judgment reflecting that this sentence is not currently aligned consecutively to any other sentence.

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