STATE OF TENNESSEE v. EBONY ROBINSON - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. EBONY ROBINSON

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 29, 2023

Court: TN Supreme Court

Attorneys 1: Emma Rae Tennent, Assistant District Public Defender (on appeal); Mary Ruth Pate and Randi Hess, Assistant District Public Defenders (at hearing), for the appellant, Ebony Robinson.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Andrée Sophia Blumstein, Solicitor General; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Garrett D. Ward, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Elaine Heard, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): PAGE

In 2020, Ebony Robinson (“Defendant”) pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and driving without a license. The trial court imposed a ten-year sentence largely suspended to probation with periodic weeks of confinement for the first three years. The State appealed the sentence, arguing that a 2017 amendment to the probation eligibility statute, Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35- 303, prohibits defendants who are convicted of vehicular homicide by intoxication from receiving any form of probation. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the State and reversed the trial court, ordering Defendant to serve the full sentence in confinement. The intermediate court concluded that the amended probation statute expressly prohibits probation of any kind, including periodic or split confinement, for criminal defendants convicted of vehicular homicide by intoxication. After reviewing the relevant statutes, this Court affirms the Court of Criminal Appeals and holds that the clear and precise language of the 2017 amendment to the probation eligibility statute prohibits all forms of probation for a defendant convicted of vehicular homicide by intoxication. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

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