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Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 14, 2021

Petitioner, Calvin Banks, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of first degree premeditated murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon. The trial court imposed an effective life sentence. Petitioner’s convictions were affirmed on direct appeal. Petitioner sought post-conviction relief, claiming that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Following an evidentiary hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief. Upon our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 14, 2021

Tennessee’s Department of Health (“TDH” or “the Department”) sought reciprocal revocation of a registered nurse’s Tennessee license after her registered nurse license was revoked in California. After a hearing on the matter, which the nurse did not attend, the Tennessee Board of Nursing (“Board”) entered a default judgment against the nurse and revoked her Tennessee license. The nurse appealed to the chancery court and brought an action for damages against the Board. The chancery court affirmed the Board’s decision and dismissed the nurse’s action for damages. The nurse then appealed to this Court. We affirm the chancery court in all respects.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 14, 2021

This appeal arises from a petition for judicial review of a decision of the Shelby County Civil Service Merit Board. The appellant was a firefighter and paramedic and was terminated from his employment after he was involved in a physical altercation at a political rally. After a hearing, the Board upheld his termination. The appellant then sought judicial review in chancery court. After reviewing the administrative record, the chancery court likewise upheld termination. On appeal, this Court concluded that the decision upholding the appellant’s termination should be reversed due to a violation of his due process rights. The Tennessee Supreme Court found no due process violation and reversed the decision of this Court, remanding for consideration of alternative arguments raised by the appellant that were deemed pretermitted in our previous opinion. Having carefully considered the appellant’s alternative arguments, we affirm the chancery court’s rulings on some issues but ultimately must vacate in part the decision upholding termination and remand for further proceedings before the Board.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

A Bradley County jury convicted the defendant, Nicholas Maurice White, of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault, and the trial court imposed an effective sentence of ten years’ incarceration. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. Upon our review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

A Hardeman County jury convicted the Defendant, Joseph Griggs, of aggravated rape, and the trial court sentenced him to twenty years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred when it sentenced him. After a thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

In this post-divorce action, the trial court awarded a judgment in the amount of $13,835.17 to the father, representing the mother’s retroactive child support obligation. When calculating the mother’s child support arrearage, the trial court declined to include the father’s inheritance as income for child support calculation purposes because the father had used the majority of his inherited funds to pay private school tuition for the parties’ two children. The court further awarded to the father attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $18,394.00 related to a previous child custody modification action. The mother has appealed. Discerning reversible error, we vacate the trial court’s child support award and remand the child support issue to the trial court for further proceedings to determine whether a modification was warranted and if so, the appropriate amount of child support to be awarded pursuant to the Child Support Guidelines (“the Guidelines”). We also vacate the trial court’s determination concerning civil contempt and remand that issue to the trial court as well. Although we affirm the trial court’s decision to award reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses to the father based on the trial court’s previous child custody modification, we remand the issue of attorney’s fees relative to child support enforcement to the trial court for further determination once child support has been set. We deny the mother’s request for attorney’s fees on appeal.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

LARSEN, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted William Prigmore of possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing ammunition as a felon, both in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). The district court sentenced him to 120 months’ imprisonment. Prigmore challenges his conviction and sentence on appeal. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

This appeal concerns a police officer’s termination. Kodi Gail Knight (“Knight”) was a police officer for the City of Fairview, Tennessee (“Fairview”). After an August 2019 incident in which Knight struck a handcuffed woman (“the Arrestee”) in the face, Fairview police chief Zack Humphreys (“Chief Humphreys”) submitted a request to City Manager Scott Collins (“the City Manager”) that Knight be terminated. The City Manager sent Knight a termination letter. Knight requested, and was granted, a pre-dismissal hearing before the City Manager. Following this hearing, the City Manager affirmed the decision to terminate Knight. Knight filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the Chancery Court for Williamson County (“the Trial Court”). The Trial Court affirmed Fairview’s termination of Knight. Knight appeals, arguing among other things that his procedural due process rights were violated because the City Manager both drafted his termination letter and presided over his pre-dismissal hearing. We find that Knight was an at-will employee who lacked a property interest entitling him to procedural due process protection. We also find that the City Manager’s decision was supported by substantial and material evidence and was neither arbitrary nor capricious. We affirm the judgment of the Trial Court.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 12, 2021

This is the second action in which the petitioner, an inmate in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Corrections (“TDOC”), seeks good sentence credits and prisoner performance credits. The trial court dismissed the present action, filed in 2019, in accordance with Rule 12.02(6) of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, determining that res judicata barred the suit. The decision was based on the following findings: the petitioner did not assert that the Davidson County Chancery Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case in the prior action, filed in 2005, “the same parties were involved in both . . . suit[s],” both cases “arose out of the same transaction or series of connected transactions” between the same parties, and “the [prior] suit resulted in a final judgment on the merits . . . .” We affirm.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Oct 1, 2021

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge. Defendant Joshua Grant shot his ex-girlfriend after a night of arguing at her apartment. He fled the scene and police apprehended him nearby in possession of a gun. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) for unlawfully possessing that firearm—one for being a convicted felon, the other for being a domestic violence misdemeanant. The district court entered judgment on both convictions and imposed concurrent 120-month sentences. Grant appeals. He challenges the entry of multiple § 922(g) convictions and sentences for the same incident of firearm possession. He also challenges the district court’s application of the cross-reference for attempted murder in calculating his Sentencing Guidelines range. For the following reasons, we REMAND with instructions to VACATE Grant’s sentence on one of the § 922(g) counts and to merge the two counts of conviction into one. We AFFIRM the district court’s judgment in all other respects.


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