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Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 3, 2020

The petitioner, Tommy Lee Houser, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, which petition challenged his conviction of theft of property valued at $1,000 or more but less than $10,000, alleging that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 3, 2020

A Knox County Criminal Court Jury convicted the Appellant, Ziberia Carero, of possession of one-half gram or more of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of one-half gram or more of cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of one-half ounce or more of marijuana with intent to sell, and possession of one-half ounce or more of marijuana with intent to deliver. The trial court merged the possession of cocaine convictions and merged the possession of marijuana convictions and sentenced the Appellant as a Range II, multiple offender to concurrent terms of twelve years and two years, respectively. On appeal, the Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions, that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence found during his traffic stop, and that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting rebuttal evidence of his subsequent drug-selling activities. Based upon the oral arguments, the record, and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court but remand the case to the trial court for correction of the judgments of conviction.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 3, 2020

Employee fell onto his buttocks during the course and scope of his employment with Employer and experienced left hip and shoulder pain that later radiated to his right leg. After a course of treatment, the selected treating physician and a second-opinion physician opined Employee’s pain was attributable to a degenerative condition rather than to his work injury and assigned no impairment. Because the pain persisted, Employee’s personal physician referred him to an orthopedic surgeon who opined Employee’s fall ruptured a synovial cyst which aggravated his pre-existing spine condition. The orthopedic surgeon performed surgery and later assigned a twelve percent (12%) impairment rating. A physician who conducted an independent medical records review at Employer’s request sided with the selected physician as to causation and impairment; however, a physician who performed an independent medical examination at Employee’s request agreed with the orthopedic surgeon. Following a trial, the court awarded benefits having determined that Employee met his burden of establishing causation and overcame the statutory presumption afforded the selected physician’s causation opinion. Employer appealed. The appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 51. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 3, 2020
Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

This post-divorce appeal concerns the father’s petition to modify his spousal support obligation, to which the mother responded with her own motions concerning the father’s failure to exercise his co-parenting time with their disabled daughter as agreed. Following a hearing, the trial court reduced the father’s spousal support obligation but ordered him to remit payment to the mother for respite care in the event that he failed to exercise his co-parenting time. The father appeals. We affirm.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

The appellant in this parenting dispute has appealed the trial court’s order and the incorporated permanent parenting plan, both of which the trial court entered on December 6, 2018. Having determined that the permanent parenting plan at issue is incomplete, we further determine that the order incorporating the parenting plan is not a final order. Therefore, we dismiss this appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

MERRITT, Circuit Judge. Defendant Randall Hollon pled guilty to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and was sentenced to 270 months of incarceration and a 15-year term of supervised release. On appeal, Hollon argues that the district court erred in applying the covered sex crime enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.5(b). For the following reasons, we AFFIRM.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

JANE B. STRANCH, Circuit Judge. Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Boles pulled Abilio Hernandez over for driving 77 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone. Boles checked Hernandez and Lazaro Betancourt, the front seat passenger and owner of the car, for warrants. When the warrant check came back negative, Boles asked for and was refused consent to search the car. Trooper Donnie Clark then ran a search for the names of all four occupants of the car through a second, more comprehensive database, which was pending when a K-9 unit arrived. The dog sniffed the outside of the stopped car, alerting to the odor of drugs, but the dog did not alert again when allowed into the car, and the K-9 handler stated that the dog “didn’t hit.” After checking with their supervisor, the Troopers manually searched the car and found a number of re-encoded gift cards and suspected amphetamines. The four occupants of the car (hereafter called collectively the “Hernandez-Plaintiffs”) were arrested and held for months in pre-trial incarceration before all charges were ultimately dropped.

The Hernandez-Plaintiffs filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the Troopers violated the Fourth Amendment by (a) illegally searching the car and (b) unreasonably extending the car stop. The district court granted qualified immunity to the Troopers on the car search based on caselaw existing at that time. At trial, the jury found that the car stop was not impermissibly prolonged. The district court denied the Hernandez-Plaintiffs’ Rule 50 motion for judgment as a matter of law. Based on the state of the caselaw at the time of the events in question and the standards governing Rule 50, we AFFIRM.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

A Marshall County jury convicted the Petitioner, Dwayne Scott Franklin, of three counts of rape of a child, for which he received an effective sentence of sixty years imprisonment. See State v. Dewayne Scott Franklin, No. M2017-00180-CCA-R3-CD, 2018 WL 1100962 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 27, 2018). The Petitioner subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief alleging that lead counsel and co-counsel were ineffective in failing to call the Petitioner’s girlfriend as a witness at trial, in failing to request a bill of particulars, and in failing to request a formal election of offenses. Following a hearing, the post-conviction court denied relief, and the Petitioner now appeals. Upon our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Jan 30, 2020

The petitioner, Douglas W. Curtis, appeals the denial of his post-conviction petition, arguing the post-conviction court erred in finding he received effective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal. After our review of the record, briefs, and applicable law, we affirm the denial of the petition.


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