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Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

The defendant, Eric Williams, appeals his Shelby County Criminal Court jury convictions of aggravated assault and assault, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred by classifying him as a Range II, multiple offender. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

Lonell Montez Hartshaw, Defendant, appeals the manner of service of his sentences and fines imposed by the trial court after he entered guilty pleas to felony evading arrest, driving under the influence ("DIJI") (second offense), simple possession of a controlled substance, driving on a revoked license (second offense), speeding, violation of the registration law, and violation of the window tint law. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

The Defendant, Kenneth Benard Hudspeth, was convicted by a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury of first degree felony murder, second degree murder, and two counts of aggravated rape. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-202(2) (Supp. 1998) (subsequently amended) (felony murder in perpetration of rape); 39-13-210 (1997) (subsequently amended) (second degree murder); and 39-13-205 (1997) (subsequently amended) (aggravated rape). After the appropriate merger, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to life imprisonment plus twenty years. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions, (2) the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress his police statement, and (3) the court erred by ordering consecutive service of his sentences. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

In this appeal, the circuit court determined that the plaintiff had failed to timely perfect her appeal from an order of the juvenile court. Upon our review of the record, we affirm the ruling of the circuit court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

This appeal arises from the filing of a detainer warrant in general sessions court. The plaintiff sought to remove the defendant and her mobile home from his real property. The general sessions court granted possession of the real property to the plaintiff but ordered him to pay for the removal of the mobile home. The defendant appealed to the circuit court. The circuit court concluded that the plaintiff was entitled to the relief requested and awarded him possession of his real property. However, contrary to the general sessions court, the circuit court ordered the defendant to remove her mobile home from the plaintiff’s real property at her expense. The defendant appeals. We affirm.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 11, 2023

In this interlocutory appeal, the employer appeals the trial court’s order for medical benefits, including a total knee replacement, in light of evidence indicating the employee had a pre-existing knee condition. The employee suffered a fall at work, resulting in complaints of pain in the left knee. Following conservative treatment, the employee’s authorized physician recommended a total knee replacement. The employer declined to authorize the procedure based on questionnaire responses from the treating physician. After the denial, the employer received medical records from two providers indicating the employee had a history of left knee complaints within months of the work accident, as well as a prior surgery to the left knee in 2012. At the expedited hearing, the employee presented testimony from the authorized physician stating her work injury was the primary cause of her need for surgery. The trial court found the employee was likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits and ordered the employer to provide medical treatment, including the recommended surgery, and temporary total disability benefits. The employer has appealed. Upon careful consideration of the record, we affirm the trial court’s order and remand the case.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 10, 2023

The Defendant, Jarrett Michael Tolley, pleaded guilty to multiple theft- and fraud-related charges in the Washington County Criminal Court, for which she received a sentence of seven years’ incarceration suspended to fifteen years on community corrections. The sentence was ordered to be served consecutively to a sentence of two years’ incarceration imposed in an unrelated case in Carter County, which resulted in a sentence of six years on community corrections, for an effective sentence of twenty-one years to be served on community corrections. The Defendant filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1, which the trial court denied. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying relief. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 10, 2023

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. In 2011, Nickless Whitson participated in two Hobbs Act robberies. He was charged with and convicted of eight crimes at trial and sentenced to 1,252 months of incarceration. After several appeals, through which four of his convictions were vacated, he was resentenced in May of 2022 to 360 months of incarceration. Whitson contends that his sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable. He argues that the district court made four errors: first, it speculated that Whitson’s difficult upbringing made him more likely to reoffend, in spite of evidence to the contrary; second, it failed to make an “individualized assessment” of Whitson’s background; third, it impermissibly required Whitson to admit his guilt in order to consider fully evidence of his rehabilitation while incarcerated; and fourth, it did not properly weigh the evidence of his rehabilitation. We conclude that the district court committed plain error by requiring Whitson to admit his guilt in order to consider fully the evidence of his rehabilitation. We therefore VACATE Whitson’s sentence and REMAND for resentencing.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 10, 2023

JANE B. STRANCH, Circuit Judge. In January 2019, Officer Christopher Mannella fatally shot James Burroughs at an apartment complex in Niles, Ohio. On behalf of Burroughs’s estate, Timothy Raimey brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law against the City of Niles and several involved police officers. The Defendants moved for summary judgment, which Raimey did not oppose except as to his claims against Mannella. The district court granted summary judgment to the other Defendants but denied Mannella’s assertions of qualified and state law immunity, allowing Raimey’s claims of excessive force, wrongful death, assault and battery, and reckless conduct, to proceed against Mannella. Mannella timely appealed. We deny Raimey’s motion to dismiss the appeal and affirm the denial of qualified immunity to Mannella.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Aug 10, 2023

BOGGS, Circuit Judge. International Outdoor, Inc. (“International Outdoor”) sought permission to erect billboards in the City of Troy. After the City denied International Outdoor’s permit application and request for a variance, International Outdoor sued, claiming that the City’s sign ordinance (“Ordinance”) violated the First Amendment. International Outdoor argued that the Ordinance’s variance procedure imposed an invalid prior restraint and that its permit exceptions were content-based restrictions on free speech.

In a prior appeal, we affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the City on International Outdoor’s prior-restraint claim. But we reversed the district court’s dismissal of the content-based-restriction claim and remanded for the court to consider whether the Ordinance, with the permit exceptions, survived strict scrutiny. While it does not, the permit exceptions are, as the district court held on remand, severable, leaving intact the Ordinance’s height, size, and setback requirements. Because International Outdoor’s proposed billboards do not satisfy these valid, content-neutral standards, we affirm.


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