Dearice Cates v. State of Tennessee

The Petitioner, Dearice Cates, appeals as of right from the Knox County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. The Petitioner contends that he received the ineffective assistance of both trial and appellate counsel for failing to raise the statutorily mandated mitigating factor that he “voluntarily” released the victims of his especially aggravated kidnappings alive. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-305(b)(2). Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.