State of Tennessee v. Donald W. Branch

After Defendant was convicted of two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of driving while license revoked, the trial court imposed an effective sentence of forty-nine years in confinement. On appeal, Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the convictions for aggravated vehicular homicide, the trial court's instructions to the jury were erroneous, the blood alcohol test results were admitted in error, the State's closing argument was improper, and his sentence is excessive. After a thorough review of the record, we find that the trial court improperly applied two enhancement factors. However, the errors affect only Defendant's sentence for one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and, therefore, we reduce this sentence by six months. We affirm the judgment of the trial court in all other aspects.