State of Tennessee v. Steve Fredrick Rickett

The Defendant, Steve Fredrick Rickett, appeals his conviction by a jury in the Knox County Criminal Court for second degree murder for which he was sentenced as a Range I, violent offender to sixteen years in the Department of Correction. The Defendant contends the following: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, (2) the trial court erred in allowing expert witness testimony because the Defendant received inadequate notice of the scope of the expert's testimony and in not granting a continuance, (3) the trial court erred in allowing the county medical examiner to testify to the effects of alcohol and narcotics on the victim, (4) the trial court erred in failing to grant the Defendant's motion for a continuance to allow a defense expert additional time to test the shirt the victim was wearing when she was shot, (5) the trial court erred in allowing into evidence the Defendant's statements to police, (6) the trial court erred in allowing the State to amend the toxicology report during the trial, and (7) the trial court erred in failing to respond properly to the jury's questions requesting a definition of heat of passion and whether "voluntary intoxication" constituted "heat of passion." We affirm the judgment of the trial court.