State of Tennessee v. Russel B. Cain

The defendant, Russel B. Cain, entered a plea of guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim under the age of thirteen, a Class B felony, but reserved a certified question of law to Counts Two and Three of the indictment. Specifically, he requests this
court to review: “If an indictment alleges multiple counts of child sexual abuse, and if the dates of the separate counts are state[d] as ‘the ___ day of _______, 2007,’ does the conviction of Count One of the indictment bar the conviction on Counts Two and Three of
the indictment under the double jeopardy protection of the Constitution.” The defendant also argues that he was improperly sentenced to consecutive sentences. After careful review, we conclude that the conviction on Count One of the indictment does not bar the convictions on subsequent counts of the indictment when the dates of the offenses are stated as “the ___ day of ____, 2007” and that consecutive sentencing was appropriate. Accordingly, we affirm the judgments from the trial court.