State of Tennessee v. James Arthur Johnson

The Defendant, James Arthur Johnson, was charged with two counts of premeditated firstdegree murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of aggravated robbery for events that occurred on the evening of June 18, 2006. Co-defendant Rodney Lenier Williams was also charged in all five counts, but his case was severed from the defendant's case before trial. A jury sitting in the Criminal Court for Davidson County found the defendant not guilty of the two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, guilty of the two counts of felony murder, and guilty of the count of aggravated robbery. The defendant was given concurrent life sentences for the felony murder convictions. For the aggravated robbery conviction, the defendant was given an eleven year sentence to run consecutively to the two life sentences. In this appeal as of right, the defendant argues (1) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions, (2) that the trial court erred in allowing a non-expert witness to give his opinion, and (3) that the trial court erred in sentencing the defendant. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.