State of Tennessee v. Ivan Charles Graves

A Knox County Criminal Court jury convicted the appellant, Ivan Charles Graves, of first degree premeditated murder and felony murder committed during the perpetration of a kidnapping. Immediately after the jury’s verdict, the trial court merged the convictions and sentenced the appellant to life in prison. On appeal, the appellant contends that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support the premeditated murder conviction because the State failed to show he premeditated killing the victim; (2) the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions because the testimony  of one of the witnesses was irreconcilable with the physical evidence; (3) the State’s use of his  recorded jail conversations during its case-in-chief violated his constitutional rights; (4) the trial  court committed plain error by allowing the jury to have transcripts of the recorded conversations  during its deliberations; (5) the trial court erred by dismissing a potential juror for cause and failing to dismiss another juror for cause; and (6) the trial court erred by allowing a State witness to testify about the appellant’s prior bad acts. Although the trial court erred with regard to the transcripts, the errors do not warrant reversal, and we affirm the appellant’s convictions.