State of Tennessee v. Ashley Wheeler

Defendant, Ashley Wheeler, was indicted by the Shelby County Grand Jury for two counts of forgery valued at $1,000 or more, but less than $10,000, in Counts 1 and 2. In Count 3, Defendant was indicted for attempted theft of property valued at $1,000 or more, but less than $10,000. Following a jury trial, Defendant was convicted as charged. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court merged Count 1 with Count 2 and sentenced Defendant to two years for her forgery conviction and one year for her attempted theft conviction. The trial court ordered Defendant’s sentences to be served concurrently and suspended on probation. In this appeal as of right, Defendant asserts that: 1) the prosecutor committed prosecutorial misconduct by making improper comments during closing argument; 2) the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions; and 3) the trial court abused its discretion by denying her requests to be granted judicial diversion and to be sentenced as an especially mitigated offender. Having carefully reviewed the record before us, we conclude that the comments of the prosecutor during closing argument constitute prosecutorial misconduct rising to the level of plain error. We therefore reverse the judgments of the trial court and remand this case for a new trial.