State of Tennessee v. Derrick Jefferson

The Appellant, Derrick Jefferson, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder, and he received a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, the Appellant contends that (1) the trial court erred by allowing the State to enter the Appellant’s prior mug shots into evidence; (2) the trial court erred by allowing the State to admit photographs of the victim’s body and the bullets taken from the victim’s body during the autopsy; (3) the trial court gave an erroneous oral jury instruction regarding the presumption of innocence; (4) the trial court gave an erroneous oral jury instruction that the stipulation regarding the Appellant’s mug shot, which revealed the Appellant’s prior arrests, was relevant only on the issue of the Appellant’s appearance; (5) the trial court erred by denying the Appellant’s request for a mistrial when, during voir dire, the jury pool entered the courtroom before the Appellant came out of “lockup”; (6) the cumulative errors require reversal of the Appellant’s conviction and a new trial. Upon review, we conclude that the trial court committed no reversible error, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court.