Jabriel Linzy v. State of Tennessee

In 2015, a Knox County jury convicted the Petitioner, Jabriel Linzy, of first-degree murder,
attempted first-degree murder, and employment of a firearm during the commission of a
dangerous felony. The trial court sentenced him to life in prison for the first degree murder
conviction, fifteen years for the attempted first degree murder conviction, and six years for
the conviction of employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. The
trial court ordered that the two shorter sentences be served consecutively to each other but
concurrently with the life sentence. The Petitioner appealed his convictions, and this court
affirmed. State v. Linzy, No. E2016-01052-CCA-R3-CD, 2017 WL 3575871, at *1 (Tenn.
Crim. App. Aug. 18, 2017), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Nov. 16, 2017). The Petitioner filed
a petition for post-conviction relief. After a hearing, the post-conviction court granted
post-conviction relief, concluding that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to
inadmissible social media evidence in conjunction with not eliciting testimony about the
Petitioner’s prior conflict with the victim and that trial counsel’s performance prejudiced
the Petitioner. On appeal, the State contends that the post-conviction court erred because
trial counsel made a reasonable strategic decision when failing to object to the social media
evidence and because the Petitioner cannot show that trial counsel’s performance
prejudiced him. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.