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| Ronald L. Davis vs. Hershell D. Koger
M2000-01598-COA-R3-CV
This appeal involves a dispute between a convicted felon and the lawyer appointed to represent him in his efforts to reopen his post-conviction challenge to his conviction. After the efforts to set aside his conviction proved unsuccessful, the prisoner sued the lawyer in the Chancery Court for Maury County arguing that his civil rights had been violated because his lawyer had conspired with the prosecutor and the trial judge to prevent him from obtaining the post-conviction relief to which he believed he was entitled. The lawyer denied these allegations, and the prisoner moved for a summary judgment. On June 15, 2000, the trial court summarily dismissed the prisoner's complaint on two grounds. First, the court concluded that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to consider claims regarding the denial of the prisoner's request for post-judgment relief. Second, the trial court concluded that the prisoner had failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We affirm the dismissal of the prisoner's complaint.
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Originating Judge:Stella L. Hargrove |
Maury County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| State vs. Alexander Lee
W1999-01804-CCA-R3-CD
The Appellant, Alexander A. Lee, pled guilty to one count of felony possession of cocaine, a class C felony. The Shelby County Criminal Court sentenced the Appellant to three years, suspended, with nine months to serve in the county workhouse. On appeal, the Appellant contends that the trial judge erred in denying his request for total probation. After review, we find no error. Therefore, the judgment is affirmed.
Authoring Judge: Judge David G. Hayes
Originating Judge:Chris B. Craft |
Shelby County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| State vs. Terry Johnson
W2000-00749-CCA-R3-CD
A Lauderdale County jury convicted the defendant of felony reckless endangerment, and in this appeal, the defendant claims two errors: (1) The trial court erroneously determined that the eight-year-old victim was competent to testify, and (2) the defendant was denied his right to a unanimous verdict. We find no error requiring reversal and affirm the conviction.
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Originating Judge:Joseph H. Walker, III |
Lauderdale County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| Charles Bobo v. Dept. of Corrections
M2000-00517-COA-R3-CV
Appellant, a prison inmate, filed, in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari questioning disciplinary actions against him by the Department of Corrections. The petition was dismissed by the Chancellor with costs assessed against Appellant. Appellant then sought exemption of his inmate trust account from execution for costs asserting that Tennessee Code Annotated Section 26-2-103 rendered his trust account and personal property to a value of $4,000 exempt from execution for court costs. The Chancellor held Tennessee Code Annotated Section 26-2-103 to be inapplicable, and we affirm the Chancellor.
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Originating Judge:Ellen Hobbs Lyle |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| Rita M. Russell v. Modine Manufacturing Company, Inc.
E2000-00176-WC-R3-CV
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the finding, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. TENN. CODE ANN. _ 5-6-225(e)(2). Stone v. City of McMinnville, 896 S.W.2d 548, 55 (Tenn. 1995).
Authoring Judge: John K. Byers, Sr. J.
Originating Judge:James B. Scott, Jr., Judge |
Knox County | Workers Compensation Panel | 12/14/00 | |
| Peggy Boles vs. Dept. of Correction
M2000-00893-COA-R3-CV
The wife of an incarcerated person brought an action seeking to have a policy of the Department of Correction declared invalid. The policy involved a visitor's responsibility to control children while visiting an inmate in a state prison. The trial court dismissed the petition. We affirm.
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Patricia J. Cottrell
Originating Judge:Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr. |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| Mitchell Tarver vs. Dept. of Correction
M2000-01622-COA-R3-CV
A prison inmate filed a petition seeking a declaratory judgment that he was entitled to parole consideration in accordance with his plea bargain. The trial court dismissed the petition on summary judgment. We affirm.
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Originating Judge:Ellen Hobbs Lyle |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| Peter Greer v. Dept of Correction
M2000-00222-COA-R3-CV
This appeal involves a dispute between a prisoner and the Tennessee Department of Correction regarding a change in the way the Department reports pre-trial sentence credits. Believing that the change increased the length of his sentence, the prisoner filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County to rescind the change. The trial court concluded that the change had not altered the prisoner's sentence expiration date and dismissed the petition. We affirm.
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Originating Judge:Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr. |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| Frances Wolfe vs. Kroger Co.
W2000-00281-COA-R3-CV
Plaintiff sued Defendant to recover for injures she received from a fall inside Defendant's store. The trial court granted Defendant's motion for summary judgment. We affirm based on Plaintiff's failure to counter Defendant's evidence that it neither caused the condition which caused the fall nor did it have notice of that condition.
Authoring Judge: Judge David R. Farmer
Originating Judge:James F. Russell |
Shelby County | Court of Appeals | 12/14/00 | |
| State vs. Juliann Whitehead
E2000-00031-CCA-R3-CD
The appellant, Juliann Lynn Whitehead, pled guilty in the Blount County Circuit Court to one count of burglary, a class D felony, and one count of theft under $500, a class A misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced the appellant to four years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction for the burglary conviction and to eleven months and twenty-nine days incarceration in the Blount County Jail for the theft conviction. The trial court ordered that these sentences run concurrently, and allowed the appellant to serve her sentences on intensive probation. During a random drug screen conducted by the appellant's probation officer approximately three months after sentencing, the appellant tested positive for cocaine. Additionally, the appellant admitted to her probation officer that she had left the state without permission. Pursuant to a probation revocation hearing, the trial court revoked the appellant's probation and ordered her to serve the balance of her sentences in the Tennessee Department of Correction and recommended that she be placed into a Special Needs Facility to assist with her substance abuse and mental health problems. On appeal, the appellant raises the following issue for our review: whether the trial court erred in sentencing the appellant to serve the balance of her sentences in the Tennessee Department of Correction after revoking her probation. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Originating Judge:D. Kelly Thomas, Jr. |
Blount County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Isbell vs. Travis Electric Co., et al
M1999-00052-COA-R3-CV
After Plaintiff resigned from his job and attempted to start his own competing business, his former manager informed a mutual client of the circumstances surrounding his resignation. Plaintiff sued his former employer and its service manager, alleging slander, libel, defamation, and tortious interference with contract. The trial court directed a verdict for Defendants, and Plaintiff appeals, arguing that the trial court misapplied the substantial truth doctrine, failed to apply the doctrine of implication, and was incorrect in its finding that no contract existed between Plaintiff and his new company's main client. Plaintiff also insists that, by failing to grant a new trial so that he could add an allegation of invasion of privacy, the court ignored the proper legal consequences arising from the disclosure of a confidential drug test. For the following reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Patricia J. Cottrell
Originating Judge:Hamilton V. Gayden, Jr. |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Moore vs. Moore
M1999-02301-COA-R3-CV
In this divorce case, the husband argues that the trial court erred in the way it classified and distributed the parties' marital property. We agree that the trial court's implied classification of the parties' home on Pleasant Cove Road was erroneous as a matter of law, but we find that its disposition of the property was nonetheless within the court's authority and discretion. We accordingly modify the final decree to reflect our view of its correct classification, but otherwise affirm the trial court.
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Originating Judge:Charles D. Haston, Sr. |
Warren County | Court of Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Jeffrey Coffey
M2000-00770-CCA-R3-CD
The defendant was convicted by a Maury County jury of aggravated child abuse of a child six years of age or less, a Class A felony, and was sentenced to twenty-five years in confinement, the maximum sentence for a Range I, standard offender. In this appeal as of right, the defendant presents two issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction; and (2) whether the sentence was excessive. We conclude that the convicting evidence was sufficient. We further conclude that, although the trial court erred in applying enhancement factors (5) and (6), two other statutory enhancement factors were appropriately applied. Additionally, we conclude that, although the trial court erred in not applying mitigating factors (6) and (13), the defendant was appropriately sentenced. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Authoring Judge: Judge Alan E. Glenn
Originating Judge:Jim T. Hamilton |
Maury County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Fontenot vs. Fontenot
M1999-02322-COA-R3-CV
This appeal arises from the trial court's division of marital property and martial debt, award of alimony, and award of attorney's fees. After reviewing the record and applicable law, the trial court's judgment is affirmed as modified.
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Originating Judge:C. K. Smith |
Wilson County | Court of Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Michael Colvin
E2000-00701-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Originating Judge:Lynn W. Brown |
Johnson County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Sneed vs. Bd. of Professional Responsibility
M1999-01588-SC-R3-CV
This case is before the Court on an appeal of right from the judgment of the Chancery Court of Davidson County suspending Michael H. Sneed, the appellant, from the practice of law for six months together with other sanctions. Sneed contends that the trial court erred in imposing discipline and that the six-month suspension is too harsh a sanction. Because we conclude that the trial court had the authority to impose sanctions and that the sanctions imposed are fair and proportionate in light of the entire record, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Authoring Judge: Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr.
Originating Judge:Tom E. Gray |
Davidson County | Supreme Court | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Martin Charles Jones
E1999-01296-CCA-R3-CD
The Appellant, Martin Charles Jones, pled guilty to nine counts of criminal exposure to HIV, class C felonies, and to three counts of statutory rape, class E felonies. Following a sentencing hearing, the Knox County Criminal Court imposed an effective sentence of seventeen years incarceration. On appeal, the Appellant asserts that the trial court erred by denying his request for alternative sentencing. After review, we find no error and affirm the judgment.
Authoring Judge: Judge David G. Hayes
Originating Judge:Ray L. Jenkins |
Knox County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Ray Charles Gasaway vs. State
M2000-00991-CCA-R3-PC
Petitioner, Ray Charles Gasaway, filed a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief in the Davidson County Criminal Court, which the post-conviction court subsequently denied. Petitioner challenges the denial of his petition, raising the following issue: whether the trial court erred in ruling that the Petitioner was provided effective assistance of counsel. Specifically, Petitioner argues that his trial counsel failed to investigate, failed to raise the fatal variance between the indictment and the proof at trial and failed to raise as an issue the violation of Petitioner's right to due process because of the delay between the commission of the crimes and commencement of adversarial proceedings. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the trial court's denial of the Petitioner's post-conviction petition.
Authoring Judge: Judge Thomas T. Woodall
Originating Judge:Steve R. Dozier |
Davidson County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Teresa R. Hodge
E2000-00040-CCA-R3-CD
The defendant appeals the Blount County Circuit Court's determination that her plea-bargained, eleven-month and 29-day effective sentence for theft and possession of cocaine shall be served in confinement, subject to 75 percent of service before the defendant is eligible for rehabilitative programs. The record supports the trial court's determination, and we affirm.
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Originating Judge:D. Kelly Thomas, Jr. |
Blount County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Owen vs. Martin
M1999-02305-COA-R3-CV
The trial court found that a mother and her adult son had both breached an oral contract whereby the son agreed to pay off the mortgage on his mother's home and to permit her to remain there for the rest of her life, and the mother agreed to give the son her equity in the home upon her death, and to allow him to use a garage apartment in the home until that time. We reverse the trial court's finding that there was an enforceable contract between the parties, but we impress a resulting trust on the son's interest in the home, which inures to his mother's benefit.
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Originating Judge:Ellen Hobbs Lyle |
Davidson County | Court of Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Gary Russell
E1999-01511-CCA-R3-CD
The appellant pled guilty in the Anderson County Criminal Court to three counts of selling over .5 grams of cocaine. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial court imposed concurrent sentences of eight years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction for each conviction. The trial court denied the appellant any form of non-incarcerative alternative sentencing, including probation. On appeal, the appellant challenges the trial court's denial of alternative sentencing. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Originating Judge:James B. Scott, Jr. |
Anderson County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State of Tennessee v. Oneal Sanford
E1999-02089-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Originating Judge:Carroll L. Ross |
Bradley County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Kenneth England
E2000-00535-CCA-R3-CD
The defendant appeals the revocation of his community corrections sentence. Finding a lack of justiciable, substantial evidence to support the revocation, we reverse.
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Originating Judge:E. Shayne Sexton |
Campbell County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| State vs. Patty Pace Purkey
E2000-00308-CCA-R3-CD
The appellant, Patty Pace Purkey, pled guilty in the Grainger County Criminal Court to one count of vehicular assault, a class D felony, one count of reckless endangerment, a class E felony, three counts of simple possession of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor, and one count of driving on a revoked license, a class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced the appellant to the following terms of incarceration: three years in the Tennessee Department of Correction for vehicular assault; two years in the Tennessee Department of Correction for reckless endangerment; eleven months and twenty-nine days in the county jail for each of the simple possession convictions; and six months in the county jail for driving on a revoked license. The trial court further ordered that all of the appellant's sentences be served concurrently and assessed a total of $750 in fines. The trial court denied the appellant any form of alternative sentencing. On appeal, the appellant raises the following issue for our review: whether the trial court erred in failing to order probation or another alternative sentence. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Originating Judge:O. Duane Slone |
Grainger County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 | |
| Luther Brown, III vs. State
E1999-02290-CCA-R3-CD
The petitioner, Luther Robert Brown, III, appeals from the Sullivan County Criminal Court's summary dismissal of his petition for the writ of habeas corpus. Brown seeks relief from a "parole hold" that Tennessee officials have caused to be placed upon him within the Virginia prison system. According to the allegations of his petition, the parole hold has resulted in the Virginia prison system denying him inmate privileges to which he would otherwise be entitled. Additionally, he complains that he has not been granted a Tennessee parole hearing even though he has served his Tennessee sentence past the release eligibility date. Because we agree with the lower court that these complaints are not cognizable in a habeas corpus proceeding, we affirm the lower court's dismissal of the petition.
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Originating Judge:R. Jerry Beck |
Sullivan County | Court of Criminal Appeals | 12/13/00 |