STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHRISTOPHER OBERTON CURRY, JR. - Articles

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Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jan 8, 2025

Court: TN Supreme Court

Attorneys 1: Brennan M. Wingerter, Assistant Public Defender – Appellate Director (on appeal); Brian D. Wilson, Assistant Public Defender; Jeremy B. Epperson, District Public Defender; and Parker O. Dixon, Assistant District Public Defender (at trial), for the appellant, Christopher Oberton Curry, Jr.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Andrée Sophia Blumstein, Solicitor General; Andrew C. Coulam, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Edwin Alan Groves, Jr., Assistant Attorney General; Jody S. Pickens, District Attorney General; and Lee R. Sparks, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): PAGE

Christopher Oberton Curry, Jr. (“Defendant”) sought this Court’s review of his 2022 conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony crime of violence. Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-17-1307, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a Class E felony; however, if the prior conviction is for a felony crime of violence, the punishment is increased to a Class B felony. At Defendant’s trial in the present case, the State introduced a certified judgment of conviction for Defendant’s 2017 conviction for robbery, and the trial judge instructed the jury that robbery is a crime of violence. Robbery, however, is not included in the statutory definition of crimes of violence set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-17- 1301(3). Defendant was convicted and received an effective ten-year sentence. On appeal, Defendant argues, among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because the State failed to establish that the predicate felony of robbery was a crime of violence. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed, concluding that robbery is a crime of violence despite its absence from the statutory definition of the term. We granted Defendant’s application for permission to appeal to consider whether robbery is encompassed within the statutory definition of “crime of violence” and to determine whether the evidence at trial was sufficient to support Defendant’s conviction. After review, we agree with the lower courts that robbery can be a “crime of violence” within the definition contained in section 39-17-1301(3). However, we conclude that whether robbery is a “crime of violence” in a particular unlawful possession of a firearm case is a question for a properly instructed jury, not the trial judge. Because the State did not present sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Defendant’s prior robbery was a crime of violence, we reverse, in part, the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals and vacate the judgment of the trial court on Count 1. The case is remanded to the trial court for entry of a new judgment reducing the conviction in Count 1 to a Class E felony and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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