STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RUSTY L. PATTERSON - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RUSTY L. PATTERSON

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jan 8, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Eric Lutton, District Public Defender, and Jonathan Harwell, Assistant Public Defender (on appeal), and George Waters and Jacob Feuer (at trial), Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Rusty L. Patterson.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Garrett D. Ward, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Charme P. Allen, District Attorney General; and Ta Kisha Fitzgerald and Teddy Ryan, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): CAMPBELL

The Defendant, Rusty L. Patterson, was convicted in the Knox County Criminal Court of theft of property valued $2,500 or more, a Class D felony. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced him as a Range III, career offender to twelve years in confinement with sixty percent release eligibility. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court committed plain error by refusing to instruct the jury on attempted theft, that the evidence is insufficient to show the value of the stolen property, and that the unavailability of the community corrections program in Knox County violated his constitutional rights at sentencing. Based upon the oral arguments, the record, and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

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