STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAVID JAMES PAUL - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAVID JAMES PAUL

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Sep 11, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Jonathan W. Turner, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, David James Paul.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Caroline Weldon, Assistant Attorney General; Stacey B. Edmonson, District Attorney General; and Dale L. Evans and Ashley M. Abraham, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): GREENHOLTZ

Following a bench trial, the Defendant, David James Paul, was convicted of two counts of driving under the influence. The trial court merged the convictions and imposed a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days. On appeal, the Defendant challenges the trial court’s denial of his pretrial motion to suppress. He contends that the State failed to establish reasonable suspicion for the initial seizure because the officers who detained him did not testify, leaving the record without proof of the circumstances justifying the stop. The State responds that reasonable suspicion was established through a “be on the lookout” dispatch report, or BOLO, and the testimony of the arresting officer, who arrived after the Defendant had been detained. Upon our review, we hold that because the State offered no admissible evidence concerning the circumstances of the initial seizure, it fell short of establishing that the detention was supported by reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. Accordingly, we respectfully reverse and vacate the judgments of the trial court and remand for dismissal.

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