STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANTONIO FIRST - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANTONIO FIRST

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Nov 7, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Barry W. Kuhn, Assistant Public Defender – Appellate Division, Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference (on appeal); Phyllis Aluko, District Public Defender; and Mary K. Kent and Jack Pullis, Assistant District Public Defenders (at trial), for the appellant, Antonio First.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Steven J. Mulroy, District Attorney General; and Eric Christensen and Devon Dennis, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): SWORD

The Defendant, Antonio First, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of two counts of felony murder and one count each of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect, for which he received an effective sentence of life plus forty years’ incarceration to be served as a Range II, multiple offender. On appeal, the Defendant claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statements to law enforcement. Because we conclude that both the Defendant’s motion for new trial and notice of appeal were untimely filed and that the interests of justice do not merit the waiver of the untimeliness of the Defendant’s notice of appeal, we dismiss the appeal.

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