STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHAISTY DAWN JONES - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CHAISTY DAWN JONES

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Dec 5, 2025

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: M. Todd Ridley, Assistant Public Defender – Appellate Division, Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference (on appeal); Travis Jones, District Public Defender; and Amanda L. Dunavant, Assistant District Public Defender (at trial), for the appellant, Chaisty Dawn Jones.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth Evan, Assistant Attorney General; Brent Cooper, District Attorney General; and Pamela Anderson and Kyle Dodd, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): MCMULLEN

In June 2021, the Maury County Grand Jury indicted Defendant, Chaisty Dawn Jones, for first degree premeditated murder in Count 1, first degree felony murder perpetration of aggravated burglary in Count 2, aggravated burglary in Count 3, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony in Count 4, and simple possession of marijuana in Count 5. At trial, the jury convicted the Defendant of the lesser included offense of second degree murder in Count 1 and convicted her as charged in Counts 2, 3, 4, and 5. The trial court merged the conviction in Count 1 with the conviction in Count 2 and imposed an effective life sentence. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that the Defendant had a “duty to retreat” prior to acting in self- defense. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court but remand for entry of corrected judgments in Count 1 and Count 2.

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