TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Judge’s Comments Prompt Supreme Court’s Order of New Post-Conviction Hearing

Posted by: Kate Prince on Aug 25, 2020

The Tennessee Supreme Court today vacated a decision from Judge Lee V. Coffee in a post-conviction relief case due to comments he made during proceedings. Coffee denied the post-conviction relief claim of ineffective assistance of counsel and in his oral ruling from the bench, compared the post-conviction process in Tennessee to a football game, called the petitioner’s claims “almost absolutely laughable,” expressed a preference for Texas law and expressed doubt that the petitioner’s trial attorneys could ever be ineffective. The high court ruled that Coffee’s comments would indicate to a reasonable person that the decision to deny relief was based as much on the judge’s disdain for, and disagreement with, Tennessee law regarding post-conviction procedures and his belief that trial counsel were so preeminent, skilled, and knowledgeable that they could never be ineffective in any case as on the evidence presented at the hearing. The court also reviewed whether Coffee’s comments called into question his impartiality for future post-conviction relief cases, but “stopped inches short” of drawing that conclusion since the comments appeared to be isolated and not habitual. Read the full story from the Tennessee State Courts website.

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