TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Supreme Court Clarifies Consecutive Sentencing for Extensive Criminal Activity

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 9, 2022

The Tennessee Supreme Court today upheld partial consecutive sentencing that was imposed by a trial court after it had found that a defendant’s record of criminal activity was extensive. The case involved the downloading of child pornography and child erotica material and subsequent uploading of 174 images and video to a Dropbox account. At trial, the defendant admitted those actions and that he had shared or traded electronic files with others. At sentencing, the trial court imposed partial consecutive sentences believing that the volume of material involved in the case qualified as extensive criminal activity. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the sentence though one judge dissented, arguing the trial court should not have relied just on the number of counts to determine the activity was extensive. The high court affirmed the majority appellate decision, saying that an extensive record of criminal activity is that which is large or considerable in amount, time, space or scope, and that the trial court was correct in finding extensive criminal activity in this case.

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