Charles Pennington v. State of Tennessee

Syllabus

Petitioner, Charles Pennington, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief from his convictions for first degree felony murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery. On appeal, Petitioner asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel due to trial counsel's failure to investigate and present a defense regarding the victim's ownership of the gun and failure tocross-examine his codefendants regarding the details of their plea agreements. Petitioner also asserts that his due process right to a fair trial was violated by the prosecutor's knowing use of perjured testimony from one of his codefendants. Although we waive the timely filing of the notice of appeal in the interest of justice, we conclude that Petitioner's grounds for relief are waived because they were not raised in the post-conviction court. Thus, we affirm the judgment of the postconviction court.