State of Tennessee v. David Lynn Richards, Jr.

Syllabus

The Defendant, David Lynn Richards, Jr., appeals his Knox County Criminal Courtconvictions for three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure (Counts 1, 2, and 9),two counts of rape (Counts 3 and 4), three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure(Counts 5, 6, and 7), and one count of incest (Count 11).1 On appeal, the Defendant argues:(1) if newly discovered forensic biological evidence had been presented to the jury, then itlikely would have changed the result of his trial (2) if newly discovered forensic electronicevidence had been presented to the jury, then it likely would have changed the result of histrial (3) if the newly discovered records related to victim's mental health history had beenpresented to the jury, then it likely would have changed the result of his trial (4) his dueprocess rights were violated under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), andPennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39 (1987) (5) the trial court committed plain error bypermitting the State to play the entire recording of victim's forensic interview (6) hereceived ineffective assistance from trial counsel (7) the State's erroneous election for therape offense in Count 4 failed to protect his right to a unanimous jury verdict in that count(8) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for sexual battery by an authorityfigure in Count 1 and his conviction for rape in Count 4 (9) his dual convictions for sexualbattery by an authority figure in Counts 1 and 2 violate the prohibition against doublejeopardy (10) the trial court abused its discretion by denying all forms of alternativesentencing and by imposing a partially consecutive sentence and (11) the cumulative effectof these errors entitles him to a new trial. After review, we affirm the judgments of thetrial court.2