State of Tennessee v. Franklin Monroe McMillan
Syllabus
Defendant, Franklin Monroe McMillan, was convicted by a jury of two counts of rape of a child and was sentenced by the trial court to a total effective sentence of eighty years. On appeal, Defendant contends that the forensic interview of the child victim was erroneously admitted, that the trial court improperly denied his motion to exclude DNA evidence, and that the prosecutor made improper statements during closing rebuttal argument. Following our review of the entire record, the briefs of the parties, and the arguments of counsel, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- critical question in fitness determination is whether parent is currently fit to further welfare and best interests of child
- full legal parent may obtain primary custody over other parent’s objection where in best interests of child; de facto parent may obtain such custody only if legal parent first found to be unfit
- “In the context of a custody determination, ... it is essential to recognize that the determination whether a parent is ‘unfit’ is closely intertwined with a consideration of the best interests of the child”
- long-term temporary guardian seeking permanent guardianship had burden to show legal parent's unfitness
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Judge Jill Bartee Ayers
Read full opinion on CourtListenerSourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
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