State of Tennessee v. Jemel Johnson

Syllabus

The Defendant, Jemel Johnson, was convicted by a Sumner County Criminal Court jury of two counts of attempted sexual battery by an authority figure, a Class D felony, two counts of aggravated rape, a Class A felony, and assault by extremely offensive or provocative conduct, a Class B misdemeanor, for acts involving two foster children. See T.C.A. §§ 39-12-101 (2018) (attempt) -13-101(A)(3) (2010) (subsequently amended) (assault) -13-502 (2018) (aggravated rape) -13-527 (2018) (attempted sexual battery by an authority figure). He received a sentence of twenty-five years' confinement. On appeal, the Defendant contends that (1) the trial court violated his constitutional right to due process by failing to produce a trial transcript sufficient to provide appellate review (2) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for aggravated rape (3) the trial court erred by admitting the victims' hearsay statements (4) the trial court erred by allowing the State to cross-examination the Defendant's wife about her blaming the victims (5) the trial court erred by not allowing the victims' school principal to testify about specific instances of conduct by one of the victims (6) the trial court erred by questioning the Defendant's wife in an argumentative manner, resulting in prejudice to the Defendant and (7) the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on sexual battery by an authority figure as a lesser included offense of aggravated rape. We affirm the judgments of the trial court and remand for entry of corrected judgments in Counts One and Two.