State of Tennessee v. Michael O. Brown

Syllabus

In 1991, the Defendant, Michael O. Brown, was convicted of sale of cocaine, and the trial court sentenced him to eleven years of incarceration. In 1996, the Defendant was convicted of sale of cocaine, and the trial court sentenced him to twenty years of incarceration to be served consecutively to his sentence for the 1991 conviction. In 2006, the Defendant filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence. The trial court concluded that the Defendant's 1991 sentence had been improperly enhanced, so it modified the sentence to eight years. The trial court further concluded that this modification did not affect the Defendant's sentence for his 1996 conviction. After filing multiple motions to correct an illegal sentence from 2006 to 2008, the Defendant filed a motion pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1 in 2016, contending that his 1991 conviction was illegal and had been vacated, making the trial court's use of it as an enhancement for his 1996 sentence improper. The trial court dismissed the Defendant's motion and denied his subsequent motion to reconsider. The Defendant appeals, contending that his sentence for his 1996 conviction was improperly enhanced and that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to reconsider. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the trial court's judgment.