State of Tennessee v. Nathaniel Morton Champion

Syllabus

A Coffee County jury convicted the Defendant, Nathaniel Morton Champion, of possession of contraband in a penal institution, a Class C felony, for which the trial court imposed an eight-year sentence to run consecutively to the Defendant's prior sentences. On appeal, the Defendant contends that: (1) the trial court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the indictment based on the State's failure to preserve evidence pursuant to State v. Ferguson, 2 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 1999) (2) the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to support his conviction (3) the trial court abused its discretion by denying the Defendant's request for a continuance based on the failure of a defense witness to appear to testify at trial (4) the Defendant's waiver of the right to counsel was not knowing and intelligent and (5) the trial court abused its discretion by enhancing the Defendant's sentence to eight years and ordering consecutive sentencing. Following a thorough review, we affirm the Defendant's judgment of conviction.