State of Tennessee v. Ronnie Lee Clayborn

Syllabus

Defendant, Ronnie Lee Clayborn, was convicted by a Fentress County jury of rape of a child and incest, for which he received a sentence of twenty-seven years' incarceration. On appeal, Defendant contends that: (1) the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support his convictions beyond a reasonable doubt (2) the trial court committed plain error by the admission of prior uncharged sex crimes to bolster the victim's testimony (3) rebuttal testimony from the lead detective infringed upon Defendant's right to remain silent (4) the trial court erred when it excluded testimony from Defendant's father about text messages sent from Defendant to the victim's mother on the night of the offense (5) the prosecutor engaged in improper prosecutorial argument (6) the trial court committed plain error by allowing the use of a facility dog during the testimony of two minor witnesses (7) he is entitled to plain error relief based on the prosecutors' and the lead detective's repeated use of the term \victim\ to refer to the complaining witness and (8) cumulative error necessitates a new trial. Following a thorough review, we affirm the judgments of conviction.