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State of Tennessee v. Lawrence Dewayne Stoner

TENNCRIMAPPJuly 3, 2019No. W2018-01230-CCA-R3-CD

Case Details

Judge(s)
Presiding Judge John Everett Williams
Status
Published
Procedural Posture
appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Excerpt

The Defendant was convicted by a jury of three counts of tampering with governmental records and three counts of official misconduct after improperly entering jail credits during his employment as lieutenant over corrections in the Benton County Sheriff's Department. After the verdict, the trial court entered a written order granting the Defendant judgments of acquittal on the three counts of official misconduct and dismissing the counts on the basis that any benefit did not accrue to the Defendant. On appeal, the State argues that the trial court erred in granting the judgments of acquittal. The Defendant asserts that the notice of appeal was untimely and that the trial court properly granted judgments of acquittal. After due consideration, we waive the timely notice of appeal, and we conclude that the trial court erred in its interpretation of the statute. Accordingly, we reverse the granting of judgments of acquittal and remand for further proceedings.

What This Ruling Means

**What happened:** Lawrence Dewayne Stoner worked as a lieutenant in the corrections department at the Benton County Sheriff's Department in Tennessee. While on the job, he was accused of improperly entering jail credits into official records. Prosecutors charged him with tampering with government records and official misconduct. A jury found him guilty on all charges - three counts of tampering with records and three counts of official misconduct. **What the court decided:** After the jury verdict, the trial court made an unusual decision. The judge threw out the three official misconduct convictions, ruling that Stoner didn't personally benefit from his actions. However, the case was then sent back to a higher court for further review, meaning the final outcome remained unresolved. **Why this matters for workers:** This case shows that government employees can face serious criminal charges for mishandling official records, even if they don't personally profit from their actions. Workers in positions of trust - especially those handling sensitive records or data - should understand that improper record-keeping can lead to criminal prosecution, not just job loss. The case also demonstrates how complex these situations can become when courts disagree about the legal standards.

This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.

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