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State of Tennessee v. Madaryl Dewayne Hampton

TENNCRIMAPPJuly 12, 2021No. W2019-01551-CCA-R3-CD

Case Details

Judge(s)
Judge Camille R. McMullen
Status
Published
Procedural Posture
Appeal as of right; affirmed on all grounds

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Outcome

Criminal appeal affirmed. Defendant's convictions for felon in possession of a weapon and simple possession of marijuana upheld on appeal; trial court did not commit plain error in admission of evidence or prosecutorial commentary, and evidence was sufficient to sustain convictions.

Excerpt

The Defendant-Appellant, Madaryl Hampton, was indicted by the Madison County Grand Jury with multiple counts of drug and weapon related offenses, all stemming from a single encounter with the Jackson Police Department (JPD). These counts were severed into two trials, one dealing with the drug related offenses and the other the weapon related offenses. In the first trial, the Defendant was convicted of two counts of simple possession of marijuana. In his second trial, the Defendant was convicted of four counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon. The trial court merged each of these counts and sentenced the Defendant as a Range II offender to twenty years' imprisonment for the weapon offenses to be served consecutively to eleven months and twenty-nine days' imprisonment for the possession of marijuana convictions. While the issues presented in this appeal as of right involve facts from the Defendant's first trial, the Defendant challenges only the felon in possession of a weapon convictions in arguing that: (1) the trial court committed plain error in allowing the State to admit evidence that the Defendant was in possession of marijuana, digital scales, and cash (2) the trial court committed plain error in allowing the State to comment on the credibility of the Defendant and the witnesses during closing arguments and (3) the evidence is insufficient to sustain the Defendant's convictions. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

What This Ruling Means

**What Happened:** This was a criminal case, not an employment dispute. Madaryl Hampton was charged with illegally possessing a weapon as a convicted felon and possessing marijuana after an encounter with Jackson, Tennessee police. Hampton was convicted on both charges in separate trials and appealed his convictions to a higher court. **What the Court Decided:** The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Hampton's convictions. The appeals court found that the trial court properly handled the evidence and that there was enough evidence to support guilty verdicts on both the weapon possession and marijuana charges. Hampton's appeal was unsuccessful. **Why This Matters for Workers:** While this criminal case doesn't directly affect workplace rights, it serves as an important reminder that criminal convictions can significantly impact employment opportunities. Many employers conduct background checks and may refuse to hire workers with drug or weapon-related convictions. Workers should be aware that criminal charges, even for relatively minor offenses like simple marijuana possession, can create barriers to finding jobs. Some states have "ban the box" laws that limit when employers can ask about criminal history, but Tennessee workers with criminal records may still face employment challenges.

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

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