Aaron Malone v. State of Tennessee, W2016-00666-CCA-R3-PC

Background

Aaron Malone was convicted of first-degree felony murder after a jury trial; sentence: life as a violent offender. Conviction affirmed on direct appeal.
Police linked Malone to the crime via: witness sightings of a teal/turquoise Saturn with taped rear window; convenience-store surveillance showing Malone; co-defendant’s statement implicating Malone and leading to recovery of a sawed-off shotgun; and credit cards found in a third party’s possession who said Malone gave them the cards.
Malone gave a recorded and written confession after being brought to the homicide office; officers read Miranda warnings; suppression court found the arrest unlawful but, relying on New York v. Harris, declined to suppress the confession as the arrest was supported by probable cause.
Post-conviction petition alleged ineffective assistance of counsel (counsel failed to challenge probable cause, failed to challenge delay in judicial probable-cause determination, and failed to obtain unedited footage from the TV show “The First 48”) and a due-process claim based on the State’s failure to preserve unedited TV footage.
At the post-conviction evidentiary hearing: trial counsel explained he did not pursue the footage because prior inquiries showed producers destroyed unused footage; counsel declined to press a no-probable-cause argument given the State’s corroborating evidence; officers explained the department’s use of a forty-eight-hour hold and that the producers shipped/ destroyed raw footage.
The post-conviction court denied relief; this Court affirmed, finding counsel’s performance was not deficient and Malone failed to prove prejudice or a preserved due-process Brady/Ferguson claim regarding the destroyed footage.

Issues

Issue	Malone's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Trial counsel ineffective for not arguing arrest lacked probable cause	Counsel should have challenged the warrantless entry/arrest; no probable cause	Police had corroborating witness ID, surveillance, co-defendant statement, and recovered weapon info — probable cause existed; counsel reasonably declined a meritless challenge	Denied — counsel not deficient; probable cause supported arrest
Trial counsel ineffective for not arguing unreasonable delay in judicial probable-cause determination	Counsel should have argued Gerstein violation / delay before magistrate	Malone was brought before a magistrate within 48 hours; delay was not for improper purpose and was routine to vet charges	Denied — no unreasonable delay; counsel not ineffective
Trial counsel ineffective for not obtaining unedited “First 48” footage	Raw footage likely exculpatory or impeaching; counsel should have secured it	Producers shipped footage out of town and destroyed unused segments; counsel reasonably relied on prior inquiry; Malone produced no raw footage at hearing	Denied — no deficiency or prejudice shown
Due process / evidence preservation (Brady/Ferguson) claim for State’s failure to preserve TV footage	State had duty to seize footage from private TV producers because footage recorded state activity	Footage never in State’s possession or control; no authority to compel seizure; Malone waived issue by not preserving it earlier	Denied and waived; State had no duty to confiscate producers’ raw footage

Key Cases Cited

New York v. Harris, 495 U.S. 14 (1990) (statements taken after an unlawful arrest supported by probable cause are not necessarily excluded)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong ineffective-assistance standard: deficiency and prejudice)
Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103 (1975) (prompt judicial determination of probable cause required after a warrantless arrest)
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) (prosecutor’s duty to disclose exculpatory evidence)
State v. Echols, 382 S.W.3d 266 (Tenn. 2012) (definition and standard for probable cause under Tennessee law)
State v. Huddleston, 924 S.W.2d 666 (Tenn. 1996) (factors for determining whether confession is tainted by prior constitutional violation)