State of Tennessee v. Clarence Eric Norris, M2016-02111-CCA-R3-CD

Clarence Eric Norris pleaded guilty to possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell and received an eight-year sentence to be served on community corrections.
Norris accumulated multiple violations of community corrections: admitted violations in Jan. and Apr. 2015 (reinstated each time), a third violation in Aug. 2015 (resulting in one year day-for-day confinement and completion of a residential drug program), and reinstatement on Aug. 17, 2016.
A fourth violation was filed Oct. 7, 2016, alleging Norris presented a forged prescription to his community corrections officer.
At the Oct. 17, 2016 hearing Norris admitted printing and submitting a fraudulent prescription because he feared failing a drug screen; he also admitted falsely claiming to be seeing a doctor.
The trial court found Norris not credible, emphasized his repeated violations and deceptive conduct, revoked community corrections, and ordered him to serve the remaining balance of his eight-year sentence in confinement.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether revocation of community corrections and imposition of confinement was proper	State: trial court may revoke if violation shown by preponderance and resentence up to statutory maximum	Norris: forgery was a "mistake" and confinement was unjust given circumstances	Court: upheld revocation; no abuse of discretion—substantial evidence of repeated violations and active deceit

State v. Harkins, 811 S.W.2d 79 (Tenn. 1991) (revocation of community-based sentence requires proof by preponderance and is reviewed for abuse of discretion)
State v. Gregory, 946 S.W.2d 829 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1997) (abuse of discretion occurs when record lacks substantial evidence of violation)
State v. Mitchell, 810 S.W.2d 733 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1991) (trial court has discretion to revoke community corrections and impose incarceration when violations are proven)