State of Tennessee v. Eric Dewayne Finley, E2017-00482-CCA-R3-CD

Background

Eric Dewayne Finley pled guilty to aggravated burglary (Case No. 296149) and received a four-year sentence on supervised probation, consecutive to another case.
Multiple warrants and revocation petitions followed: charges for aggravated domestic assault/vandalism (later reduced/dismissed), solicitation/coercion of a witness (Case No. 1634924/299584), GPS violations, failure to report, methamphetamine use, assaultive conduct in inpatient treatment, and failure to pay restitution and fees.
General Sessions initially revoked and ordered execution of an 11-month-29-day sentence; Finley appealed to the Criminal Court, which restored probation with conditions (no-contact order and GPS) after a September 2016 hearing.
Subsequent violation reports (failure to report, GPS noncompliance, missed payments, disciplinary discharge from treatment for assaultive behavior, admitted methamphetamine use, and post-arrest phone contact with the victim) led to capias and arrest in January 2017.
At a February 27, 2017 revocation hearing, witnesses (probation officer, court liaison, police investigator) testified; the trial court revoked probation in both appealed cases and ordered sentences into execution.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Finley)	Held
Whether revocation was supported by admissible evidence	Court may rely on testimony and reports showing multiple probation violations	Admission of hearsay (investigator and probation officer) and reliance on dismissed assault charge and treatment incidents violated confrontation/hearsay rules	Revocation affirmed: defendant waived hearsay objection by not objecting at trial; substantial evidence of multiple violations existed
Whether no-contact violation justified revocation given victim’s willingness to have contact	No-contact violations (and multiple calls) supported revocation and probation conditions enforcement	Argued Lowery wanted contact, so no-contact violation should not count	Court noted victim’s prior conduct but found evidence (66 post-arrest calls) supported enforcement; waiver of hearsay objection mitigated challenge
Whether alleged treatment assault and disciplinary discharge could be used	Treatment discharge and assaultive behavior were probative of supervision violations and dangerousness	Argued such evidence was hearsay and improperly admitted	Waiver of objection; even excluding disputed hearsay, other violations (drug use, failure to report, GPS, restitution, fees) sufficed
Whether revocation and full confinement were an abuse of discretion	State asserted multiple independent violations justify full revocation and execution of sentences	Defendant contended remaining bases were minor and full confinement excessive	Court applied abuse-of-discretion standard and affirmed: ample evidence supported revocation and confinement

Key Cases Cited

State v. Shaffer, 45 S.W.3d 553 (Tenn. 2001) (standard for probation revocation and appellate review)
State v. Harkins, 811 S.W.2d 79 (Tenn. 1991) (probation revocation discretion and sufficiency review)
State v. Wade, 863 S.W.2d 406 (Tenn. 1993) (limits on confrontation rights in revocation hearings; hearsay can be admitted with good cause and reliability)
Barker v. State, 483 S.W.2d 586 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1972) (relaxed evidentiary rules at probation revocation hearings)
State v. Hunter, 1 S.W.3d 643 (Tenn. 1999) (options available to court after probation revocation)
State v. Wall, 909 S.W.2d 8 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994) (failure to object below waives challenge to admission of probation violation report)