State of Tennessee v. Kevin Patterson AKA John O'Keefe Varner AKA John O'Keefe Kitchen, 538 S.W.3d 431

Defendant John O’Keefe Varner (aka Kevin Patterson) was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and being a felon in possession of a firearm; at sentencing the trial court imposed life without parole under Tennessee’s repeat violent offender statute on the attempted murder conviction.
The State filed a pretrial “Notice of Prior Convictions” more than six months before trial that listed multiple prior convictions and stated the State’s intent to seek repeat-violent-offender status and to use priors for impeachment/enhancement.
The notice failed to identify which prior convictions specifically qualified as repeat violent offenses and omitted the dates of separate periods of incarceration; it also contained some inaccurate dates/locations for two prior convictions.
At sentencing the State introduced certified judgments showing two qualifying convictions; defense counsel affirmatively stated there was no objection to the accuracy of the presentence report’s prior-criminal-record listing.
The Court of Criminal Appeals set aside the life sentence sua sponte based on the notice deficiencies (relying on Cooper), but one judge dissented; the Tennessee Supreme Court granted review.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Varner)	Held
Whether the State’s pretrial notice satisfied the repeat violent offender statute	Notice was timely and sufficiently informed defendant of State’s intent to seek repeat-violent-offender status; any defects did not prejudice defendant	Notice was defective (did not identify qualifying priors or dates of separate incarcerations; included inaccuracies), requiring reversal under plain error	The notice, though imperfect, was fair and timely, triggered a duty to inquire, defendant showed no prejudice, so sentence reinstated

State v. Cooper, 321 S.W.3d 501 (Tenn. 2010) (hold: absence of any pretrial notice precludes imposition of repeat-violent-offender sentence; affirmed importance of pretrial notice)
State v. Gilliland, 22 S.W.3d 266 (Tenn. 2000) (pretrial notice required where State seeks death or LWOP; lack of notice cannot be excused by absence of prejudice)
State v. Adams, 788 S.W.2d 557 (Tenn. 1990) (notice must provide at least minimal statutorily required information; ambiguous/incomplete notice triggers defendant’s duty to inquire and requires showing of prejudice)
State v. Benham, 113 S.W.3d 702 (Tenn. 2003) (preferred practice: separate, properly captioned notice; embedding notice in unrelated documents is problematic)
State v. Livingston, 197 S.W.3d 710 (Tenn. 2006) (what is required is fair—not perfect—notice; strict requirement that some minimal notice be given prior to trial)