State of Tennessee v. Montrekus Lamon Tiller, W2017-00093-CCA-R3-CD

Defendant Montrekus Tiller was indicted for aggravated assault after an incident at a BP gas station where the victim, Troy Turner, testified Tiller pointed a gun out of his truck window and fired, causing fear for his and his child’s safety.
Witness Jerron Warren testified Defendant took Warren’s Glock 17 after a fight and a shot was fired; Warren was knocked unconscious during the altercation and later ran to safety hearing additional shots.
Police found no bullet strikes on the victim or either vehicle and could not recover surveillance footage from the station (footage was never obtained due to ownership/access issues).
Forensics testimony: TBI firearms expert and a lieutenant testified a Glock will not fire unless the trigger is pulled, but neither could absolutely rule out an accidental trigger pull by Defendant.
Defendant gave inconsistent statements to police about whether the gun discharged while in his hand, on the seat, or while he was manipulating the slide; he also testified that he did not think the gun was loaded.
A jury convicted Tiller of aggravated assault; he appealed arguing insufficient evidence (due to inconsistencies) and that the State failed to preserve exculpatory videotape evidence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence for aggravated assault	State: victim and Warren testimony sufficiently proves Defendant knowingly displayed a deadly weapon and caused fear	Tiller: inconsistent witness statements and missing videotape make conviction unsupported	Court: Evidence sufficient; jurors credited State witnesses and resolved inconsistencies for the prosecution
Reliance on unavailable surveillance video	State: no duty to obtain footage; Defendant could have obtained it; footage not shown to be in State’s possession	Tiller: jury needed videotape to resolve bias/inconsistencies; State should have preserved exculpatory evidence	Court: Defendant could have procured the tape; no proof State possessed it, so no preservation duty; argument rejected
Alleged plain error from failure to preserve evidence	State: N/A	Tiller: failure to preserve exculpatory video violated State v. Ferguson and is plain error	Court: Plain-error claim fails; State must have had possession before duty to preserve arises; issue not raised in new-trial motion, so not preserved

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (juror standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
State v. Reid, 91 S.W.3d 247 (Tenn. 2002) (burden on defendant to show insufficiency after verdict)
State v. Goodwin, 143 S.W.3d 771 (Tenn. 2004) (prosecution entitled to strongest legitimate view of evidence)
State v. Smith, 24 S.W.3d 274 (Tenn. 2000) (inferences from evidence reviewed in light most favorable to State)
State v. Wagner, 382 S.W.3d 289 (Tenn. 2012) (credibility and conflict resolution are jury functions)
State v. Campbell, 245 S.W.3d 331 (Tenn. 2008) (same)
State v. Bland, 958 S.W.2d 651 (Tenn. 1997) (verdict accredits State witnesses)
State v. Dorantes, 331 S.W.3d 370 (Tenn. 2011) (same standard for circumstantial evidence)
State v. Hanson, 279 S.W.3d 265 (Tenn. 2009) (same)
State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832 (Tenn. 1978) (appellate courts cannot re-evaluate evidence freely)
State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474 (Tenn. 1973) (same)
State v. Ferguson, 2 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 1999) (State’s duty to preserve exculpatory evidence premise)
State v. Marshall, 845 S.W.2d 228 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1992) (State must have possessed evidence before preservation duty arises)