Melvin Burkett v. State ( 1996 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE FILED
MARCH SESSION, 1997
November 4, 1997
Cecil W. Crowson
MELVIN LEE BURKETT, ) Appellate Court Clerk
)
Appellant, ) No. 01C01-9605-CC-00202
)
) Humphreys County
v. )
) Honorable Allen W. Wallace, Judge
)
STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) (Post-Conviction)
)
Appellee. )
DISSENTING OPINION
I respectfully dissent because I believe that State v. Roger Dale Hill, Sr.,
No. 01C01-9508-CC-00267, Wayne County (Tenn. Crim. App. June 20, 1996), app.
granted (Tenn. Jan. 6, 1997), represents the law in Tennessee. The indictment in the
present case is similar to that in Hill in all material respects. I note that in Jackson v.
Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979), the United States Supreme
Court concluded that conviction and punishment of an individual upon legally
insufficient evidence constituted a violation of due process. I believe that, similarly,
conviction and punishment upon a void indictment would constitute a violation of due
process.
____________________________
Joseph M. Tipton, Judge