State of Tennessee v. Cantrell Devon Hodges

                                                                                            12/21/2023
        IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
                          AT JACKSON
                         Assigned on Briefs December 5, 2023

          STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CANTRELL DEVON HODGES

                  Appeal from the Circuit Court for Madison County
                          No. 20-595-A Kyle Atkins, Judge


                             No. W2023-00108-CCA-R3-CD


The defendant, Cantrell Devon Hodges, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a
firearm after having been convicted of a felony drug offense, two counts of possession of
marijuana with intent to sell or deliver, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia
after the trial court denied his motion to suppress evidence recovered from his home. As
part of his plea agreement, he reserved a certified question of law for appeal, challenging
the denial of his motion to suppress. Because the certified question is not dispositive of the
case as required by Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 37(b)(2)(A), we dismiss the
appeal.

                          Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Appeal Dismissed

JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT W.
WEDEMEYER, and MATTHEW J. WILSON, JJ., joined.

Cory Hancock, Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Cantrell Devon Hodges.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Caroline Weldon, Assistant Attorney
General; Jody S. Pickens, District Attorney General; and Bradley Champine, Assistant
District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

                                         OPINION

               The Madison County Grand Jury charged the defendant with two counts of
possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony drug offense, one count of
possession with intent to sell one-half ounce or more of marijuana, one count of possession
with intent to deliver one-half ounce or more of marijuana, and one count of possession of
drug paraphernalia. The defendant entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded
guilty as a Range I offender to all counts as charged with an agreed sentence of three years
for the firearm convictions, two years for the possession with intent to sell or deliver
convictions, and 11 months and 29 days for the possession of drug paraphernalia conviction
with the trial court to determine the manner of service.1

               As part of the plea agreement, and with the agreement of the State and the
trial court, the defendant reserved a certified question for appeal. See Tenn. R. Crim. P.
37(b)(2)(A). The trial court entered an agreed order reserving the following certified
question:

               [W]hether the trial court erred in finding that the officer’s
               affidavit, in support of the search warrant, provided a sufficient
               nexus between the suspected criminal activity . . . and probable
               cause that there would be further evidence of this criminal
               activity inside Defendant’s residence because said affidavit,
               provided that the license plates on said vehicle and the utilities
               on said residence were both in Defendant’s name.

The trial court’s order states that the parties and the court “are of the opinion that the
aforementioned certified question of law is dispositive of the case.”

              Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 3 provides for a right of appeal to a
defendant who pleaded guilty “if the defendant entered into a plea agreement but explicitly
reserved the right to appeal a certified question of law dispositive of the case pursuant to
and in compliance with the requirements of Rule 37(b)(2)(A) or (D) of the Tennessee
Rules of Criminal Procedure.” Tenn. R. App. P. 3(b). A defendant may plead guilty and
appeal a certified question of law if “the defendant entered into a plea agreement under
[Criminal Procedure] Rule 11(c) but explicitly reserved—with the consent of the [S]tate
and of the court—the right to appeal a certified question of law that is dispositive of the
case. Tenn. R. Crim. P. 37(b)(2)(A). To perfect an appeal of a certified question, the
following requirements must be met:

               (i) the judgment of conviction or order reserving the certified
               question that is filed before the notice of appeal is filed
               contains a statement of the certified question of law that the
               defendant reserved for appellate review;

               (ii) the question of law as stated in the judgment or order
               reserving the certified question identifies clearly the scope and
               limits of the legal issue reserved;

1
       The transcript of the plea submission hearing is not in the record.
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              (iii) the judgment or order reserving the certified question
              reflects that the certified question was expressly reserved with
              the consent of the state and the trial court; and

              (iv) the judgment or order reserving the certified question
              reflects that the defendant, the state, and the trial court are of
              the opinion that the certified question is dispositive of the case;
              or, except the judgment or order reserving the certified
              question need not reflect the state’s consent to the appeal or the
              state’s opinion that the question is dispositive.

Id. As in any other appeal before this court, our first concern is whether this court is
authorized to hear the case. Jurisdiction to hear a direct appeal following a guilty plea
generally must be predicated upon the provisions for reserving a certified question of law.
Because of the dispensatory nature of a certified question appeal, our supreme court firmly
rejected a rule of substantial compliance, see State v. Armstrong, 

(Tenn. 2003), and instead demanded strict adherence to Rule 37(b), State v. Pendergrass,

 (Tenn. 1996).

               Here, the record before us does not indicate what evidence was recovered
from the defendant’s residence. Consequently, we cannot say that the certified question is
dispositive of the case. Furthermore, at least some marijuana was found in the defendant’s
vehicle, and suppression of evidence recovered from the residence may have had no
bearing on the convictions for the possession of marijuana recovered from the vehicle.
Although the parties and the trial court agreed that the question is dispositive of the case,
this court is not bound by that determination. State v. Dailey, 

(Tenn. 2007) (quoting State v. Thompson, 

 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2003)).
Because, on the record before us, the certified question is not dispositive of the case, we
dismiss the appeal. See id. at 135 (“The issue . . . is whether ‘the record on appeal
demonstrates how [the certified] question is dispositive of the case.’” (second alteration
and emphasis in Dailey) (quoting State v. Preston, 

 (Tenn. 1988)).

              Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.

                                                    __________________________________
                                                    JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., JUDGE




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