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State of Tennessee v. Joseph and Evangeline Combs - Concurring
Citation: Not availableDocket: E2000-2801-CCA-R3-CD
Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee; September 25, 2002; Tennessee; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
In the case of State of Tennessee v. Joseph and Evangeline Combs, the Court of Criminal Appeals addressed multiple convictions stemming from charges of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. Judge Gary R. Wade expressed concurrence with the majority's outcome but highlighted significant errors in the trial court's proceedings. Specifically, he noted the failure to charge the jury on lesser included offenses: facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping and false imprisonment concerning the kidnapping charge, and reckless endangerment and assault related to the aggravated assault charge. Although he acknowledged these errors, he deemed them harmless beyond a reasonable doubt for the convictions in question. Wade referenced the recent ruling in State v. Allen, which emphasized the necessity of a contextual analysis of the entire record to assess whether the omission of lesser included offenses was harmless. He contended that this approach contradicts the implication from State v. Williams, which suggested that such failures would always be harmless if the jury's verdict was significantly beyond the omitted offenses. Regarding Joseph Combs' conviction for aggravated perjury, Wade concurred that the trial court's omission of instructions on the lesser included offense of perjury constituted a significant error that could not be deemed harmless. Consequently, he advocated for a new trial on that specific charge.