Coy J. Cotham, Jr. v. State of Tennessee

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 13, 2026
DocketM2025-01171-CCA-R3-PC
StatusPublished
AuthorPresiding Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer

This text of Coy J. Cotham, Jr. v. State of Tennessee (Coy J. Cotham, Jr. v. State of Tennessee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coy J. Cotham, Jr. v. State of Tennessee, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

04/13/2026 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs March 10, 2026

COY J. COTHAM, JR. v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2010-C-2636 Mark J. Fishburn, Judge ___________________________________

No. M2025-01171-CCA-R3-PC ___________________________________

A Davidson County jury convicted the Petitioner, Coy J. Cotham, Jr., of first-degree premeditated murder and especially aggravated robbery, and the trial court imposed a life sentence without parole and a consecutive twenty-five-year sentence. The Petitioner appealed, and this court affirmed the trial court’s judgments. State v. Coy J. Cotham, Jr., M2012-01150-CCA-R3-CD, 2014 WL 3778613, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. July 31, 2014). Subsequently, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to the Post- Conviction DNA Analysis Act, which the post-conviction court summarily dismissed. On appeal, the Petitioner maintains that he is entitled to DNA testing of a blue towel recovered from his vehicle. Following our review of the record, we affirm the post-conviction court’s denial of relief.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed

ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN and MATTHEW J. WILSON, JJ., joined.

Coy J. Cotham, Jr., Pikeville, Tennessee, Pro Se.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth Evan, Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Janice Norman, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION I. Procedural History

This case arises from the August 29, 2010 shooting death of the victim, Veronica Bozza, at her home in Hermitage, Tennessee. For his role in her death, a Davidson County jury indicted the Petitioner for the first-degree premeditated murder of the victim and especially aggravated robbery.1

At the time of the victim’s death, the victim and her estranged husband, Timothy Roy Bozza, were in the process of a divorce and determining custody of their son. Several months before the victim’s death, the victim was awarded more time with their son, approximately 203 days, and a reduction in the amount of child support she owed Mr. Bozza. Mr. Bozza was upset by this ruling. Both the victim and Mr. Bozza were required “to carry $350,000 in life insurance, listing the other parent as the beneficiary as trustee for their minor child.” Cotham, 2014 WL 3778613, at *8. The remaining custody issues were unresolved at the time of the victim’s murder.

On August 29, 2010, the victim’s boyfriend, Brian Robinson, found the victim at home at around noon, lying on the floor bleeding. He called 911, and Metro Nashville Police Department (“MNPD”) officers responded. Police found a projectile on the floor next to the victim’s body, a hole in the hardwood floor, and a spent shell casing on the floor next to the wall near the back door. The couch cushions had been lifted, making it appear as if someone had been searching for something. The victim sustained two gunshot wounds to her head and had gunpowder residue on her hand, indicating close proximity to the shooter at the time the gun was fired. Officers found $400 in an envelope in plain view a few feet from the victim’s body and a blank check made payable to the victim from Mr. Bozza with the notation “for school fees.” Id. at *3. Police officers collected four projectiles and one nine-millimeter shell casing from the crime scene.

MNPD detectives interviewed Mr. Bozza and determined that he was not present during the victim’s murder based upon receipts and store surveillance videotapes showing that he was shopping at relevant times to the murder. Telephone records, however, reflected numerous calls between Mr. Bozza and the Petitioner on the day of the murder. Detectives developed the Petitioner as a person of interest “because it looked like [the victim’s] cell phone was being used after the time of her death. And her cell phone was using towers in the locations, exactly the same point, where [the Petitioner’s] cell towers were being used after the homicide.” Id. at *4 (first alteration in original). Later, when interviewed by law enforcement officers, the Petitioner’s statements about his whereabouts around the time of the murder were inconsistent with the cell phone records.

After one of the detectives assigned to the case executed a search warrant at the home of the Petitioner’s mother, the detective began receiving threatening phone calls from the Petitioner, who initially tried to disguise his voice. The Petitioner told the detective

1 The victim’s estranged husband, Timothy Roy Bozza, also was indicted for the first-degree premeditated murder of the victim and tried separately. 2 that he knew identifying information about the detective’s family, including where they lived, his son’s age, and specifics about family vehicles. Later, when the detective transported the Petitioner for booking following the Petitioner’s arrest in Kentucky, the Petitioner told the detective he also knew where the detective’s son attended school.

Police recovered from the Petitioner’s Cadillac Escalade:

a black duffel bag containing a pair of white tennis shoes, two used blue latex gloves, and a collapsible cooler containing a black Nike hat and a Condor brand black tactical sleeve, which could be worn around the head as a scarf or face mask; a pawn ticket transaction from Toliver’s Pawn and Loan dated August 25, 2010; two brown towels found in the backseat; a cell phone charger with a phone connected to it; a pair of black gloves; and a blue hand towel.

Id. at *5.

At trial, Mr. Bozza testified that he and the victim were married for about seventeen years and shared a son. At the time of the victim’s death, they had been separated for about fourteen months, and their divorce was close to being finalized. Mr. Bozza acknowledged that there was conflict with respect to their divorce and custody arrangements for their son.

Mr. Bozza said that he had known the [Petitioner] for about thirteen years and that, about ten years ago, the [Petitioner] had lived with him and the victim for a few months. The [Petitioner] left Nashville for a period of time, and Mr. Bozza next saw him at the courthouse the day of Mr. Bozza’s custody hearing. They renewed their friendship, and the [Petitioner] began working for Mr. Bozza. Asked if he and the [Petitioner] had ever discussed killing the victim, Mr. Bozza replied, “Well, yes, sir. I made a bad joke one day about a movie that—in the middle of a session we were both complaining about.” He said that he brought up the issue “in a moment of anger” and that it was then dropped. He denied offering the [Petitioner] $10,000 to kill the victim. However, the [Petitioner] offered him $10,000 “to take care of Laura Yancey . . . the girl who was living with husband who had custody of his son.” Mr. Bozza said he told the [Petitioner] he “could never do anything like that.” Mr. Bozza denied any knowledge of the [Petitioner]’s following the victim on numerous occasions prior to her death.

Regarding the day of the victim’s murder, Mr. Bozza acknowledged that he talked to the [Petitioner] several times that day but said they only talked about “average bologna kind of stuff.” He said he met the [Petitioner] 3 at a grocery store near St. Edward’s Church, where he was waiting to pick up his son from the victim. The [Petitioner] was driving a minivan that belonged to the woman with whom he lived, Jennie. After they parted ways, the [Petitioner] called Mr. Bozza and said that “it was done.” Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
Coy J. Cotham, Jr. v. State of Tennessee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coy-j-cotham-jr-v-state-of-tennessee-tenncrimapp-2026.