State of Tennessee v. DeWayne Winslow

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 23, 2026
DocketE2025-00587-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished
AuthorJudge Jill Bartee Ayers

This text of State of Tennessee v. DeWayne Winslow (State of Tennessee v. DeWayne Winslow) 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
State of Tennessee v. DeWayne Winslow, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

04/23/2026 N THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE Assigned on Briefs February 18, 2026

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DEWAYNE WINSLOW

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County No. 127188 Steven W. Sword, Judge ___________________________________

No. E2025-00587-CCA-R3-CD ___________________________________

Defendant, Dewayne Winslow, was convicted by a Knox County jury of possession of more than 0.5 grams of methamphetamine with intent to sell or deliver, possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony, failure to carry vehicle registration, and unlawful possession of a weapon. The trial court imposed an effective 17-year sentence to be served in confinement. On appeal, Defendant argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress the narcotics and firearm found in his vehicle and by allowing the State to introduce Defendant’s prior drug conviction as evidence of intent. Upon review of the record, the briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

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

JILL BARTEE AYERS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER, P.J., and J. ROSS DYER, J., joined.

Mary Ward, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dewayne Winslow.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Park Huff, Assistant Attorney General; Charme P. Allen, District Attorney General; and Greg Eshbaugh, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

Factual and Procedural Background

This case arises from a traffic stop after Defendant failed to stop before entering the roadway. A passenger in the vehicle had an outstanding warrant for violation of probation and was taken into custody. While the officer was writing Defendant a citation, a K-9 unit arrived and alerted on the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, officers found a .380 caliber round of ammunition under the driver seat, a bag containing a loaded firearm, jar containing a leafy green substance believed to be marijuana, a marijuana blunt, and a pill bottle containing a black powdery substance. When Defendant was searched, officers found a clear, rock-like substance believed to be methamphetamine. Defendant was then arrested. On March 20, 2024, a Knox County Grand Jury indicted Defendant for possession of more than 0.5 grams of methamphetamine with intent to sell or deliver (count one), possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony (counts 2 and 5), failure to carry vehicle registration (count three), and unlawful possession of a weapon (count four).

Suppression Hearing

Prior to trial, Defendant filed a motion to suppress the narcotics and firearm found in his vehicle and on his person. Defendant contended the search was unlawful because the initial stop was invalid, and the stop was impermissibly delayed in order for the K-9 to arrive. Defendant additionally claimed that any statements he made during the stop were in violation of Miranda 1 and, thus, should be suppressed.

At the hearing on the motion, Officer Gordon Johnson of the Knoxville Police Department testified that on December 8, 2023, he observed Defendant leaving a parking lot when he “failed to stop before entering the roadway[,]” in violation of a city ordinance. Officer Johnson then “initiated emergency equipment” and observed Defendant “reach down towards the floorboard and . . . then come up and turn around towards the back, [appearing] to place something in the back seat.” Immediately after, the individual “in the backseat went down where we couldn’t see them . . . and then popped up.”

During the stop, Defendant claimed the vehicle was a rental car, so he was “unable to provide any of the information on the vehicle, including proof of insurance.” Officer Johnson collected driver’s licenses from Defendant and the two passengers and returned to his vehicle to conduct “NCIC checks on them.” Additionally, Officer Johnson “conducted a JIMS 2 history check on [Defendant], to see if he had any criminal history.” The JIMS search showed Defendant had a prior felony conviction for the manufacture, delivery, and sale of methamphetamine. Officer Johnson then “requested a K-9” to sniff the vehicle while he worked on the citation. The front seat passenger had an active warrant for violation of probation and was taken into custody. Officer Johnson testified that he believed he was still writing Defendant’s citation when the K-9 arrived. His body camera

1 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). “JIMS” is not explained or defined in the record, but we believe it is the acronym for Jail Information 2

Management System. -2- footage was exhibited to his testimony and showed the K-9 search was conducted seventeen minutes into the traffic stop, as Officer Johnson was still writing Defendant’s citation.

After Defendant and the remaining passenger were removed from the vehicle, another officer conducted a “free-air sniff” of the vehicle with the K-9. After the K-9 alerted on the vehicle, Officer Johnson conducted a search, finding “a loose .380 round, directly underneath the driver’s seat, where [Defendant] was located,” and “a pink bag in the back floorboard.” The pink bag contained a loaded firearm, “a jar with . . . almost five grams of a green, leafy substance, believed to be marijuana, a marijuana blunt[, and] a pill bottle, belonging to the back passenger, that had a black powdery substance[.]” Defendant was then arrested.

Officer Johnson noticed Defendant “digging in the rear part of his pants” after he received his Miranda warnings from another officer. He then “conducted a thorough search” on Defendant, which revealed “a bulge underneath the rear part of his pants . . . [] result[ing] in 12.9 grams of a clear, rock-like substance, believed to be methamphetamine.” The traffic stop, in its entirety, lasted approximately twenty-five minutes.

Lexus Fenimore 3, Defendant’s girlfriend, testified for Defendant. She said she had noticed the officer following behind their vehicle after Defendant picked her up from a friend’s house. The officer followed them to the gas station and then got behind them again when they pulled out of the parking lot. She confirmed when Officer Johnson pulled the vehicle over, Defendant was driving the vehicle, and she was a passenger. The vehicle had been rented by Ms. Fenimore’s parents after she wrecked her vehicle. Ms. Fenimore also confirmed she was the owner of the pink purse searched by Officer Johnson. She claimed possession of all the purse’s contents, including the marijuana, the black pill bottle and its contents, and the firearm. On cross-examination, Ms. Fenimore denied the methamphetamine found on Defendant’s person was hers. Ms. Fenimore agreed that during the search, she could not tell officers the manufacturer or caliber of the gun she claimed was hers, nor whether the gun was loaded.

Following the hearing, the trial court entered a written order denying Defendant’s motion to suppress, holding that the search of Defendant’s vehicle was valid and not unreasonably delayed:

In this case, the officer very quickly learned that the defendant did not have proper registration for the car or proof of insurance. Once it was discovered that the passenger had an outstanding warrant, it was reasonable for the

3 Ms. Fenimore is referred to as both Lexus and Lexi in the record. -3- officer[] to remove the defendant from the car. Any delay in the effectuation of the officer’s duty to issue the citation was caused by the defendant’s failure to have proper documentation for the car.

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Bluebook (online)
State of Tennessee v. DeWayne Winslow, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-v-dewayne-winslow-tenncrimapp-2026.