State v. Lonny Hazelwood

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
• Decided: September 18, 1998
• Docket: 01C01-9705-CC-00175
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT NASHVILLE FILED MAY 1998 SESSION September 18, 1998

Cecil W. Crowson STATE OF TENNESSEE, * No. 01C01-9705-CC-00175 Clerk Appellate Court

Appellant, * Williamson County

vs. * Hon. Henry Denmark Bell, Judge

LONNY D. HAZELWOOD, * (Rule 9, Interlocutory Appeal)

Appellee. *

CONCURRING OPINION

I concur in the result reached by the majority, I write separately only to

express my belief that at most this record demonstrates negligence on the part of

the district attorney’s office in making the blood alcohol test results available to the

defense in a timely fashion. While this negligence did in fact deprive the defendant

of the means to conduct a full defense to the charges against him, I find no

evidence of bad faith on the part of the prosecutor’s office as suggested by the

majority’s reference to State v. Golden, 941 S.W.2d 905 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1996).

Nevertheless, the defendant must not be denied, even through negligence, of the

ability to defend himself. I therefore concur that the judgment of the trial court must

be affirmed.

______________________________ JERRY L. SMITH, JUDGE