State of Tennessee v. James R. Holley

In this appeal, we address whether the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in dismissing a criminal defendant’s appeal because he did not include in the appellate record a transcript of his guilty plea hearing. Here, the defendant’s plea agreement resolved all issues except the manner of service for the sentence. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court denied the defendant’s request for probation. In the record for his appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals on the denial of probation, the defendant included the transcript from the sentencing hearing but not the transcript from the guilty plea hearing. Citing the absence of the guilty plea transcript, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the record was inadequate for appellate review of the trial court’s sentencing decision. Without giving the parties notice and an opportunity to be heard, the appellate court then dismissed the defendant’s appeal. We reverse. Under State v. Caudle, 388 S.W.3d 273, 278–79 (Tenn. 2012), trial court decisions on the manner of service for a sentence are reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. When an appellate record does not include an item such as a guilty plea transcript, the appellate court is to determine on a case-by-case basis whether the record is sufficient for meaningful review, in light of this standard. Id. at 279. The determination on the adequacy of the record is made with the understanding that the trial court has broad discretion in sentencing and the key question on appeal is whether the trial court recited a proper basis for its sentencing decision. Id. Here, the appellate record is sufficient for meaningful appellate review even without the transcript of the guilty plea hearing. But where an appellate court believes a guilty plea transcript is essential to appellate review, it has many options that allow the parties to be heard and to facilitate review of the issues on their merits. Those options include presuming the missing transcript would have supported the trial court’s decision, issuing a show-cause order and permitting written responses, ordering supplemental briefs, or ordering the parties to supplement the record. Here, dismissal of the appeal was not a reasonable option. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and remand the case to that court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.