State of Tennessee v. Robert James Tipler

Robert James Tipler, Defendant, was indicted by the Madison County Grand Jury for first degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and unlawful possession of a handgun by a convicted felon after an incident that resulted in the death of Ronnie Hines, the victim. Prior to trial, Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment because the State allegedly committed a Ferguson violation by failing to preserve police body camera footage and moved for recusal of the District Attorney General based on an allegation that the State influenced the medical examiner. The trial court denied the motions. At trial, Defendant sought to dismiss the case based on improper conduct by the State. The trial court denied the motion. A jury convicted Defendant as charged. As a result, Defendant was sentenced to life for the first degree murder conviction. The trial court merged the firearms convictions into a single count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and sentenced Defendant to ten years at thirty percent, to be served concurrently with the life sentence. Defendant filed an untimely notice of appeal 251 days after the denial of a motion for new trial. Because the interests of justice do not support the waiver of the timeliness of the notice of appeal, the appeal is dismissed.