State Tennessee v. Michael A. Lewis

The Defendant appeals as of right pursuant to Rule 3 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure. He was convicted of attempted especially aggravated robbery and felony murder. 1 He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the felony murder conviction and a concurrent sentence of twelve years for his attempted especially aggravated robbery conviction. We reverse the felony murder conviction and affirm the especially aggravated robbery. The Defendant argues three issues in this appeal: (1) Whether there was sufficient evidence to convict him of felony murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery; (2) whether his conviction should be set aside on the grounds of fundamental unfairness because the State argued that he was criminally responsible for the actions of his severed co-defendant, and then tried the co-defendant on the theory that he alone was criminally responsible for the identical offenses, and in so doing, accredited the Defendant's exculpatory testimony as prosecution evidence; and (3) whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the offense of facilitation of felony murder.