State of Tennessee, Appellee v. David Keith Lane, Appellant

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's four-year effective sentence for David Keith Lane, a Department of Human Services counselor who sexually abused his sixteen-year-old foster-care client, and the denial of probation or split confinement. The court held that the specific-findings requirement of State v. Wilkerson is confined to consecutive sentencing of 'dangerous offenders' under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-115(b)(4) and does not apply to the self-contained sexual-abuse-of-a-minor category, § 40-35-115(b)(5), under which sufficient aggravating circumstances were proven. Extending State v. Schindler from the judicial-diversion context, it held that the criminal acts underlying an expunged conviction may be considered in assessing alternative-sentencing suitability, while cautioning that reliance on the mere fact of conviction alone would be error; abundant egregious uncharged conduct rebutted any presumption of alternative sentencing. No separate opinions were filed.