Death During Appeal – Abatement Ab Initio

Unless otherwise indicated, all indented material is copied directly from the court’s opinion.

Decisions of the Tennessee Supreme Court 

State v. Al Mutory, No. M2017-00346-SC-R11-CD,  581 S.W.3d 741, 744 (Tenn. 2019).

The issue in this appeal—whether Tennessee should continue to apply abatement ab initio when a criminal defendant dies during an appeal as of right from a conviction—is a question of law, which we review de novo without a presumption of correctness. Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827, 836 (Tenn. 2008). The same is true of any issue concerning the scope of appellate review. Peck v. Tanner, 181 S.W.3d 262, 265 (Tenn. 2005). We afford no deference to the legal conclusions of the court below. Creech v. Addington, 281 S.W.3d 363, 372 (Tenn. 2009).

Decisions of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals