IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT KNOXVILLE FILED
January 27, 2000
NOVEMBER 1999 SESSION
Cecil Crowson, Jr.
Appellate Court Clerk
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
)
Appellee, ) No. 03C01-9810-CR-00372
)
) Hamilton County
v. )
) Honorable Rebecca J. Stern, Judge
)
BRUCE MONROE STEVENSON, ) (Simple assault; attempted first
) degree murder)
Appellant. )
CONCURRING OPINION
I concur in the majority opinion, except I believe that the law regarding
parole eligibility instructions under the former statute is more settled than the majority
opinion believes it to be. In State v. Green, 985 S.W.2d 591, 615-16 (Tenn. Crim. App.
1998), app. denied (Tenn. Apr. 12, 1999), this court held that an instruction that the jury
could “weigh and consider” the meaning of a sentence of imprisonment in its
deliberations was not error and was mandated by the legislature. The remainder of the
cases cited in the majority opinion that deal with the parole eligibility instruction issue
are unpublished. Unpublished cases carry no precedential value and are, at most, to
be viewed as persuasive authority. See Fisher v. State, 197 Tenn. 594, 597, 277
S.W.2d 340, 341 (1955); Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 4 (H)(1). Published cases are precedential
authority and are binding upon us until they are expressly overruled by a court of
appropriate jurisdiction. See Meadows v. State, 849 S.W.2d 748, 753 (Tenn. 1993);
Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 4 (H)(2). Thus, Green controls.
____________________________
Joseph M. Tipton, Judge