Tennessee appeals court hears challenge to Hopkins conviction over jail call, late-disclosed video and sufficiency of evidence

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals heard oral argument in State of Tennessee v. Mitchell Hopkins over whether the trial court erred by admitting a partially redacted jail call, allowing a late-disclosed compilation video and denying relief on sufficiency grounds.

Appellant counsel Josie Holland told the panel she would reserve time for rebuttal and framed three main points on appeal: a Bruton challenge to a jail phone call, an evidentiary challenge to a late-disclosed “enhanced” compilation video, and insufficiency of evidence. Holland said the phone call was “one of the state's key pieces in, connecting Mitchell Hopkins to the offenses” and argued the prosecution’s play of the audio and subsequent testimony violated the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights.

Holland pointed to a moment in testimony in which, she said, a witness initially said “Blue when he called back” and then “Mitchell when he called back,” and argued that the statement allowed a non-testifying codefendant’s identifying remark to reach the jury. She said the error was not harmless given the state’s overall proof: “It is…