Appeals court hears challenge to denial of probation for teacher convicted of sexual battery

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals heard oral arguments in the direct appeal of Cade Abbott on whether the trial court abused its discretion when it denied probation after Abbott pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure.

Defense counsel for Cade Abbott told the panel that the trial court's 20-page ruling ultimately rested on a single reason: the judge's statement that she "cannot in good faith depreciate the seriousness of the sexual battery by a teacher at a school," a finding defense counsel said impermissibly relied on the defendant's status as an element of the offense rather than applying the heightened analysis required by Tennessee precedent. "If that's the sole reason she relied on," defense counsel said, "then she has not conducted the proper Trent/Trotter analysis" and the denial of probation was an abuse of discretion.

Why it matters: The appeal asks the appellate panel to decide whether the sentencing court properly balanced statutory factors in TCA 40-5-103(b) and related case law when…