Appellate panel hears arguments on late-filed appeal in Dion Young case; no immediate ruling

A Knox County appellate panel heard argument on a motion to accept a late-filed appeal by Dion Young on November 1, 2025. Appellant counsel Forrest Wallace told the court he was retained after the 30-day appeal window closed and that, after discovering the omission, he filed a motion asking the court to excuse the delay and consider multiple claims on the merits.

"The judgment was entered in November, 2024," Wallace said, and he told the court he had been retained outside the 30-day window. Wallace described efforts to obtain transcripts and said the clerk declined to accept them because the case was closed. He acknowledged the record is silent about why original trial counsel did not file a motion for new trial or a timely notice of appeal but argued that waiver was warranted "in the interest of justice," listing three principal grounds: (1) insufficiency of the evidence, (2) alleged sentencing error in the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors, and (3) a plain-error/due-process concern tied to how evidence of a prior conviction and…