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Court approves multiple plea agreements, imposing suspended sentences and conditions
Summary
Chetam County Criminal Court accepted no-contest pleas from several defendants, including Thomas Wayne Bandy Jr., Elijah D. Florence and Clifford G. McCullum Jr.; punishments largely suspended to probation with conditions such as assessments, anger-management and no-contact orders.
Chetam County Criminal Court resolved a string of jail dockets as the judge accepted several plea agreements that result in convictions with suspended sentences and conditions.
Defense counsel summarized deals that the court approved for multiple defendants. Thomas Wayne Bandy Jr. pleaded no contest across consolidated dockets and was found guilty of an amended aggravated criminal trespass charge, receiving a sentence of 11 months and 29 days suspended to supervised probation; other counts were dismissed and the court ordered no contact with the victim and credited pretrial jail time. Elijah Daryl Florence pleaded no contest to a single count of aggravated assault (C felony) and was sentenced to six years in the Tennessee Department of Correction, suspended to state probation, subject to mental-health and alcohol/drug assessments and required to surrender the weapon; other counts were dismissed. Clifford Gregory McCullum Jr. pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years TDOC, suspended to state probation, with a required anger-management course as a condition of probation.
Jerry Christian Buffett pleaded no contest to theft and a first-offense driving-under-the-influence charge: the theft count carried a six-year sentence suspended to supervised probation with a requirement to testify truthfully against a codefendant if called; the DUI count resulted in 11 months and 29 days in jail, suspended to supervised probation with credit for time served, a $350 fine, a one-year driver's-license suspension and attendance at a victim-impact panel. The judge made an affirmative finding that Buffett was indigent for fine-payment purposes.
A probation-violation matter for David Graham was continued to have his previously imposed sentence put into effect after he waived a contested hearing. A post-conviction relief matter for Shannon Elliott was set for a status date on July 1 to allow appointed counsel to review discovery and amend filings if necessary.
Court staff noted pretrial jail credits and that some probation paperwork and documentation (for example, completed anger-management certificates) still needed to be verified by probation departments. The judge read required statutory advisements for DUI counts and confirmed each defendant's understanding of the waiver of trial rights before accepting pleas.
Details of each plea and the conditions imposed were read into the record and accepted by the court; remaining counts referenced in the dockets were dismissed as part of the negotiated dispositions.
