# State v. Preston

> Tennessee Supreme Court · September 6, 1988 · 759 S.W.2d 647

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9772839

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. David PRESTON, Appellant
- **Court:** Tennessee Supreme Court
- **Decided:** September 6, 1988
- **Citations:** 759 S.W.2d 647; 1988 Tenn. LEXIS 171
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** On rehearing
- **Judges:** Fones, Harbison, Cooper, Drowota, O'Brien
- **Cited by:** 332 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9772839

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining that prior to “reaching the merits of a certified question, the appellate courts must first determine that the district attorney general and the trial judge have found the certified question to be dispositive of the case and then determine if the record on appeal de…
- stating that it is the defendant‟s burden to ensure that the appellate record contains all of the proceedings below that are relevant to whether the certified question is dispositive and the merits of the question certified
- concluding “the reasons relied upon by defendant in the trial court at the suppression hearing must be identified in the statement of the certified question of law and review by the appellate courts will -6- be limited to those [issues] passed upon by the trial judge”

## Opinion text

OPINION ON PETITION TO REHEAR
Defendant has filed a petition to rehear wherein he, “seeks amplification of the Court’s holding regarding whether the confession question ‘is dispositive of the case.’ ”
Defendant professes to be puzzléd at our direction to the Court of Criminal Appeals that it determine whether the admissibility of defendant’s confession is dispositive of the case, when, says defendant, this Court has addressed that question and answered *651 it in the affirmative. The latter assertion is incorrect.
We held that the district attorney general’s office and the trial judge had agreed with defendant that the admissibility of the confession was dispositive of the case. That finding is one of the prerequisites that must be met before the appellate courts will consider the merit of the certified question. Implicit in defendant’s petition to rehear is the notion that the appellate courts are bound to accept as disposi-tive any certified question that the district attorney general and the trial judge agree is dispositive. That is likewise incorrect.
Before reaching the merits of a certified question, the appellate courts must first determine that the district attorney general and the trial judge have found the certified question to be dispositive of the case and then determine if the record on appeal demonstrates how that question is dispositive of the case. State v. Jennette, 706 S.W.2d 614, 616 (Tenn.1986). If the appellate court does not agree that the certified question is dispositive, appellate review should be denied.
The petition to rehear is respectfully denied at defendant’s cost.
HARBISON, C.J., and COOPER and DROWOTA, JJ., concur.
O’BRIEN, J., not participating.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9772839. Public record. Not legal advice.