## Facts

- Shawn Hatcher, age 17, participated in an April 3, 2001 shooting at an apartment in Memphis, Tennessee, resulting in Marcel Mackey’s death and gunshot injuries to Anitra Flowers and Randall White/Moore (“Red”).
- Hatcher, his brother Christopher Hatcher, and Cornelius Jefferson went to the apartment; multiple firearms were used.
- In a police statement given months later, Hatcher admitted being present and firing a gun, while claiming he fired into the air.
- Hatcher was indicted for first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder (alternative counts) for Mackey’s death, plus two counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder for the shootings of Flowers and White/Moore.
- A jury convicted Hatcher of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder (as an alternative count), and both attempted first-degree premeditated murder counts.
- Trial counsel filed a timely motion for new trial under Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 33; the trial court held a hearing and entered an order denying the motion.
- After new counsel was appointed, additional pleadings sought to add new grounds for a new trial after the hearing and denial order; the trial court considered some of these late grounds and entered a second order denying a new trial.
- On direct appeal, the intermediate appellate court refused to consider issues raised after denial of the initial new-trial motion, reviewed only preserved issues, and affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 permits a defendant to amend a motion for new trial after the new-trial hearing has occurred and an order denying the motion has been entered.
2. Whether issues asserted only in post-denial filings are preserved for ordinary appellate review or are subject only to plain-error review.
3. Whether claimed errors in jury instructions (including criminal responsibility and voluntary intoxication) or evidentiary rulings warranted reversal under preserved-error, plain-error, or harmless-error standards.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the intermediate appellate court’s judgment and left the convictions and sentences intact.
- The court held that trial courts should not permit amendments to a motion for new trial after the hearing has been held and an order denying the motion has been entered.
- The court recognized that Rule 33 allows liberal amendment up to the day of the new-trial hearing, but not after denial.
- The court agreed that only issues raised in the timely, pre-denial motion were preserved for standard appellate review.
- For issues raised only after the denial order, the court applied plain-error review and found no reversible plain error.
- The court determined that any instructional or evidentiary errors identified did not warrant relief because they did not affect the outcome in light of the strength of the evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Under Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, a motion for new trial may be amended freely and liberally until the day of the hearing, but amendments are not permitted after the hearing has been conducted and an order denying the motion has been entered.
- Issues not included in a timely, properly litigated motion for new trial are generally forfeited for ordinary appellate review; post-denial claims are reviewed, if at all, under plain-error standards.
- Plain error requires a clear breach of a rule of law affecting a substantial right, and appellate consideration is reserved for errors necessary to do substantial justice.
- Even when trial error is shown, reversal is not required where the error is harmless in light of overwhelming evidence supporting the verdict.

## Conclusion

The court adopted a clear timing rule for Tennessee new-trial practice: after a Rule 33 hearing and entry of an order denying a new trial, the motion cannot be amended, and later-raised claims are ordinarily forfeited absent plain error; applying these preservation and harmless-error principles, the court affirmed Hatcher’s convictions.


State v. Hatcher, 310 S.W.3d 788 (Tenn. 2010)