Adams v. State

OPINION

HAL HARDIN, Special Judge.

James Chester Adams appeals from his first degree murder conviction arising from the death of his four year old stepson, Patrick Lewis Adams. The appellant’s sentence of death by electrocution has been commuted to life imprisonment by executive order of the Governor of Tennessee.

The appellant makes four assignments of error, challenging (1) the denial of his motion for a change of venue based on prejudicial and inflammatory pre-trial publicity; (2) the admission of the testimony of his wife in violation of the privilege regarding confidential marital…