White v. State

OPINION

WALKER, Presiding Judge.

In this appeal in error from their first degree murder convictions and 25-year sentences, we first .consider the question the defendants, Earnest L. White and Robert Earl Cole, recognize the most important in the case. May a trial judge act on a motion for a new trial more than 60 days after he vacates the bench? The defendant insists that TCA 17-116 clearly means that he must act within that time. The state urges that we hold this statute directory and not mandatory and that any noncompliance in this case was harmless.

The trial of these defendants was heard by…