State of Tennessee v. Melissa Ann Layman

OPINION

WILLIAM M. BARKER, C.J., and CORNELIA A. CLARK, J., and E. RILEY ANDERSON, SP. J., joined. GARY R. WADE, J., concurring and dissenting.

We granted and consolidated the applications for permission to appeal filed on behalf of Melissa Ann Layman and Jonathan Ray Taylor to determine the scope of a trial court’s discretion to deny a motion to nolle prosequi to which the defendant has consented. Layman’s appeal also presents the issue of whether a victim’s family has a right to be heard at a pretrial hearing concerning a plea agreement or a nolle prosequi. We conclude that when an…