IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON MARCH 1998 SESSION FILED March 26, 1998 JOSEPH TROY MANUEL, ) Cecil Crowson, Jr. ) Appellate C ourt Clerk APPELLANT, ) ) No. 02-C-01-9705-CC-00175 ) ) Benton County v. ) ) Honorable Julian P. Guinn, Judge ) ) (Post-Conviction Relief) STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) ) APPELLEE. )

FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE: Ronald E. Darby John Knox Walkup Attorney at Law Attorney General & Reporter P.O. Box 524 425 Fifth Avenue, North Camden, TN 38320 Nashville, TN 37243-0497 Georgia B. Felner Counsel for the State Fifth Avenue, North Nashville, TN 37243-0493 Robert Gus Radford District Attorney General P.O. Box 686 Huntingdon, TN 38344 Victoria L. DiBonaventura Assistant District Attorney General P.O. Box 94 Paris, TN 38343

OPINION FILED:_____________________________

AFFIRMED PURSUANT TO RULE 20

Joe B. Jones, Presiding Judge OPINION

The appellant, Joseph Troy Manuel (petitioner), appeals as of right from a judgment of the trial court dismissing his action for post-conviction relief. In this court, the defendant contends “the reasonable doubt jury instruction given at the guilt phase of the Defendant’s trial violate[d] the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and the law of the land, Article I, Section 8, Constitution of the State of Tennessee.” After a thorough review of the record, the briefs submitted by the parties, and the law governing the issue presented for review, it is the opinion of this court that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed pursuant to Rule 20, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

The appellate courts of this State have upheld the use of a reasonable doubt instruction like the instruction given in this case. State v. Nichols, 877 S.W.2d 722, 734 (Tenn. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1114, 115 S.Ct. 909, 130 L.Ed.2d 791 (1995); Pettyjohn v State, 885 S.W.2d 364, 365-66 (Tenn. Crim. App.), per. app. denied (Tenn. 1994); State v. Hallock, 875 S.W.2d 285, 294 (Tenn. Crim. App.), per. app. denied, (Tenn. 1994); see Terry Shannon Kimery v. State, Greene County No. 03-C-01-9512-CC-00412, 1997 WL 31143, slip op. 2-5 (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, January 28, 1997), per. app. denied (Tenn. May 5, 1997).

____________________________________________ JOE B. JONES, PRESIDING JUDGE

CONCUR:

_______________________________________ GARY R. WADE, JUDGE

______________________________________ JERRY L. SMITH, JUDGE