A 20-year-old man recently sentenced to eight years in a 2014 sexual assault case is asking for a new trial.
Diontae Smartt’s public defenders say Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole let prosecutors play only a portion of Smartt’s police interview during his trial in April. As a result, attorney Christian Coder wrote in a motion Thursday, jurors didn’t hear “the complete statement in context.” That goes against a Tennessee rule designed to let defendants play a full statement if it’s being used against them, Coder wrote.
Diontae SmarttSmartt was convicted of aggravated sexual battery and sentenced last month to eight years in prison. The April proceeding was the second time prosecutors brought Smartt to trial for allegedly raping a then-69-year-old neighborhood jogger near Normal Park Elementary School on Sept. 29, 2014. For proof, they called the alleged victim to the witness stand to detail his injuries and used a police statement in which Smartt admitted that he penetrated the jogger.
Though prosecutors could not be reached for comment Monday, all parties are scheduled to appear July 9 before Judge Poole.
Public defenders have argued the jogger asked to have sex with Smartt, who was then 17, and Smartt agreed but later lashed out when the consensual encounter started to fray. In his motion, Coder said Smartt also is entitled to a new trial because Poole never gave a self-defense instruction for the jury to consider during deliberations.