Opinion ID: 1057661
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Tennessee Constitution

Text: Similarly to its federal counterpart, the Tennessee Constitution provides that no person shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed or deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land. Tenn. Const. art. I, § 8. This law of the land clause is synonymous with the `due process' provisions of the federal constitution. Willis v. Tenn. Dept. of Correction, 113 S.W.3d 706, 711 n. 4 (Tenn.2003). And like the Sixth Amendment, the Tennessee Constitution also provides that a criminal defendant has the right to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor. Tenn. Const. art. I, § 9. In accord with the federal constitution, this provision applies only when the proposed witness is material. See Bacon v. State, 215 Tenn. 268, 385 S.W.2d 107, 109 (1964); State v. Smith, 639 S.W.2d 677, 680 (Tenn.Crim.App.1982). This Court has not previously held that either or both of these provisions necessarily entitle a criminal defendant to disclosure of a confidential informant's identity. Rather, this Court has observed that, in general, a defendant ha[s] no constitutional right to require the disclosure of [an] informant's name. Wallis, 417 S.W.2d at 784 (citing Simmons, 281 S.W.2d at 487); accord House, 44 S.W.3d at 512; see also Vanderford, 980 S.W.2d at 396. And while we can imagine circumstances in which a confidential informant's identity might be so crucial to an accused's defense that these constitutional protections would be implicated, this case does not present those circumstances. Accordingly, neither Foxx nor Ostein is entitled to relief on their claims under the Tennessee Constitution.