MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WGNS News) - Almost exactly 5-years ago in August of 2021, Murfreesboro Police informed the public they were searching for a man wanted by the Special Victims Unit on multiple warrants that included the rape of a child and aggravated kidnapping. At the time, police said the 34-year-old suspect was considered to be armed and dangerous. Two months after the initial alert, Eric Branch was captured and booked into the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center.

After being indicted by a Rutherford County Grand Jury, Branch appeared in the Circuit Courtroom of Judge Jimmy Turner, where he faced two counts of "Rape of a Child", four counts of "Aggravated Sexual Battery" and one count of "Possession of a Weapon by a Convicted Felon." District Attorney Jennings Jones told WGNS after the trial... Due to additional convictions, Branch still has another 77-years to serve behind bars and has since moved forward with filing appeals to his original conviction.

On Wednesday, July 29, 2026, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals officially rejected the most recent challenge to his conviction and sentencing for sexually abusing a child and unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The appellate court affirmed each conviction and the full sentence, agreeing with the lower courts.

According to the appellate opinion, the case involved a young girl he knew through an acquaintance. A Rutherford County grand jury indicted Branch in August 2021 on four aggravated sexual battery charges, two child rape charges and one firearm charge. A superseding indictment filed in February 2023 amended the alleged offense period to include conduct occurring between Dec. 1, 2017, and June 14, 2021.

Branch sexually assaulted a child on multiple occasions when she was seven to eight years of age. The victims testimony was a brave act that helped lead to the subjects conviction and sentencing, that will keep him locked away for the remainder of his life.

The brother of the young victim was ultimately the one who prevented the sexual attacks from continuing. After he tried to get into the locked room that his sister was in with Branch, a phone call was made to their mother and then the police. By the time authorities arrived, Branch was gone.

After fleeing Murfreesboro, Branch was later located and arrested by the Memphis Police Department on Oct. 25, 2021.

During the trial, prosecutors identified the specific conduct supporting each charge. Two aggravated sexual battery counts involved incidents alleged to have occurred in 2017 or 2018. Two additional aggravated sexual battery counts and both child rape counts arose from the June 14, 2021, incident.

The jury convicted Branch on all six sexual-offense counts. In a separate portion of the trial involving the firearm charge, the parties stipulated that Branch had been convicted of carjacking in Shelby County in 2009. Because that conviction involved force, attempted force, violence or a deadly weapon, Branch was prohibited from possessing a firearm. The jury also convicted him on that charge.

At sentencing, the trial court imposed 10 years for each aggravated sexual battery conviction, 37 years for one child rape conviction, 35 years for the second child rape conviction and 12 years for unlawful firearm possession. Some sentences were ordered to run concurrently, while others were ordered to run consecutively, producing an effective sentence of 82 years.

After the trial court denied Branch’s motion for a new trial, he appealed on three principal grounds.

First, Branch contended that his right to a unanimous jury verdict was violated in the first two aggravated sexual battery counts. He argued that prosecutors did not clearly distinguish the specific incidents underlying those charges from other evidence involving similar conduct.

Branch had not raised that issue during the original proceedings and therefore sought relief under the stricter “plain error” standard. The appellate court rejected the claim, concluding that the State sufficiently distinguished the two counts by identifying the location, approximate time, circumstances and specific body parts involved.

The trial judge had also instructed jurors that their verdicts must be unanimous. The appellate panel found no clear violation of Branch’s right to a unanimous verdict.

Branch raised a related argument in his reply brief, claiming that inconsistencies in the victim’s earlier statements undermined the first two convictions. The appellate court ruled that the argument was waived because it was raised for the first time in a reply brief.

Second, Branch argued that the evidence was insufficient to support the third and fourth aggravated sexual battery convictions. He claimed the victim did not specifically testify during the trial as to where he touched her during the June 2021 assault.

The appellate judges found that the victim described those acts during her recorded forensic interview and in statements made during her medical examination. Those statements were admitted as substantive evidence at trial.

The judges said questions involving witness credibility and the weight assigned to evidence are matters for the jury and are not reweighed on appeal.

Third, Branch argued that the trial judge imposed an excessive sentence by ordering portions of the punishment to run consecutively. He disputed the finding that the sexual abuse went undetected for several years and maintained that an 82-year sentence was more severe than necessary.

The appellate court found that each individual sentence fell within the authorized range and that Judge Turner properly explained the decision to impose partial consecutive sentencing. The panel cited Branch’s abuse of a position of trust, the scope of the offenses and the significant mental harm suffered by the victim.

The court also noted that even without considering the earlier allegations, the evidence from the June 2021 incident supported multiple separate sexual offenses. The panel determined that the trial court acted within its discretion and that the record supported the overall sentence.

Judge Robert L. Holloway Jr. wrote the unanimous appellate opinion. Judges J. Ross Dyer and Matthew J. Wilson joined in the ruling. The appellate court concluded that Branch was not entitled to relief and affirmed the Rutherford County Circuit Court’s judgments in their entirety.

Branch (Photo Below), who is now 39, previously lived at an apartment complex on Saint Andrews Drive in Murfreesboro, but will call the Morgan County Correctional Complex home for the remainder of his life. Due to additional convictions and circumstances, his sentence will come to a close in year 2103, which would make him 113-years-old, if he were to live that long.

As a result, Branch’s seven convictions and effective 82-year prison sentence remain in place. Again, the appellate decision and denial of relief were officially closed and filed by the Clerk of the Appellate Courts on July 29, 2026.