MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has denied the appeal of Baleke Kromah, a former Rutherford County man convicted of sexual battery by an authority figure, ruling that his request was filed too late and did not meet the legal threshold for reconsideration.

71-Year-old Kromah, who was found guilty by a Rutherford County jury more than a decade ago, sought to overturn his conviction through a petition for a writ of error coram nobis—a rare legal mechanism that allows defendants to present new evidence after a conviction. His petition was based on a recantation by the victim, who later stated that her trial testimony had been false.

However, the court’s opinion, authored by Presiding Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer, makes clear that Kromah’s petition came years after the statutory deadline. The ruling noted that the victim’s recantation had first occurred in 2017, yet Kromah did not file his petition until February 2024, more than six years later.

At trial, Kromah had been charged with five counts of sexual battery by an authority figure involving his adoptive daughter, though he was convicted on just one count. The victim later stated that she fabricated the allegations because of a troubled home environment, but prosecutors and the courts found the timing of her new claims far beyond the legal limit for reopening the case.

The court further noted that Kromah failed to file a timely notice of appeal following the lower court’s August 2024 decision denying his petition, submitting his appeal on November 20, 2024—two months after the 30-day window had closed. The judges declined to waive the deadline “in the interest of justice,” stating that Kromah had not provided a sufficient reason to justify such a waiver.

Even if the appeal had been timely, the court said, the petition would still have been barred by the statute of limitations, finding that Kromah had “failed to produce newly discovered evidence” that would justify tolling the deadline or revisiting his conviction.

With the ruling, Kromah’s conviction for sexual battery by an authority figure remains in place, and the appellate court’s decision formally dismisses his appeal. The denial for the appeal to move forward was filed by the Clerk of the Appellate Courts this past week on October 16, 2025 in Nashville.

To date, Kromah remains on the Tennessee Sexual Offender Registry and the data shows that he was charged with violating sex offender registry laws in 2011, two years after his conviction. In 2014, the man who lives in Antioch was charged with violating his probation.