Two separate court appearances have been scheduled in December for convicted serial rapist Bruce Tuck of Gleason.
A post-conviction relief hearing in connection with his case in Weakley County is currently set for Dec. 21 at the courthouse in Dresden, while a report date on similar charges in Shelby County is slated for Dec. 13 in Criminal Court in Memphis.
The Memphis-Shelby County court appearance for an update on the status of his case will be heard by Judge Chris Craft in Criminal Court, Division B, according to Jennifer Donnals, communications director with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
Tuck, 37, is currently serving a 60-year sentence with the Tennessee Department of Correction after pleading guilty Dec. 10, 2009, in Weakley County Circuit Court in Dresden to multiple felony charges — including six counts of aggravated rape, aggravated burglary and five counts of aggravated kidnapping — in connection with a series of home invasion sexual assaults last summer in Martin.
He reportedly is now being held in the Hardeman County Corrections Center, a state facility at Whiteville.
Tuck was initially arrested Sept. 2, 2009, at his parents’ home in Gleason after DNA evidence linked him to a sexual assault on Raven Street in Martin on Aug. 30.
He was accused of holding three people at gunpoint and raping a University of Tennessee at Martin student.
Other home invasion sexual assaults had also been reported in Martin and Shelby County throughout the summer months.
Those cases prompted a massive search by Martin, Weakley County and Shelby County law enforcement agencies, as well as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, for a suspect described as having a pot belly and wearing a mask.
During the execution of a search warrant at a rental storage unit that reportedly had ties to Tuck, investigators allegedly found a mask similar to the one used during the attacks.
Twelve felony charges were initially levied against Tuck for the Aug. 30 incident on Raven Street in Martin.
During a special session by the Weakley County grand jury Nov. 2, he was indicted on 10 additional felony counts that stemmed from two other home invasion sexual assaults in Martin during the summer.
After pleading guilty in Weakley County, Tuck was sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison, with 100 percent of the time to be served and with no possibility of parole.
In February 2010, he was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury on multiple charges of rape, burglary and robbery for incidents that allegedly occurred last summer in Memphis and Shelby County.
He was arraigned in March in Shelby County.
Tuck filed a petition for relief from conviction in Weakley County on May 19.
In the 10-page petition, he claims he was coerced into offering a confession, denied effective assistance of counsel and his guilty plea was involuntarily entered without understanding the nature and consequences of the plea.
Editor’s note: Chris Menees is a staff reporter for the Union City Daily Messenger.

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