The Tennessean reported Governor Bill Haslam, in one of his final acts as Governor, granted clemency to 30-year-old Cyntoia Brown. Ms. Brown was sentenced to life in jail for killing a Nashville real estate agent. She was sentenced when she was 16 years old. The agent, whom she didn’t know, picked her up “at an [...]

The US Supreme Court recently ruled that limits must be placed on the practice known as civil forfeiture. Civil forfeiture is the taking of private property, including homes, cars, and cash, that were used to commit a crime. While the aim of civil forfeiture laws was to prevent the properties from being used for other [...]

With the start of the new calendar year and a new administration, lawmakers are ready with a variety of new bills they hope will become eventually become state laws. A few notable criminal laws were reported by the Tennessean this month. We’ve broken them down here, so you will know what to expect if they [...]

A CNN report cited data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that confirm how deadly the synthetic opioid fentanyl is. The rate of drug overdoses due to fentanyl increased 113% from 2013 to 2016. The percentage of drug overdose fatalities of any kind has increased 54% from 2011 to 2016; 63,632 [...]

The New York Times reported on December 11, 2018 that the US Senate will vote on a new criminal justice bill before the end of the year. The bill has bipartisan support, a rarity in Congress these days. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky agreed to submit the bill, titled the First Step Act. The bill [...]

Imagine that you have done work for your company, but never paid for it. After weeks of asking the boss for your pay, you decide that, if your boss won’t pay you, you’ll simply take X amount of tolls from a worksite that are worth the cost of the pay you should have received, and [...]

Experienced Tennessee criminal defense lawyers represent defendants at both the federal level and the state law. Many of the strategies and defenses that apply at the federal level apply at the state level and vice-versa. For example, defendants can argue that their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, or their 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable searches [...]

Most people, when they think of trials, assume that there will be a judge and 12 jurors in charge of their fates. However, not every trial requires a jury; bench trials are held in front of a judge, who decides the outcome of your case. Your lawyer should review the pros and cons of having [...]

In some criminal cases, especially drug-related cases, the police may obtain evidence of the crime through an illegal search or seizure. Evidence includes the drugs themselves and drug paraphernalia. It can include instruments of a crime such as weapons. It can include chemical tests, cash, property, and other physical evidence. The exclusionary rule generally holds [...]

The Tennessean recently reported that a federal judge has ruled that Tennessee’s revocation of driver’s due to unpaid court costs is unconstitutional. The ruling by Judge Aleta Trauger could set a precedent for similar rulings nationwide according to a senior lawyer who works for the National Center of Law and Economic Justice in New York [...]