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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

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The end is nigh: House passes Judicial Selection Commission extension as session winds down

The Tennessee House of Representatives today extended the life of the state Judicial Selection Commission after narrowly adopting an amendment reducing its authorization from four years to one year. The amendment, which had the support of the sponsor and leadership, passed by a vote of 47-46 with one abstention. After the amendment was adopted, the bill passed overwhelmingly. The bill now goes to the Senate Government Operations Committee, which is expected to also approve a one-year extension.

The House Judiciary Committee held its final meeting today and is now closed for the year. Among its final actions, the panel increased the homestead exemption for those living in a home with custody of minor children, and decided to send to summer study a bill that would grant limited immunity under the Governmental Tort Liability Act to contractors working with the new commuter rail project linking Lebanon and Nashville.

On the Senate side, the Government Operations Committee remains open, as does the Finance Ways and Means Committee, which is completing work on the state budget. This means the legislature is now in its finals weeks, although just how many remain is unknown. Capital Hill watchers suspect three weeks remain, which would put adjournment around June 1. And by next week, most committees in both houses will be closed.

TODAY'S OPINIONS
Click on the category of your choice to view summaries of today’s opinions from that court, or other body. A link at the end of each case summary will let you download the full opinion in PDF format. To search all opinions in the TBALink database, go to our OpinionSearch page. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on TBALink at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi.

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Here's how you can obtain full-text version. We recommend you download the Opinions to your computer and then open them from there. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This should give you the option to download the original document. If not, you may need to right-click on the URL to get the option to save the file to your computer. Do a key word search in the Search Link area of TBALink. This option will allow you to view and save a plain-text version of the opinion. Browse the Opinion List area of TBALink. This option will allow you to download the original version of the opinion.

Howard H. Vogel
Knoxville, Tennessee
Editor-in-Chief, TBALink

BARRY F. BRADEN v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Court: TCCA

Attorneys:

Ronald E. Munkeboe, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Barry F. Braden

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Lisa Naylor, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee

Judge: WELLES

Following a jury trial, the Petitioner, Barry F. Braden, was convicted of six counts of aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. The Petitioner received an effective sentence of fifty years in the Department of Correction. This Court affirmed the Petitioner's convictions and sentence on direct appeal. The Petitioner filed a timely pro se petition for post-conviction relief. The petition was amended by counsel and contained thirteen allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction court held an evidentiary hearing on the petition and subsequently entered an order denying post-conviction relief. The Petitioner appeals the post-conviction court's denial of relief. Because the record on appeal does not include a transcript of the evidentiary hearing in the post-conviction court, we conclude that the Petitioner has waived the issues argued on appeal. Because we must presume that the trial court correctly denied post-conviction relief, the judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed.

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2007/bradenb_051607.pdf

ULYSSES M. HAMPTON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Court: TCCA

Attorneys:

J. Chase Gober, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ulysses M. Hampton

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Preston Shipp, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Kathy Morante, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee

Judge: WELLES

The Petitioner, Ulysses M. Hampton, appeals from the habeas corpus court's summary dismissal of his petition seeking habeas corpus relief. The petition fails to raise a cognizable claim for habeas corpus relief and, insofar as the pleading may be considered a petition for post-conviction relief, the petition is time-barred. The judgment of the Davidson County Criminal Court summarily dismissing the petition is affirmed.

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2007/hamptonu_051607.pdf

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MOHAMED MEDHET KARIM

Court: TCCA

Attorneys:

Claudia S. Jack, District Public Defender; Robert H. Stovall, Jr. and Marilyn Holt, Assistant District Public Defenders, for the appellant, Mohamed Medhet Karim

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Assistant Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General; J. Douglas Dicus, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee

Judge: THOMAS

In November 2004, the defendant, Mohamed Medhet Karim, was indicted by a Wayne County grand jury on one count of attempted first degree murder. On August 31, 2005, following a jury trial in Wayne County Circuit Court, the jury convicted the defendant of attempted second degree murder and imposed a fine of $10,000. Following a sentencing hearing on October 13, 2005, the trial court sentenced the defendant to twelve years of incarceration as a Range I, standard offender, the maximum sentence allowed under the statute. The defendant timely filed a motion for a new trial on November 1, 2005; this motion was denied on January 4, 2006. The defendant now appeals, claiming his sentence was excessive. In making his claim, the defendant argues that two of the enhancement factors provided in Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-114 were improperly applied to his sentence. Concluding that application of the two enhancement factors which the defendant does not challenge is sufficient to support the twelve-year sentence imposed by the trial court, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2007/karimm_051607.pdf

Water and Wastewater Treatment Authorities

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-14

Opinion Number: 07-65

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-65.pdf

Coverage for Reconstructive Breast Surgery Following Partial Mastectomy

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-14

Opinion Number: 07-66

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-66.pdf

Capital Punishment for the Rape of a Child Ten Years of Age or Less

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-14

Opinion Number: 07-67

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-67.pdf

The Constitutionality of Proposed Amendments to Tenn. Code Ann. Sections 39-17-902 and Section 39-17-911

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-14

Opinion Number: 07-68

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-68.pdf

Whether House Bill 600/Senate Bill 193 is Preempted by Federal Law

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-15

Opinion Number: 07-69

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-69.pdf

Caption of HB512, As Amended

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-15

Opinion Number: 07-70

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-70.pdf

Newspaper for Purpose of Publishing Notice Under Tenn. Code Ann. Section 67-5-2502

TN Attorney General Opinions

Date: 2007-05-15

Opinion Number: 07-71

http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2007/ag_07-71.pdf

TODAY'S NEWS

Legal News
Legislative News
Knox Term Limits
TBA Member Services

Legal News

U.S. House passes bill to repay lawyers' student loans

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pay off up to $60,000 in student loans for lawyers who commit to working as public defenders or prosecutors for at least three years. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate. Leaders of the TBA were recently in Washington meeting with Tennessee lawmakers in support of the bill.

Read more at WSMV.com

TBALL class learns about leadership in action

The TBA's Leadership Law class heard from legal, government and business leaders in Memphis today during a session on Leadership in Action. The program began Tuesday night at the National Civil Rights Museum, when Charles Newman and Walter Bailey spoke on their experiences as lawyers working with Martin Luther King, and EEOC District Director Katharine Kores spoke on current civil rights issues. Among the speakers today were Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton, Memphis Councilman Dedrick Brittenum, former Shelby County Commissioner Buck Wellford, Judge Bernice Donald, former TBA presidents Bill Haltom and Al Harvey, TBA President-elect Buck Lewis, TBALL alum Caren Nichol, and attorneys Sherry Brooks, Ken Masterson and J.N. Raines. Leo Bearman Jr. spoke to the class on professionalism and civility during a luncheon program at the Shelby County Courthouse.

Workman autopsy OK'd

A federal judge ruled that the state may perform an autopsy on the body of Philip Workman, who was executed on May 9, but delayed the exam until late next week. Prior to his death Workman filed suit to prohibit post-mortem testing on religious grounds. U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell denied the request finding that the state has a compelling interest in assessing the effects of lethal injection.

See today's News Sentinel for more

Former jail chief gets prison time for inmate beating

The former administrator of the Overton County jail, Michael Gilpatrick, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for violating the civil rights of an inmate who was beaten severely. Former sheriff's deputy James Loftis received 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role.

The News Sentinel has the story

Parole board: tracking system for sex offenders works

Officials with the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole reported to lawmakers that a pilot program to monitor sex offenders with a satellite tracking system should be continued and that more workers are needed to make it a success. The legislature approved $2.5 million two years ago to set up the project.

The Kingsport Times News has this report from the AP

Youth, gang crimes increasing

Increasing violence among teenagers and other youths appears to have contributed to a nationwide crime spike, the U.S. Justice Department said yesterday. In response, the department plans to spend nearly $50 million to combat gangs and guns, and will ask Congress for greater authority to investigate and prosecute crime.

The Bristol Herald Courier has the AP's report

250,000 Katrina victims sue U.S.

Now that a deadline for filing Katrina-related lawsuits has passed, the U.S. is facing legal claims from more than 250,000 people demanding compensation based on allegations that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negligently designed waterworks in the city.

The Commercial Appeal has more

MySpace won't list names

MySpace.com said Tuesday it would not comply with a request by attorneys general from eight states to hand over the names of registered sex offenders using the social networking Web site. In a statement, the company's chief security officer said state and federal laws prohibit the site from sharing such information, according to the News Sentinel.

Legislative News

Sen. Ford raises eyebrows with questioning

State Sen. Ophelia Ford of Memphis raised eyebrows during a legislative hearing Monday when she launched into a rant against child-protective service officials and a state auditor.

Learn more in the Commercial Appeal

Knox Term Limits

Chancellor rejects one of two sunshine lawsuits

Knox County Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler ruled against one of two lawsuits alleging that county commissioners violated the state's Open Meetings Act in their appointments to replace a dozen term-limited officials. Fansler said he based his decision less on the merits of the case than on the fact that lawyer Herbert S. Moncier improperly filed evidence. Moncier said he would appeal as quickly as possible. The ruling's impact on a second suit brought by the News Sentinel remains to be seen.