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| Thursday, July 22, 2010 |
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Firm to credit attorneys for 50 hours of pro bono per year
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has revised its pro bono policy to provide billable hour credit to its attorneys for up to 50 hours per year of pro bono work, up from the previous credit total of 20 hours per year. "Since fiscal year 2008, the firm's pro bono hours have doubled, as have average pro bono hours per attorney," said the firm's Pro Bono Committee Chair Jonathan Cole. "By increasing the billable credit for pro bono work to 50 hours per year, we are creating the potential for our attorneys to contribute thousands more hours each year to providing free legal services to the poor and disadvantaged. A lot of good can be achieved with that additional time devoted to pro bono work."
Download more information
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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 or to obtain a text version of each opinion, 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 the TBA's Membership Central.
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CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, et al., v. TENNESSEE REGULATORY AUTHORITY, et al.
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Thomas Greenholtz, Frederick L. Hitchcock,, Harold L. North, Jr., Michael A. McMahan, and Valerie L. Malueg, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a Municipal Corporation.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General, and Ryan L. McGehee, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Consumer Advocate and Protection Division of the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General.
J. Richard Collier, Kelly Cashman-Grams, and Rebecca S. Montgomery, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Tennessee Regulatory Authority.
R. Dale Grimes, Ross I. Booher and Matthew J. Sinback, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Tennessee American Water Company.
Judge: FRANKS
The City of Chattanooga has appealed the decision by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority establishing a rate for the appellee, Tennessee American Water Company. The Tennessee American Water Company filed a Motion to Dismiss on the grounds that the issues before this Court are moot. We hold the issues on appeal are moot and in our discretion decline to consider the issues as an exception to the mootness doctrine. The appeal is dismissed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2010/chattanooga_072210.pdf
DANIELLE CHRISTINE REINAGEL v. ALAN N. REINAGEL
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Robert Todd Jackson and Russ Heldman, Brentwood, Tennessee, for the appellant, Alan N. Reinagel.
Henry F. Todd, Jr., Dickson, Tennessee, for the appellee, Danielle Christine Reinagel.
Judge: FRANKS
After the parties were divorced for two years, the father sought to reduce his child support obligation and change the custody of the child which had been agreed upon at the time of the divorce. The Trial Court heard evidence and modified the visitation schedule, but vested the mother with primary custody all based on Tenn. Code Ann. section 36-6-101(a)(2)(C). He also increased the child support obligation of the father, and the father has appealed. We affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2010/reinagelc_072210.pdf
IN RE: TRISTYN K.
With Concurring and Dissenting Opinion
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Keith Lowe, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Linsie K.
Joseph F. Della-Rodolfa, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellees, Christopher W. and Sara R.
Judge: SWINEY
This parental rights termination case was filed by Christopher W. ("Father") and Sara R. ("Stepmother") seeking to terminate the parental rights of Linsie K. ("Mother") to her daughter Tristyn K. ("the Child"). Stepmother also seeks to adopt the Child, who currently is four years old. Following a trial, the Trial Court terminated Mother's parental rights after finding various grounds had been proven by clear and convincing evidence and that termination of Mother's parental rights was in the Child's best interest. For the reasons discussed in this Opinion, we vacate the Trial Court's judgment finding grounds to terminate Mother's parental rights, and we remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2010/tristynk_072210.pdf
SUSANO concurring in part and dissenting in part
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2010/tristynk_CON_072210.pdf
NICHOLAS SHANE BREWER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Nicholas S. Brewer, Pro Se, Tiptonville, Tennessee.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Matthew Bryant Haskell, Assistant Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCLIN
The petitioner, Nicholas Shane Brewer, pled guilty to attempted aggravated sexual battery, a Class C felony, in May 2006, receiving a negotiated sentence of six years, as a Range I standard offender, in the Tennessee Department of Correction. He did not seek a direct appeal or post-conviction relief. The petitioner filed a petition for habeas corpus relief on September 23, 2009. The habeas corpus court summarily denied relief. On appeal, the
petitioner claims that the court erred by summarily dismissing his petition, arguing that (1) the original judgment against him was void because it did not reflect the mandatory imposition of a sentence of community supervision for life, and the trial court did not have
jurisdiction to amend the judgment; (2) he entered his guilty plea involuntarily and unknowingly; and (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/brewern_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DWAYNE HARDY
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Robert Wilson Jones, Shelby County Public Defender, and Barry W. Kuhn, Assistant Public Defender, (on appeal) and Michael Johnson, Assistant Public Defender, (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dwayne Hardy.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Rachel E. Willis, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Pamela Fleming and Ray Lapone, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCLIN
In April 2009, a Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Dwayne Hardy, of (1) especially aggravated kidnapping, a Class A felony, (2) aggravated assault, a Class C felony,
and (3) aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. The trial court sentenced the defendant as a repeat violent offender to life without parole for especially aggravated kidnapping. The trial court further sentenced the defendant as a career offender to fifteen years for aggravated assault and thirty years for aggravated robbery. The court ordered the defendant to serve the sentences consecutively in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the
defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his especially aggravated kidnapping conviction, and (2) the trial court erred by admitting evidence that the police found in a garbage can. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/hardyd_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MICHAEL HURST
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
J. Liddell Kirk, Knoxville, Tennessee (on appeal); and Mack Garner, District Public Defender (at trial), for the appellant, Michael Hurst.
Robert E. Cooper, Attorney General & Reporter; and Kathy Aslinger, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WITT
The defendant, Michael D. Hurst, has appealed the Blount County Circuit Court's September 4, 2009 revocation of his community corrections placement which resulted in his serving the balance of his 2004 eight-year, guilty pleaded sentence for drug possession. The State has moved the court to summarily affirm the circuit court's revocation order pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. Because the record supports the
State's motion, we affirm the order of the circuit court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/hurstm_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. FLOYD RODRIQUEZ JOHNSON
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
B. Nathan Hunt, Clarksville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Floyd Rodriquez Johnson.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Lacy E. Wilber, Assistant Attorney General; John W. Carney, Jr., District Attorney General; John E. Finklea, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WEDEMEYER
In three separate cases, the Defendant, Floyd Rodriquez Johnson, pled guilty to two counts of possession of more than .5 grams of cocaine with the intent to sell and one count of the sale of more than .5 grams of cocaine. The Defendant agreed to allow the trial court to sentence him and agreed he was a Range II offender. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to an effective sentence of fifteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The Defendant appeals, contending that the trial court erred when it sentenced him to confinement. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm the trial court's judgments.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/johnsonf_072210.pdf
ROBERT M. LINDER v. DAVID MILLS, WARDEN
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Robert M. Linder, Appellant, pro se.
Robert E. Cooper, Attorney General and Reporter; John H. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: TIPTON
The Petitioner, Robert Linder, appeals pro se the trial court's summary dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief from his conviction for especially aggravated sexual
exploitation of a minor, a Class B felony. The State has filed a motion requesting that this court affirm the trial court's summary dismissal pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The petition fails to state a cognizable claim for habeas corpus relief, and the Petitioner failed to comply with the procedural requirements of the habeas corpus statute. The State's motion is granted, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/linderr_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RODNEY NORTHERN
With Dissenting Opinion
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
J. Derreck Whitson, Newport, Tennessee, for the appellant, Rodney Northern.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Leslie E. Price, Assistant Attorney General; James B. Dunn, District Attorney General; and Brownlow Marsh, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WITT
The defendant, Rodney Northern, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in exchange for a four-year sentence to be served as 50 days' incarceration with the remainder on supervised probation. The plea agreement provided that the trial court would later determine the amount
of restitution, and after a hearing the trial court ordered $10,500 in restitution to the victim, Melvin Hance. On appeal, the defendant challenges the amount of restitution. After review of the record, we hold that this court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case because the trial court failed to enter a final judgment.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/northernr_072210.pdf
TIPTON dissenting
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/northernr_DISS_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RICHARD ODOM
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Brock Mehler, Nashville, Tennessee (on appeal); Gerald Skahan (on appeal and at trial) and Marty McAfee (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Richard Odom.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Mark E. Davidson, Senior Counsel; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and
Robert Carter and Amy Weirich, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: GLENN
The defendant, Richard Odom, appeals as of right his sentence of death resulting from the May 10, 1991, murder of Mina Ethel Johnson. A Shelby County jury convicted the
defendant of first degree murder committed in the perpetration of rape. Following a separate sentencing hearing, the jury found that the proof supported three aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the defendant had been previously convicted of one or more violent felonies, Tenn. Code Ann. section 39-13-204(i)(2); (2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, Tenn. Code Ann. section 39-13-204(i)(5); and (3) the murder was committed during the defendant's escape from lawful custody or from a place of lawful confinement, Tenn. Code Ann. section 39-13-204(i)(8), and sentenced the defendant to death by electrocution. On direct appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the defendant's conviction for first degree murder but reversed the sentence of death and remanded for a new sentencing hearing. See State v. Odom, 928 S.W.2d 18, 21 (Tenn. 1996). Specifically, the supreme court found that reversible error was committed in the sentencing phase in that (1) the proof did not support application of the (i)(5), heinous, atrocious, cruel aggravating circumstance; (2) the evidence did not support the jury's finding that the defendant committed the murder during an escape from lawful custody, (i)(8); (3) the trial court failed to permit the defendant to present the mitigating testimony of Dr. John Hutson; and (4) the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury as to nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. Id. Accordingly, the case was remanded to the trial court for resentencing. At the conclusion of the resentencing hearing which commenced on September 28, 1999, the jury found the presence of one aggravating circumstance, the defendant had been previously convicted of one or more violent felonies, Tenn. Code Ann. section 39-13-204(i)(2). The jury further determined that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and imposed a sentence of death. The trial court approved the sentencing verdict. This court affirmed the sentence, but the Tennessee Supreme Court again reversed, finding that evidence of the prior violent felony offense was improperly admitted. State v. Odom, 137 S.W.3d 572, 580-83 (Tenn. 2004). A third resentencing hearing was held on December 3, 2007. The jury found the presence of two aggravating circumstances: the defendant had previously been convicted of a prior violent felony and the murder was committed during an attempt to commit a robbery. See Tenn. Code Ann. section 39-13-204(i)(2), (7). The jury further determined that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and, again,
imposed a sentence of death. The defendant appeals, presenting for our review the following claims: (1) the trial court erred in granting a challenge for cause to a juror; (2) the trial court erred in admitting crime scene photographs; (3) the jury instruction on parole eligibility violated his right to due process; (4) the criteria of Tennessee Code annotated section 39-13- 206(c)(1) have not been satisfied in the present case; (5) his waiver of his right to testify was
not knowingly, intelligently, or voluntarily made; (6) the reasonable doubt instruction violated his constitutional rights; and (7) Tennessee's death penalty scheme is
unconstitutional. Following our review, we affirm the jury's imposition of the sentence of death in this case.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/odomr_072210.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. BILLY R. SUMMEY
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
William L. Gribble, II, Maryville, Tennessee, attorney for appellant, Billy R. Summey.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Leslie E. Price, Assistant Attorney General; R. Steven Bebb, District Attorney General; and Paul Rush, Assistant District
Attorney General, attorneys for appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: THOMAS
The Monroe County grand jury indicted the Defendant, Billy R. Summey, for alternative counts of sale or delivery of more than one-half ounce but less than ten pounds of marijuana, a Class E felony. Following the denial of his motion to suppress, the Defendant pled guilty to the indictment and received a sentence of two years as a Range I, standard offender to be served on probation. Pursuant to the guilty plea, the Defendant also reserved a certified
question of law that is dispositive of his case challenging the legality of the tape-recorded drug transaction that occurred in his home, without a warrant, between himself and an
informant. See Tenn. R. Crim. P. 37(b)(2)(i). In this appeal as of right, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2010/summeyb_072210.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
Passages
Supreme Court Report
Politics
TBA Member Services
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| Legal News |
| YouTube threat to kill judge leads to federal charge |
| A U.S. Army soldier accused of threatening a Knox County chancellor in a YouTube video is now facing federal charges in connection with the incident, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The video contains "a threat to injure and kill Knox County Chancellor Michael W. Moyers."
Franklin Delano Jeffries II, 36, could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, the release said. |
The News Sentinel has the story
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| Red Flags: FTC asks court again not to exempt lawyers |
| The Federal Trade Commission yesterday urged a federal appeals court not to exempt lawyers from generally applicable business regulations again.
In 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FTC could not force lawyers to comply with new rules about privacy notifications. |
The Blog of Legal Times has more
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| LSC approves fiscal oversight task force |
| The Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) approved on Wednesday the creation of an independent task force to review and make recommendations to the board regarding LSC's fiscal oversight responsibilities and how LSC conducts fiscal oversight of its grantees. |
Download the resolution
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| TJC elects new officers |
| The board of directors of the Tennessee Justice Center has elected its officers for 2010-2011: Chair Cynthia R. Wyrick, shareholder with Ogle, Gass & Richardson PC, Sevierville; Vice Chair David P. Canas, shareholder with Harwell Howard Hyne Gabbert & Manner PC, Nashville; and Treasurer Vic Alexander, chief manager of Kraft CPAs PLLC, Nashville.
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| Pay still unequal, but workers should do their best |
| A recently released report from the Tennessee Economic Council on Women shows that the average woman in Tennessee earns just 78 cents for every $1 a man makes, on par with the national average.
Gender discrepancies in the workplace haven't changed a lot in the last several decades, but advice women are getting about how to succeed has. It's not so much about make-up and clothes now, but about being prepared and doing good work.
Attorney Mary Martin Schaffner said there were just a few female lawyers in Nashville when she started practicing in the early '80s, and they remained somewhat of an oddity until the mid '90s.
"(The men) didn't know how to treat us, and we didn't know how we were supposed act or how we were supposed to dress," she said. Times have changed, though, as has her advice on how to excel in the workplace today. It doesn't have to do with hairstyle or dress, as it might have 20 years ago, and could apply to both genders:
"Work as hard as you can for as long as you can." |
The Tennessean explores the issue
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| Ford's employees cleared of campaign improprieties |
| The Shelby County Attorney's Office has cleared four employees in Mayor Joe Ford's office of allegations they campaigned for their boss on county time.
A report by County Attorney Brian Kuhn, released this afternoon, says there was little evidence to support the allegation. |
The Commercial Appeal has the story
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| Passages |
| Israel Godkin dies |
| Israel Allen Godkin, husband of Nashville attorney Pele I. Godkin, died July 10 as a result of a swimming accident while in Washington State. He played the bass and sang with his brothers, The Godkins, a popular gospel group. Memorial contributions for Pele and the couple's unborn child may be submitted to The Israel Godkin Memorial Fund at any branch of First Tennessee Bank or may be delivered by mail to the Israel Memorial Godkin Fund, First Tennessee Bank, 511 Union Street, First Floor, Nashville, TN 37219.
Services were July 19. |
Read his obituary in The Tennessean
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| Supreme Court Report |
| Kagan will change more things about court than you think |
| Conventional wisdom says if a third woman, Elena Kagan, joins the Supreme Court, that it won't change anything because Kagan's moderate liberal philosophy is unlikely to deviate often from that of the justice she will replace, John Paul Stevens. But columnist David Broder suspects, based on what he witnessed when more women joined his newsroom,
that "Kagan's joining Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the bench will change the high court in ways that no one foresees."
The women who came onto the political beat, Broder writes, asked candidates questions that would not have occurred to male reporters, and they saw the candidates' lives whole, while the men were much more likely to deal only with the official part of it.
"They changed the culture of the newspaper business and altered the way everyone, male or female, did the work." |
Read his column in The Washington Post
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| Politics |
| Woman's vote will count in Republican primary after all |
| A Crossville woman who had been denied an opportunity to vote in the Republican primary Tuesday will have her vote counted after all.
Mickey Eldridge was stopped from casting her ballot when a poll watcher challenged her GOP credentials.
Tuesday, Eldridge appeared in front of a three-judge panel that would explore "if she was Republican enough to vote in the G.O.P. primary."
They asked to see her voting history, asked if she intended to vote Democrat in future elections, and listened to Eldridge take an oath of allegiance to the Republican Party.
The panel voted to deny her right to vote in the primary, but
one of the judges did not sign paperwork that would have officially denied Eldridge's vote, it will be counted.
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WBIR-TV has the update
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| TBA Member Services |
| Discounts from Office Depot |
| Are you saving yet? Sign up for the TBA-Office Depot Program and begin saving. TBA Members receive significant discounts on office supplies from Office Depot. |
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About this publication: Today's News is a compilation of digests of news reports of interest to Tennessee lawyers compiled by TBA staff, links to digested press releases, and occasional stories about the TBA and other activities written by the TBA staff or members. Statements or opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tennessee Bar Association, its officers, board or staff.
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