 |
| Tuesday, January 04, 2011 |
|
| |
| |
Four appointed to BPR, chair and vice-chair named
The Tennessee Supreme Court has appointed four new members to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility:
-- Michael E. Callaway, Bell and Associates in Cleveland, Tenn.;
-- Wade V. Davies, Ritchie, Dillard & Davies in Knoxville;
-- Michael U. King, King Law Office in Huntingdon, Tenn.; and
-- J. Russell Parkes, Hardin Parkes, Kelley & Carter in Columbia.
The court has also named Lela M. Hollabaugh of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Nashville as chair, and Clarence Halmon of Archibald & Halmon in Memphis as vice-chair of the board. Both will serve one-year terms in their respective leadership positions.
Kate Gooch and Clarence Halmon were reappointed to second three-year terms, which will expire on Dec. 31, 2013.
Get more details from the AOC
|
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.
01 - TN Supreme Court
00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
00 - TN Court of Appeals
03 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
00 - TN Attorney General Opinions
00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions
00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR
You can obtain full-text versions of the opinions two ways. We recommend that you download the Opinions to your computer and then
open them from there. 1) 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. 2) 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SUPREME COURT DISCRETIONARY APPEALS Grants & Denials List
Court: TSC
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC/2011/certlist_010411.pdf
WILLIAM A. HAWKINS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Katherine L. Tranum, Kingsport, Tennessee, for the appellant, William A. Hawkins.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Cameron L. Hyder, Assistant Attorney General; H. Greeley Wells, Jr., District Attorney General; and Barry P. Staubus, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WITT
The petitioner, William A. Hawkins, aggrieved by his Sullivan County jury conviction of premeditated first degree murder for which he received a sentence of life imprisonment, filed
a petition for post-conviction relief alleging that his conviction was the product of ineffective assistance of counsel and other constitutional deprivations. Following the appointment of counsel, amendment of the petition, and an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied relief. On appeal, the petitioner argues that the trial court erred in denying him relief. Discerning no error, we affirm the order of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/hawkinsw_010411.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. GERALD McEWEN
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Edward P. Bronston and Vicki M. Carriker (on appeal), Memphis, Tennessee, Robert W. Jones, Shelby County Public Defender, and Donna Armstard and Constance J. Barnes (at
trial) Assistant Public Defenders, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Gerald McEwen.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Cameron L. Hyder, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Betsy Carnesale, Paul
Goodman and James Wax, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCLIN
A Shelby County jury convicted the defendant, Gerald McEwen, of one count of first degree murder and one count of criminal attempt to commit first degree murder, a Class A felony. The trial court sentenced him as a Range I violent offender to life with the possibility of parole for the murder conviction and as a Range I standard offender to fifteen years for the attempted murder conviction. The court ordered him to serve the sentences concurrently in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant argues that (1) the trial court violated his right to due process by denying his counsel the opportunity to rehabilitate a prospective juror and by reprimanding the prospective juror in front of the jury venire; (2) the trial court erred by denying his Batson challenge; (3) the trial court erred by admitting
evidence in violation of Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 16; and (4) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of
the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/mceweng_010411.pdf
ERIC WRIGHT v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
James Robert Nowlin, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Eric Wright.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Cameron L. Hyder, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Doug Carriker, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCLIN
In August 1990, a Shelby County jury convicted the petitioner of one count of robbery by use of a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with intent to commit murder in the first
degree, all Class A felonies. The trial court sentenced the petitioner as a Range III persistent offender to an effective sentence of 150 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. This court affirmed his convictions and sentences by memorandum opinion pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. The petitioner now appeals the post-conviction court's denial of relief, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal and that his sentence violated the prohibition against ex post facto laws. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/wrighte_010411.pdf
|
|
 |
|
| TODAY'S NEWS |
|
Tenn. Government
Legal News
TBA Member Services
|
| Tenn. Government |
| Clark will administer oath to new governor |
| Tennessee Governor-elect Bill Haslam will be sworn in by Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Cornelia "Connie" Clark at 11 a.m. CST Jan. 15 on the Legislative Plaza.
She is the first woman in Tennessee history to administer a swearing-in for a governor, Haslam spokesman Dave Smith said. Clark is a Democrat, but Haslam won't be the first Republican governor sworn in by a Democratic Supreme Court justice. In fact, until recent years all high court judges -- traditional oath-givers for governors -- were Democrats, the News Sentinel's Tom Humphrey reports.
|
Read more from the News Sentinel
|
| Another mayor for Haslam's cabinet: Franklin's Schroer |
| Governor-elect Haslam's transition team today announced Franklin Mayor John Schroer as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
In addition to Schorer, current or former Tennessee mayors are filling up the Haslam cabinet, including Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey (soon to be deputy governor), former Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey (soon to be assistant commissioner for homeland security), and former Kingston Mayor Jim Henry (soon to lead the Department of Intellectual Disabilities). |
Learn more from NashvillePost.com
|
| Legal News |
| Legal aid groups face 'perfect storm' of funding cuts, increase in demand |
| Law firms may be benefiting from the slow economic recovery, but legal aid groups face the most dire circumstances in decades, The National Law Journal reports. The problem is a "perfect storm" of IOLTA funding declines, cuts in state and local funding, uncertain federal support and a tight private fund-raising environment. The situation is exacerbated by steep increases in demand for free legal services as millions of low-income Americans face long-term unemployment, foreclosure and other serious problems. |
Law.com carries this story
|
| Houston brothers' land at auction to pay legal fees; lawyer buys it |
| Lawyer Jim Logan, who sat at the defense table through two double-murder trials for Leon Houston, said the family still hasn't paid him about $260,000, more than a year after the acquittal. A foreclose was planned for today on 246 acres of land, which were put up as security for his services.
When no one showed up to bid on the property Logan bought it himself, for $150,000.
But Houston and his brother, Rocky Joe, don't think that's right.
"They can go ahead and sell this land illegally, but we ain't going nowhere," Rocky Houston said. "We will not be run off this land that's been in our family for four generations." The brothers appeared in court last month to try to halt the sale, but a judge jailed them on contempt charges before hearing their argument.
"I think you can look around and see why good people are afraid to bid on this property today," Logan said, amid shouts from the Houston brothers of "fraud, forgery and conspiracy."
|
The News Sentinel reports
|
| Rumblings over merit selection begin again |
| A story in Gavel Grab, a newsletter of Justice at Stake, asks if critics of Tennessee's merit selection plan for selecting appeals court judges are gearing up to seek a switch to partisan judicial elections.
Maybe, suggests a recent Tennessean article.
But Governor-elect Bill Haslam does not support changes to the merit selection of appeals court judges, according to a spokesman. A supporter of the existing system warned of the political influence it could inject into Tennessee's courts.
"It is always better to choose judges based on merit than politics," said Tom Lee, a Nashville attorney. "We know that politics are a part of legislation, that politics play an important role in selecting our governor, but that politics do not have a place in our courtrooms." |
|
| Arrest made in Miley email account hacking case |
| Federal authorities last week arrested the Tennessee man who boasted of hacking Miley Cyrus's email account and posting pictures on the Internet of the then-underage starlet in her underwear.
FBI agents arrested Joshua Holly, 21, last Thursday and charged him with possessing about 200 unauthorized credit card numbers with intent to defraud. Because of the holiday weekend, Holly had to wait until Monday afternoon for his initial appearance in federal district court in Nashville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Juliet E. Griffin. A pre-trial hearing is set for Jan. 12. |
The City Paper has more
|
| FDA clarifies on lethal-injection drug imports |
| Today the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement at the request of The Wall Street Journal, clarifying its position on thiopental imports, a drug used to administer the death penalty by lethal injection. Hospira, the sole U.S. maker of the drug, has not produced a fresh supply of thiopental for over a year, forcing some states to import the drug from Europe.
The agency is taking a hands-off position, stating that it will defer to law enforcement and permit the importation of thiopental sodium going forward. |
Learn more from The Wall Street Journal
|
| Legislation teeters between noise and free speech |
| The broad language of legislation conceived as a remedy to quiet boisterous street preachers has caught the attention of a handful of First Amendment rights advocates. Already aware of some unintended consequences, Metro Councilman Mike Jameson has put the bill on temporary hold while he, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau and the council's attorney explore a few tweaks. They're toeing a thin line between regulating noise and adhering to constitutionally protected free speech. |
Read the City Paper's story
|
| Tennessee among states with fewer bankruptcies in 2010 |
| The growth in bankruptcies around the country slowed significantly in 2010 from its breakneck pace in recent years, with about a dozen states recording a decline in filings from consumers and businesses, according to an Associated Press tally today. Tennessee recorded the second-biggest decreases in filings, down 8 percent. Knoxville lawyer John Newton says his firm continues to work six days a week to handle the massive bankruptcy caseload, but filings there have leveled off. "I think we've sort of turned the corner," he said. |
The Commercial Appeal has this AP story
|
| TBA Member Services |
| First Tennessee is TBA's preferred provider |
| First Tennessee has crafted a package of discounts to meet the specific needs of Tennessee Bar Association members. |
Find savings on merchant credit services, checking and savings, financial planning and more
|
| |
|
| |
Discontinue your TBA Today subscription? ... Surely not!
But if you must, visit the TBALink web site at:
http://www.tba2.org/tbatoday/unsub_tbatoday.php
Questions, comments: Email us at TBAToday@tnbar.org
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.
© Copyright 2011 Tennessee Bar Association
|
|
|
