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| Friday, January 28, 2011 |
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Law Tech 'Un-Conference:' Unexpected Opportunity
This year's Law Tech "Un-Conference" brings an unconventional approach to continuing legal education. Lawyers at this year's program will be able to interact with speakers throughout the day in round-table discussions and experience hands-on learning with event sponsors. This interactive learning is especially suited to technology.
No advance registration is required and attendees can come for just the sessions they want to take part in and create their own schedule. There is no charge for attending the programs, however, there will be a per hour charge for lawyers who desire to receive CLE credit for their participation.
Find our more now or register to attend
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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.
00 - TN Supreme Court
01 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
00 - TN Court of Appeals
01 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
01 - 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.
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WYATT JOHNSON v. VENTURE EXPRESS, INC. ET AL.
Court: TWCA
Attorneys:
Thomas O. Sippel, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellants, Venture Express, Inc. and Cherokee Insurance Company.
Louis Andrew McElroy, II, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Wyatt Johnson.
Judge: WADE
The employee filed a workers' compensation claim against the employer for injuries sustained in a trucking accident. The trial court ruled that the employee was permanently and
totally disabled as a result of the accident and entitled to full benefits. The employer appealed, alleging that the trial court erred in finding the employee permanently and totally
disabled. The appeal was referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-225(e)(3) and Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 51. Because the evidence does not preponderate against the findings of fact made by the trial court, the judgment is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2011/johnsonw_012811.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. HENRY ALFRED HONEA
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
B. Campbell Smoot and Jess Sockwell (at trial), Tullahoma, Tennessee; and Joseph Ford (on appeal), Winchester, Tennessee, for the appellant, Henry Alfred Honea.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Assistant Attorney General; C. Michael Layne, District Attorney General; and Felicia A. Walkup, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: TIPTON
The Defendant, Henry Alfred Honea, was convicted by a Coffee County Circuit Court jury of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, especially aggravated
robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, evading arrest, and being a felon in possession of a handgun. The Defendant received an effective sentence of life without parole plus 153 years, which was to be served consecutively to previous sentences for other convictions. On appeal, the Defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions of especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, first degree felony murder, and first degree premeditated murder; (2) the trial court erred in admitting expert proof about the rate of decomposition of the victim's body; (3) he was deprived of due process and a fair trial by the admission of proof of the Defendant's pending rape charges; (4) the trial court erred in failing to give an alibi instruction; (5) the trial court erred in admitting underlying factual proof about the
Defendant's prior kidnapping convictions at the sentencing hearing; (6) the trial court erred in entering judgments for both first degree felony murder and first degree premeditated murder, then merging the convictions; and (7) he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel when trial counsel failed to call two exculpatory witnesses to testify at the trial. We affirm the especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated
burglary, evading arrest, and being a felon in possession of a handgun judgments. We vacate the first degree premeditated murder and felony murder judgments and remand the case for entry of one judgment of conviction for first degree murder, noting merger of the two counts of conviction.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/honeah_012811.pdf
Sentence Credit for Criminal Defendant's First Day of Incarceration Following Arrest
TN Attorney General Opinions
Date: 2011-01-28
Opinion Number: 11-12
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2011/ag_11_12.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
Upcoming
General Assembly News
Passages
TBA Member Services
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| Legal News |
| TBI launches investigation of Knox County judge |
| Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner, who Thursday announced he was taking an indefinite medical leave, is the subject of a criminal investigation, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed to the newspaper today the agency has launched a criminal probe of the Knox Criminal Court judge.
Spokeswoman Kristin Helm said she could not disclose the nature of the probe.
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Leran more from the News Sentinel
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| Prison chief overrides federal judge, sends Kernell to prison |
| Federal Bureau of Prisons Chief Jose Santana has told U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips that he could not honor Phillips' request that David Kernell spend his sentence at a Knoxville halfway house, saying there are needier felons waiting in line. Kernell is the former UT student who was convicted of illegally accessing Sarah Palin's private e-mail account.
"Our agency contracts bed space for inmates who have a greater need ... such as those with limited job skills/resources and family and community support," Santana wrote. "Mr. Kernell has attended three years of college and has the support of his family." Kernell's lawyer Wade Davies doesn't think that is right.
"It is fundamentally wrong for an agency of the Department of Justice (which prosecuted Kernell) to reject the judge's findings and recommendations ... because he's been a college student," Davies said. The bureau instead sent Kernell, 22, to a minimum-security facility in Ashland, Ky. to serve his 364-day sentence. |
The News Sentinel reports
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| Memphis law groups plan alternative spring break |
| In March, the Memphis Bar Association Access to Justice Committee, the
Association for Women Attorneys, the Community Legal Center and the Memphis Area
Legal Services will team up with the University of Memphis School of Law to
host an alternative spring break program. The program will pair students with
lawyers working on family law issues, advance directives and non-profit
research. Volunteer attorneys are needed to supervise the students. For more
information or to get involved, please contact Linda Warren Seely at (901)
523-8822 or lseely@malsi.org. |
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| Trost back at firm after stint as revenue commissioner |
| Charles A. Trost has returned to the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP after serving since last September as Tennessee's Commissioner of Revenue. At Waller he will serve as senior counsel to the tax and government relations departments; before the recent move he was of counsel with the firm, which he first joined in 1981. Trost was appointed commissioner by Gov. Phil Bredesen in September 2010 for the remainder of his term, which ended Jan. 15. |
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| Napier-Looby elects officers |
| New officers elected to the Napier-Looby Bar Association are President L. Nicole James, President-elect David Green, Recording Secretary Shameak Belvitt, Corresponding Secretary Lora Manson, Treasurer John Manson and Historian Amy Willoughby. The Board of Directors is Jola Moore, Brian Winfrey, Andrea Perry and Dannelle Walker. The Nominations Committee is James, Perry, Winfrey, Willoughby and William Stover.
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| Divorce Referee moves offices |
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The Shelby County Divorce Referee Office has moved to Room 327 on the third
floor of the Shelby County Courthouse. It previously occupied Room 206. The
courthouse is located at 140 Adams, Memphis, TN 38103. The phone number
remains the same. |
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| Court rejects March's appeal |
| A Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday rejected Perry March's appeal
of his conviction in the murder of his wife, Janet Levine March, after she disappeared in August 1996.
A Davidson County jury convicted March in August 2006 on second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and destruction of evidence.
In his appeal, March claimed the trial court erred in admitting as evidence statements he made to Sgt. Pat Postiglione on Aug. 12, 2005, recorded jail conversations involving March, testimony concerning March's conduct and a draft of March's novel.
The Criminal Court of Appeals, however, affirmed the trial court's decision and found that March's right to a fair trial was not affected. |
The City Paper reported
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| 'Tough watchdog,' Inspector General Glenn Fine retires |
| As Glenn Fine prepares to leave his post as U.S. inspector general after 10 years, he and some of his adversaries are starting to evaluate his tenure as one of the toughest watchdogs that the Justice Department has ever seen. Topping the list of his accomplishments, Fine exposed widespread FBI civil liberties violations; he called out former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for failing to supervise employees who injected politics into hiring decisions; and he took the Marshals Service to task for not doing enough to protect judges. |
NPR has details
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| Upcoming |
| Project Salute offers free training |
| Project SALUTE is a pro bono project pioneered by the University of
Detroit Mercy School of Law to provide free legal assistance to low-income
veterans across the country who have been denied federal veteran disability
and pension benefit claims. The project is offering a free webinar training
on Feb. 10 and 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (EST). Attorneys must attend
both days and are required to register for training in advance. In exchange
for the free training, materials and CLE credit, attorneys agree to handle
at least one veteran's case on a pro bono basis. Lawyers interested in more
information should contact Alesa Silver at silverag@udmercy.edu or (313)
596-0258.
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Register for the training here
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| General Assembly News |
| Faulk wants constitutional amendment on term limits |
| Tennessee state Sen. Mike Faulk, R-Church Hill, has filed a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that would term-limit future state lawmakers.
Under the resolution, state senators would be confined to serving two four-year terms, while state representatives would be restricted to four two-year terms in office. |
The Times-News has more
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| Passages |
| Services Sunday for former Vanderbilt law prof |
| L. Harold Levinson, who served on Vanderbilt's law faculty from 1973 until his retirement in 1999, died on Wednesday of complications from Parkinson's disease. Professor Levinson earned both his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Miami and earned an LL.M. at New York University and a J.S.D. at Columbia University. Graveside services honoring Professor Levinson, led by Congregation Sherith Israel, will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday at KKSI Cemetery, which is located on 18th Avenue North at Cass Street in Nashville. |
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| TBA Member Services |
| Get Connected: Sign up for TBA Connect today |
| Hundreds of your colleagues have already joined in to the TBA's Social Networking platform for members called TBA Connect. This service provides many of the same features of sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook, but access is limited to members of the Tennessee Bar Association and approved guests. |
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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.
© Copyright 2011 Tennessee Bar Association
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