TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 12, 2024

In interviews with NewsChannel 5 and WSMV, the chief deputy clerk of Davidson County’s criminal courts acknowledged errors occurred during the release of a man, who days later was charged with killing his girlfriend Lauren Johansen in Mississippi. Bricen Rivers, who had been arrested in Nashville in December for allegedly beating Johansen, was released on bond with conditions including GPS monitoring and restrictions on travel outside the county. A mistake in the clerk’s office, however, omitted those conditions from documents sent to jail officials. Rivers was eventually fitted with a monitoring device but left the county before the tracking company was informed that he was not allowed to do so. Within a week he had returned to Mississippi and allegedly killed Johansen. Chief Deputy Clerk Julius Sloss says his office is looking at ways to prohibit such an oversight from happening again and that the employee who made the mistake will face disciplinary action.