TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jul 6, 2026

After retiring from the bench in 2023, former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee visited Tyshon Booker, a state prisoner convicted of first-degree murder committed when he was 16, to encourage him toward rehabilitation ahead of a future parole hearing. Lee, who spoke about the experience recently, wrote the 2022 Tennessee Supreme Court opinion that found mandatory life sentences for juvenile homicide offenders unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment and instead entitled Booker to an individualized parole hearing after 25 to 36 years. Knox News reports that students at the Advocacy Clinic, part of the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law Legal Clinic, determined in 2025 that more than 100 young people in Tennessee have been sentenced to terms of life imprisonment and thus entitled to earlier parole release hearings.