TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 26, 2021

Knox News reports that its investigation of Eighth Judicial District Circuit Court Judge John McAfee has led it to conclude that the judge is engaging in conduct that could be considered coercive. The investigation allegedly found that McAfee uses pretrial settlement conferences as an opportunity to engage in “never-before-tried and never-before-tested ‘mediation’ of criminal cases." The findings come from observing dozens of criminal cases — mostly involving poor defendants represented by court-appointed attorneys — in three East Tennessee counties. McAfee says he is not doing anything wrong and is just helping reduce the criminal case backlog after courts were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Union County defense attorney Keri E. Rule recently filed formal objections on behalf of seven clients.