Tune in Dec. 5 as ethics guru Brian Faughnan returns with a virtual live seminar to discuss what the Ethics Rules say about AI. What are some of the latest updates and what can we expect in 2024? These are just a couple of the themes and topics Faughnan will explore. Earn three dual credits and fulfill your ethics requirement before Dec. 31. Find out more and register.

Shelby County chief jailer Kirk Fields filed a motion Friday asking that he be dismissed from the civil suit filed against him, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and Shelby County government by the family of Gershun Freeman. Freeman died while in police custody in October 2022. Nine Shelby corrections officers have been indicted for their alleged roles in his death. The Daily Memphian reports that Fields asked the court to dismiss him from the suit primarily because it fails to show he was directly involved in Freeman’s death. Fields also alleged he has qualified immunity, which affords him immunity from civil suit.

Tennessee’s delegation to Europe in June to promote the state cost taxpayers over $117,000, the Tennessean reports. Gov. Bill Lee, two of his staffers, two members of the Department of Economic and Community Development, two of their wives and two members of Lee’s security detail were in attendance for the six-day trip. According to the Tennessean, state policies governing travel related spending for most state employees require strict economy ― but there are exceptions for anyone traveling with the governor, and for economic development officials traveling to promote the state. “Creating jobs and greater opportunity for Tennesseans is one of Gov. Lee's top priorities, and strategic international trade missions have provided a significant return on investment,” spokesperson Elizabeth Johnson said in a statement.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) says its turnaround time for processing rape kits has been cut in half since August 2022, from 45.4 weeks to 18 weeks on average. The Associated Press reports that the state’s turnaround times for sexual assault kits drew heavy scrutiny after the high-profile killing of Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher in September 2022. The man charged with killing Fletcher was charged in a 2021 rape of a different woman shortly afterward, when the rape kit from that case was finally processed.

Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk wants Tennessee’s criteria for involuntary commitment to a mental health facility to be changed. WPLN reports that Funk says Tennessee’s standards for involuntary commitment are nearly impossible to meet. Shaquille Taylor, accused of fatally shooting Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig last week, was tried earlier this year for aggravated assault and found incompetent to stand trial, but he did not meet the state’s criteria for involuntary commitment. The DA’s office told WPLN that it does not yet know how Taylor was able to procure a gun.

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it is adopting its first code of ethics. In an unsigned statement, the justices said they have long adhered to ethics standards. “The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules,” the justices wrote. “To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.” The Associated Press reports the impetus for an ethics code was sparked by a series of stories by ProPublica detailing the relationship between billionaire donors Harlan Crow and the Koch brothers and Justice Clarence Thomas. Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor have also come under scrutiny. Three justices, Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh, have voiced support for an ethics code in recent months. 

The Shelby County Public Defender’s Office is struggling to handle first-degree murder cases, citing staff shortages and an excessive workload. A July email from Chief Public Defender Phyllis Aluko asked all Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court judges to stop appointing her office on first-degree murder cases. The Daily Memphian reports that most cases, including first-degree murders, start in Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court, and judges typically only appoint private attorneys instead of public defenders if there is a conflict of interest.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) plans to sell Nashville’s Estes Kefauver Federal Building, which opened in 1952. The Nashville Post reports that the building was essentially replaced by the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, which opened in 2022. Various federal courts and offices operate from that building, with the Kefauver Building still accommodating an Internal Revenue Service taxpayer assistance center, a U.S. Community Credit Union branch and a U.S. Veterans Affairs Department office. The GSA also plans to sell the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and Courthouse in Chattanooga.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) has announced that Ashley Holliday will be the organization’s new executive director, effective Jan. 1. Holliday currently serves as the WTLS General Counsel. She has worked for 14 years at WTLS, where she started as managing attorney. Prior to that she worked in private practice in Jackson after graduating from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She succeeds Cathy Clayton, who is retiring from the role on Dec. 31. Read the full press release from WTLS.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn has teamed up with Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, on a bipartisan bill called the Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for (MAIN) Event Ticketing Act. The bill would create reporting requirements so that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is quickly made aware of online ticketing misconduct. Axios Nashville has more information.