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Decommissioned Metro Nashville police officer Andrew Delke has been granted a request to appeal for a change of venue for his upcoming trial, News Channel 5 reports. Delke has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Daniel Hambrick. Judge Monte Watkins denied Delke’s original request last month, but yesterday granted Delke and attorney David Raybin the opportunity to appeal that decision to the state appellate court. Raybin argues that Delke will not receive a fair trial as most Nashvillians have already made up their minds about him. The trial is scheduled for next March.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has written Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a letter saying his county will continue to resettle refugees because of a “moral obligation” to do so, the Commercial Appeal reports. Harris penned the letter in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order in September that allowed state and local governments to decide if they would continue to accept refugees for resettlement. “We are delighted that Shelby County has and continues to be in a position to offer safety to displaced refugee families from around the globe,” Harris wrote. “For these reasons and more, Shelby County would be honored to continue to welcome refugees.” The letter is scheduled to be mailed tomorrow.

Curtis Flowers, a Mississippi man who was tried six times by the same prosecutor for the murder of four people, was granted bail on Monday, NPR reports. Flowers’ conviction in his sixth trial was overturned earlier this year by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the prosecution had unconstitutionally excluded black jurors from the trial. After 22 years on death row, Flowers’ bail was set at $250,000 and he will be required to wear an electric monitor. His legal team said they will move for dismissal of all charges in the new year, while Mississippi District Attorney Doug Evans, who prosecuted all six trials, hasn’t said if he’ll try Flowers for a seventh time.

Two years after a local non-profit removed Confederate monuments from two public parks it purchased from the City of Memphis, ownership of those statues has been transferred to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Commercial Appeal reports. The city sold the parks in 2017 to Memphis Greenspace Inc., a non-profit that promised then Gov. Bill Haslam it would relocate the monuments after removing them. The city’s Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen today confirmed the deal, saying the transfer of ownership of the statues happened a few days ago and upheld the promise Greenspace made to Haslam. The Sons of Confederate Veterans spent two years fighting an unsuccessful legal battle against the sale, which ended in October after the state Supreme Court opted not to hear the case. Details of the new arrangement have not been released.

The Tennessee Association of Recovery Court Professionals (TARCP) held its 15th Annual Recovery Court Conference recently in Franklin and honored two judges and two state legislators for their work helping people with substance disorders. Sumner County General Sessions Court Judge James Hunter and 21st Judicial District Circuit Court Judge James G. Martin III were awarded the 2019 Making a Difference Award. Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, and Rep. Ron Travis, R-Dayton, were given the Rod Bragg Recovery Hero Award. The ceremony was dedicated to former TARCP award winner and longtime recovery court and Coffee County General Sessions and Juvenile Judge Tim Brock, who died in November. The Tennessee State Courts website has more on the ceremony and honorees.

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Legal Aid of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will hold a Veterans Project Legal Help Clinic on Dec. 18 at Operation Stand Down Tennessee. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Operation Stand Down is located at 1125 12th Ave. S., 37203. The clinic helps veterans and their family members with a range of legal problems. Call 615-244-6610 for more information.

The Supreme Court today appointed three new members to serve on the Access to Justice Commission. Amber D. Floyd, Professor Joy Radice and Monty Burks, Ph.D will begin their terms on April 1. Floyd is the senior assistant city attorney in Memphis and has worked with the ATJ Commission in the past to develop expungement clinics across the state. Radice is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs at the University of Tennessee College of Law and facilitated the first multi-county expungement clinic in the 10th Judicial District in 2018. Burks is the Director of Faith-Based Initiatives for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. The new appointees will replace Gail Ashworth, Ann Pruitt, and Sharon Ryan, whose second three-year terms expire on March 31.

The Knox County Board of Education voted down a controversial policy on Wednesday night that would have allowed schools to have a “Released Time Religious Instruction” program, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The program would have excused students from school for one hour to attend a course in “religious moral instruction." The vote was five against adopting the policy and four in favor.