TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

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SCOTUS Shoots Down Tougher Sentences for Gun Crimes

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 24, 2019
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the high court’s liberals to strike down a law that calls for longer sentencing when a person uses a firearm in connection with a “crime of violence,” Fox News reports. Writing the majority opinion, Gorsuch said the stated definition of a “crime of violence” – that is, a felony “that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense” – was confusing and vague.

Services Monday for Roane County Lawyer Polk Cooley

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: Passages
Roane County attorney J. Polk Cooley died on June 19, at the age of 93. A Rockwood native, Cooley practiced law for 72 years, almost all of it in Roane County. He served in World War II in the U.S. Navy Corps, and took advantage of the GI Bill to pivot to the University of Tennessee College of Law. He passed the bar at the age of 21. One of his first cases was serving as co-counsel to Howard Baker Sr. and his son, future U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr., to help his own father, John Lewis Cooley, sidestep a murder conviction. A celebration of life will be held on June 24 at 6 p.m. at the First Christian Church in Rockwood. There will be a reception immediately following in the Fellowship Hall.

Lt. Gov. to TVA: Keep Bull Run Open, Move Coal Ash

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: Legal News
In a letter to the Tennessee Valley Authority, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally urged the electricity provider to reverse its decision to shut down the Bull Run coal-fired power plant in Anderson County, Knoxnews reports. TVA announced earlier this year it was closing the plant — located on the Clinch River in the heart of the Claxton community. TVA cited a drop in demand for electricity produced by burning coal and said it would close the plant by 2023. McNally also said he thinks TVA should dig up the coal ash in its unlined pits and either sell the ash or store it in lined landfills away from the Clinch River and other water sources.

SCOTUS Strikes Down Conviction of Mississippi Man Who Spent 22 Years on Death Row

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has struck down the conviction of an African American death row inmate who was prosecuted six times for the same crime and by the same prosecutor, a man with a history of racial bias in jury selection, NPR reports. Curtis Flowers has spent 22 years on death row in Mississippi. In his cases, the same prosecutor struck 41 of 42 prospective black jurors. Writing for the court's 7-2 majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, "The numbers speak loudly. Over the course of the first four trials, there were 36 black prospective jurors against whom the State could have exercised a peremptory strike. The State tried to strike all 36."

First Jury Trial to Use Family Tree DNA Begins in Washington State

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: Legal News
Jurors this week heard during opening statements about the mysterious final days of a young Canadian couple killed in 1987 — as well as the novel method authorities used to finally make an arrest three decades later, the Associated Press reports. William Earl Talbott II was arrested last year and charged with aggravated murder after authorities said they used genetic genealogy to identify him as the person who left his DNA on the clothing of one of the victims. The practice involves identifying suspects by entering crime-scene DNA profiles into public databases that people have used for years to fill out their family trees.

Environmental Group Sues Metro Nashville for Alleged Clean Water Act Violations

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: Legal News
An environmental non-profit intends to sue Nashville and Davidson County for alleged clean water violations, Fox 17 reports. Tennessee Riverkeeper is filing suit against the city for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act for making new sewer connections in areas that have chronic river overflows. “Riverkeeper found 146 overflows reported in the sewage collection system from February 2017 to the present. These overflows are responsible for well over 4,775,800 gallons of raw sewage going into the Cumberland River and its tributaries,” Riverkeeper founder David Whiteside said. They are asking for a total of $37,500 in fines for each violation.

UT Law Selects Four Alums to Receive Loan Repayment Award

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: Legal News
The University of Tennessee College of Law has selected four alumni to receive financial awards through the 2019 Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, & Berkowitz, PC Loan Repayment Assistance Program. This program, now in its second year, annually provides financial assistance to College of Law graduates who work in public interest law. This year each recipient will receive $5,000 to help them repay student debt. This year's recipients are Buki Baruwa, class of 2013; Lucy Boateng, class of 2016; Kirsten Jacobson, class of 2016; and Charles Simmons, class of 2014.

Maury County Lawyer Placed on Disability Inactive Status

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 21, 2019
News Type: BPR Actions
By order of the Tennessee Supreme Court entered on June 20, the law license of Maury County lawyer Robert Barrow Sweeney was transferred to disability inactive status pursuant to Section 27.3 of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9. Sweeney cannot practice law while on disability inactive status. He may return to the practice of law after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court upon showing of clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed and he is fit to resume the practice of law.

TDEC Commissioner, Worker Testify in Hearing Over Golf Tournament Attended by Industry Insiders

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 20, 2019
News Type: Legal News
Despite statements to the contrary from the department’s commissioner, a Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation worker told state lawmakers that he was asked by a top official to manage a golf tournament sponsored by industry insiders, the Tennessean reports. Previously, Commissioner David Salyers claimed the event was privately-run and not a government event. The worker, Charles Burroughs, testified in a House Committee on Government Operations hearing that high-ranking appointees requested in 2002 that he oversee the tournament.

Citing Northcott, Rep. Hardaway Calls for New Process to Select Special Prosecutors

Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jun 20, 2019
News Type: Legal News
Saying he has “zero confidence” in the district attorney selected to investigate a case involving House Speaker Glen Casada’s office and an African-American activist, state Rep. G.A. Hardaway is calling for a new process to select special prosecutors, the Daily Memphian reports. The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference chose Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott — recently embroiled in a scandal and investigation regarding anti-LGBT and Islamophobic comments he made — to determine whether Casada’s former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, tried to frame activist Justin Jones with an altered email showing he violated a no-contact order. Hardaway said he believes the legislature needs to reconsider how special prosecutors are selected, with appointments coming through a third party, possibly the Supreme Court or retired judges.
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