Donald Verrilli, the seventh longest serving U.S. solicitor general in American history, is resigning from his position and is expected leave at the end of this month. Verrilli’s résumé of groundbreaking cases includes his successful defense of Obamacare and his advocacy on behalf of constitutional protections for same-sex marriage. NPR reports that he will be succeed by Ian Gershengorn, his principal deputy. 

A new trial date has been set for early next year for Raynella Dossett Leath, a Knox County woman accused of killing two husbands. Leath was released from custody yesterday after posting bond. Senior Judge Paul Summers last month overturned Leath's 2010 conviction in the death of her second husband because former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, who presided over her trial, was later convicted in a prescription drug abuse probe. Read more from the Knoxville News Sentinel. 

Attorney General Herbert Slatery will not seek a state Supreme Court review of a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling that deemed the state’s “gang enhancement statute” unconstitutional due to its “overly broad” language. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Slatery’s decision comes after the General Assembly passed a new version of that law that increased penalties for crimes committed by alleged gang members. Cases prosecuted under the old statute – an estimated 60 convictions in Knox County alone – are now considered flawed and all pending gang enhancement charges must be dismissed.

This appeal arises from the termination of a mother's parental rights. When the child turned six months old, a juvenile court found Mother and Father's child dependent and neglected and placed the child in the custody of the paternal grandparents. After having custody for nearly five years, the paternal grandparents filed a petition for termination of Mother's and Father's parental rights and for adoption in chancery court. The trial court terminated Father's parental rights at a separate hearing.

This appeal involves the termination of a father's parental rights to his child. Following a bench trial, the trial court found that clear and convincing evidence existed to support the termination of his rights on the statutory grounds of abandonment for failure to remit child support, substantial noncompliance with the permanency plans, and the persistence of conditions which led to removal. The court further found that termination was in the best interest of the child. The father appeals. We affirm the judgment of the trial court as modified in this opinion.

Inmate appeals the dismissal of his claim that funds awarded to him as a result of a claim he filed with the Tennessee Claims Commission were incorrectly applied to his overdrawn inmate trust account. Finding that the application of the funds in this manner did not violate the pertinent statutes, we affirm the judgment of the Commission.

The Petitioner, Michael Tyrone Gant, appeals the denial of his petition for post- conviction relief. He argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel?s failure to present evidence on his behalf that would have established both his innocence and the victim?s bias. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the post- conviction court.

In this second appeal involving the instant divorce action, the wife appeals the trial court's enforcement of an enhanced judgment lien on behalf of her former counsel and the court's inclusion of certain tractor tires within the farm equipment previously awarded to the husband in the final judgment for divorce. Having determined that the record contains no proof of notice to the wife of the hearing at which the trial court awarded the enhanced judgment lien, we vacate the portion of the judgment enforcing the enhanced portion of the attorney's lien.

The Defendant, Wendi Hope Tunny, appeals as of right from the Sevier County Circuit Court’s denial of her request for judicial diversion and order that she serve her five-year sentence in split confinement following her guilty-pleaded conviction for theft of property valued at $10,000 or more but less than $60,000, a Class C felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-103; -13-105(a)(4). On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred by failing to consider all of the applicable factors for judicial diversion and by failing to conduct a proper weighing of those factors.

The defendant, Marcus Levy, was convicted by a Shelby County Criminal Court jury of first degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction and that the trial court erred in allowing the State to enter the witness statements of three witnesses into evidence at trial. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.