Gov. Bill Haslam has not clarified whether his upcoming budget will include new positions to help clear hundreds of open records requests. However, the Republican governor said he did recognize the need to clear the backlog. Comptroller Justin Wilson requested nearly $265,000 in the budget to help with the increasing requests for information, the Associated Press reports.

Campbell County General Sessions judge Amanda Sammons changed Kristi Leigh Smith’s charge for allegedly failing to buckle up her children from a low-level felony to aggravated child abuse and neglect, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The new charges, changed by marking through the former with a pen, carries a penalty range of 15-25 years in prison. Smith said she was unaware of the judge’s actions until she showed up for her first court appearance with no attorney. 

Health care attorney and distillery owner Heath Clark will share “The Pitfalls of First-Year Entrepreneurship” on Feb. 5 at Williamson County’s First Friday breakfast program. Clark, a shareholder at Clark Business & Health Law, is the owner of H. Clark Distillery located in Thompson’s Station. According to Brentwood Home Page, the free program will be held from 7:30-9 a.m. at E|SPACES, 1550 West McEwen Drive, Suite 300 in Franklin. Register online.

“How do we reconcile one’s right to bear arms with another’s right to govern his or her property?” It’s a question The Trace explores in an article about a Tennessee bill that would hold business owners liable for injuries suffered by concealed permit holders who are not allowed to bring firearms onto the premises. Bill sponsor Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, argues, “If you deny me the chance to protect myself, you’re assuming the responsibility to protect me.”

The Defendant, Clifford Eric Marsh, pleaded guilty to fourth offense driving on a revoked license, a Class A misdemeanor. See T.C.A. § 55-50-504 (2012). The trial court sentenced the Defendant to eleven months, twenty-nine days? confinement at 75% service. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred by denying his request for alternative sentencing.

This appeal concerns post-divorce matters. Mimi Hiatt (“Wife”) and Kevin L. Hiatt (“Husband”) divorced. Wife some years later filed a motion to modify the final decree of divorce in the Circuit Court for Blount County (“the Trial Court”) seeking to increase Husband’s child support and alimony obligations. Husband, in turn, filed a motion to recover claimed overpayments he made on the marital residence because Wife had transferred it to a trust. The Trial Court found, among other things, that Wife was voluntarily underemployed and declined to increase her spousal support for that reason.

A Rutherford County Circuit Court Jury convicted the Appellant, Kenny Thomason, of first degree premeditated murder, and the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment. On appeal, the Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence sustaining his conviction, claiming that the State failed to prove premeditation or that he possessed the weapon that killed the victim; instead, he asserts that the victim possessed the weapon and that she was killed during a struggle. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, John Burley Alberts, was convicted of four counts of rape of a child, see Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-522, and received an effective sentence of one hundred years to be served at one hundred percent.

This action was originally filed in general sessions court against three defendants and resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff. Two of the co-defendants appealed to circuit court. The remaining co-defendant successfully sought to have the general sessions judgment set aside for insufficient service of process. Thereafter, the general sessions court transferred the claim against the one remaining co-defendant to circuit court to be consolidated with the pending appeal filed by the other co-defendants. The plaintiff subsequently voluntarily dismissed the action.

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, Nolan Excell Pippen, was convicted of public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor; and simple possession of marijuana, third or subsequent offense, a Class E felony. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-17-310, -418. The trial court imposed a total effective sentence of two years? incarceration. On appeal, the Defendant contends (1) that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for public intoxication; and (2) that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the marijuana found in his pocket during a search incident to his arrest for public intoxication.1 Following our review, we conclude that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the Defendant?s conviction for public intoxication and that the trial court erred in denying the Defendant?s suppression motion.2 Accordingly, we reverse the judgments of the trial court and dismiss the charges against the Defendant.