A proposed judicial confirmation plan jumped another hurdle today. The Senate unanimously adopted the Conference Committee on Judicial Confirmation’s report for SB1, HB142. The House will take it up on its message calendar during tomorrow morning's floor session. 

The Defendant, Juan E. Henderson, appeals as of right from the Sullivan County Criminal Court?s revocation of probation and order that he serve the balance of his seven- year sentence in confinement. On appeal, he asserts that the trial court abused its discretion when it revoked his probation. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

A hierarchical church filed a complaint against one of its local churches, seeking an order establishing the hierarchical church?s control over the local church?s real and personal property. The trial court dismissed the complaint on the basis of the doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention. Discerning no error, we affirm.

This is a termination of parental rights case. The child at issue in this case was placed in foster care at age two. When the child was ten years old, the child‘s foster parents filed a petition in Dyer County Chancery Court seeking to terminate the parental rights of the child‘s parents and to adopt the child. The trial court entered an order terminating the parental rights of the child‘s mother and father and granting the foster parents‘ petition to adopt the child.

Following a jury trial, the Defendant, Robert Spencer, was convicted of one count of possession with intent to sell twenty-six grams or more of a substance containing cocaine and one count of possession with intent to deliver twenty-six grams or more of a substance containing cocaine, both Class B felonies. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17- 417(a)(4), (c)(1), (i)(5). The trial court imposed a total effective sentence of fourteen years.

A Shelby County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Jerome Sanders, of aggravated robbery, a Class B felony, and the trial court sentenced him as a Range II, multiple offender to eighteen years to be served at eighty-five percent.

The Defendant-Appellant, Richard Lee Morris, was indicted by a Madison County Grand Jury for attempted rape and misdemeanor assault. Following a jury trial, he was convicted of the lesser included offense of sexual battery and the charged offense of assault. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-505, -101(a)(1) (Supp. 2013). The trial court sentenced Morris as a Range II, multiple offender to four years for the sexual battery conviction and to eleven months and twenty-nine days for the assault conviction and ordered the sentences served consecutively.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today heard the appeal of of Lemaricus Davidson, who was sentenced to die for his role in the January 2007 slayings of Knoxville couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. The justices said they are interested in crafting a “good faith exception” to apply to a search warrant mistake brought by attorneys for Davidson in the appeal. “This court has the authority to adopt that, and we want to know if we should adopt that," Justice Jeffrey Bivins said during oral arguments. Read more from the Knoxville News Sentinel. 

A new Vanderbilt University survey reveals sexual assaults are happening more frequently than previously reported by school officials. The Tennessean reports that one survey, taken by 1,651 students, found that 156 respondents said they had been victims of sexual assault during the 2014-15 school year. The school’s annual campus security report said 23 sexual assaults were reported at Vanderbilt in 2014. "I was really impressed that Vanderbilt wants to look at these results and figure out what the next step is," said Kathy Walsh, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.

The ABA Journal highlights the growing popularity of databases containing public information about police misconduct allegations and shootings by officers. The databases, both national and local, have provided criminal defense attorneys with potentially valuable information.