Nine architectural firms will present plans to the Madison County Jail Project Screening Committee for the new jail to be built behind the Criminal Justice Complex, 515 S. Liberty St. in Jackson. The new jail will consist of about 600 to 700 beds, The Jackson Sun reports.  The 303-bed Criminal Justice Center will remain operational.

Selma Cash Paty, one of Chattanooga’s first female attorneys, died Sunday (May 1) at the age of 89. After receiving her law degree at the Cumberland School of Law, she practiced for almost 70 years. She served as president of the Chattanooga Bar Association and on the board of directors for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. "No woman in her right mind would want to be a lawyer in 1947," Paty said in a 1990 interview with the Tennessee Bar Journal. "It wasn't a profession that a woman would consider." In the interview she recalled what it was like in law school at that time and when she began practice, such as that when firms were interviewing, "Can you type?" was often the first question. Read more from The Chattanoogan. 

A St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson on Monday to pay $55 million to a woman who claimed that using the company’s talc-powder caused her to develop ovarian cancer. The company is facing about 1,200 lawsuits accusing it of not adequately warning consumers about talc-based products’ cancer risks, Reuters reports. This is the second straight loss for the company after a jury in February awarded $72 million to the family of a woman who died from ovarian cancer after using the product. Johnson & Johnson said it plans to appeal Monday’s ruling. 

The Petitioner, Ameale Hudson, appeals from the denial of his petition for post- conviction relief. The Petitioner contends that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel based upon trial counsel‘s failure to include in his motion for new trial the issue of the trial court‘s denial of two of the Petitioner‘s pretrial motions, which resulted in the waiver of the issues on direct appeal. He further asserts that the cumulative effect of trial counsel‘s errors entitles him to post-conviction relief. After a thorough review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

The Defendant, Joseph Harris, appeals as of right from his jury conviction for aggravated robbery. On appeal, the Defendant contends (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction because violence was only used after the taking of the automobile had been completed; (2) that the trial court should have declared a mistrial when an alleged violation of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S.

The Defendant, Kevin Patton Benfield, was convicted by a Henderson County jury of one count of aggravated assault and received an effective sentence of six years? confinement. On appeal, the sole issue presented for our review is whether the evidence is sufficient to support his conviction. Upon our review, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

The future of the U.S. Supreme Court will be closely tied to politics, according to panelists at a Vanderbilt University event last night. Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos hosted the lecture with panelists including Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial correspondent, and Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst. Napolitano said he believes the political affiliation of the next president could determine whether aging liberal justices leave the court. "If Hillary Clinton is elected president, (justices) Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer may start to look at another pasture," he said. Read more from The Tennessean. 

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger today ruled a sweeping federal sexual assault lawsuit against the University of Tennessee will proceed, The Tennessean reports. Judge Trauger did grant one dismissal request from the university’s lawyers, saying the statute of limitations had expired for one plaintiff's claims of “deliberate indifference” to sexual assaults by UT athletes before her alleged sexual assault in 2013.

The Nashville Bar Association’s annual Law Day celebration was held April 29, which coincided with the 50th anniversary the U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona. The theme of the event – Miranda: More than Words – explores the protections under the U.S. Constitution and the courts’ role in safeguarding these rights. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the stripes, chevrons and color blocks on cheerleader uniforms can be copyrighted under federal law, Reuters reports. The court announced yesterday it will review an August 2015 ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that revived a lawsuit by Memphis-based Varsity Brands Inc. The company accuses Star Athletica LLC of infringing on its designs. The ABA Journal said the case could affect a broad array of costumes, including those worn at comic conventions. The court is likely to hear arguments and decide the case in its next term.