Former Franklin District Attorney William Donnell "Don" Young Jr. died Saturday (April 16) at the age of 81. Young graduated from the YMCA School of Law, now the the Nashville School of Law, and went on to practice law for more than 40 years in Franklin. A visitation will be held tomorrow, noon - 8 p.m. at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home, 3009 Columbia Ave. in Franklin.  A funeral is planned for Wednesday, 11 a.m. at Franklin United Methodist Church, 143 Fifth Ave.

A $7.5 million wrongful-death suit was filed Friday in Knox County Circuit Court against UT Medical Center and University Health System Inc. on behalf of a detective’s widow. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports the lawsuit claims Jacksboro Police Department Detective Mike Starrett died in January due to an overdose of pain medication while he was being treated for injuries due to a car crash. The suit, filed by attorneys Gregory P. Isaacs and Chris Coffey, also states Starrett’s widow did not learn the true cause of her husband’s death until three months after he died. 

The Tennessee State Library & Archives has launched a new online ordering system for state Supreme Court cases that allows researchers to request cases dating back to the early 1800s. Cases may be requested in hard copy or digital scans. The records were formerly available only by visiting Nashville.

Chattanooga attorney Bo Hixson of Duncan, Hatcher, Hixson & Fleenor is running for the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia. The Hamilton County Herald reports he is the only Tennessean vying for the position. “Our clients who have transactional, litigation, and estate planning needs with their multi-generation and blended families living in both states require us to have an active presence with the State Bar,” Hixson said. 

The 13th annual TBA Bankruptcy Forum is planned for April 29 – May 1 at the Buckberry Lodge in Gatlinburg. Speakers include four U.S. Bankruptcy judges and advanced practitioners, who will provide an in-depth look at bankruptcy case developments in the Sixth Circuit and around the country. Ten hours of CLE credit are available, including three hours of ethics.

The petitioner, Michael Marks, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in finding that he received effective assistance of trial counsel. Following our review, we affirm the denial of the petition.

The defendant, Delshun Jones, was convicted by a Shelby County Criminal Court jury of first degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, he argues: (1) that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction; (2) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during voir dire and rebuttal closing argument; (3) the trial court erred in allowing testimony and evidence of cell phone records into evidence; and (4) the trial court erred in allowing an inmate to testify despite the inmate and the defendant?s having a defacto attorney-client relationship.

The petitioner, Jacob Brown, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, which petition challenged his 2012 convictions of two counts of first degree murder and the accompanying sentences of life without parole.

A Shelby County jury convicted the Defendant, Marc Baechtle, of rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery, and rape. The trial court dismissed the convictions for aggravated sexual battery and rape based upon the statute of limitations and sentenced the Defendant to twenty-five years for the rape of a child conviction.

In a joint trial, Defendants Giovoanne Treymane Johnson and Rakeem Rashan Jones were convicted of first degree felony murder, second degree murder, and especially aggravated robbery. As to each, the trial court merged the second degree murder conviction into the felony murder conviction and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment. As to the convictions for especially aggravated robbery, each defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years, with the sentences to be served consecutively to the sentence for the felony murder conviction.