The mother of a 17-year-old girl says her daughter was "body slammed" by two male counselors from Youth Villages after she refused to strip in front of them during an appointment at the Shelby County Health Department and later was beaten by at least 12 counselors at the facility. Youth Villages strongly denies the accusations, and in the case of the first incident, says Alegend Jones was accompanied by two women to the department. According to the Commercial Appeal, Jones went to the facility after her mother asked the Department of Children's Services (DCS) to take over as guardian to help with mental health struggles. Her death was described by the center as an "incident" and "medical emergency." The mother has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump. DCS says it also is investigating the death.

Mike Dunavant, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee and former elected district attorney general of the 25th Judicial District, has been named deputy executive director of legal services and policy at the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference (TNDAGC). In his new role, Dunavant will oversee four divisions: Legislative, Legal Services, Training and Child Support. He also will serve as the liaison between Tennessee’s 32 elected district attorneys general and the agencies and officials of the executive and legislative branches. Dunavant first joined the TNDAGC in 2006 when he was elected as the district attorney general for Lauderdale, Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman and McNairy counties. He was reelected in 2014 and served in the position until his 2017 appointment as U.S. attorney. He left that office and joined the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Division of Investigations in 2021. Read more in a press release from the group.

WSMV Investigates yesterday published a piece highlighting one family’s experience with Tennessee’s current system of court-appointed representation in the juvenile and criminal courts. A shortage of court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent in Tennessee has led to people languishing in jail despite having not been convicted of a crime, the news outlet reports. Part of that shortage is due to the low reimbursement rate for these court-appointed attorneys. Tennessee's rate is the lowest in the country at $50 per hour and has not changed in more than 25 years. The Administrative Office of the Courts announced in October that it would ask the state legislature to increase compensation for court-appointed attorneys in the juvenile and criminal courts.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced that Tennessee’s decades-old aggravated prostitution statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Associated Press reports that Tennessee is the only state in the nation that imposes a lifetime registration requirement on a “violent sex offender” convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV, regardless of whether the person knew they could transmit the disease. The DOJ is calling on Tennessee to not only stop enforcing the law, but also remove those convicted under the statute from the sex offender registry and expunge their convictions. In October, several groups — including the ACLU of Tennessee, Transgender Law Center, OUTMemphis and several Jane Does —also filed suit over the law.

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference (TNDAGC) announced that, beginning today, Meghan Fowler will serve as the conference’s new West Tennessee pro tem prosecutor. The TNDAGC Legal Services Division facilitates the processing — and in some cases prosecution — of all criminal cases for which a local district attorney general or judge has identified a conflict of interest that requires recusal. Fowler is a career prosecutor who has previously served as an assistant district attorney in both Tennessee and Mississippi. Read the group's press release.

Three of the nine corrections officers indicted in the beating death of Shelby County Jail inmate Gershun Freeman allegedly beat another inmate, Corey Lurry, days before Freeman’s death. Lurry filed a pro se motion in Memphis federal court on Nov. 12, alleging a violation of his civil rights. The Daily Memphian reports that the motion requests the court to review camera footage of the attack, to hold jail staff accountable for “unjust actions” and award $15 million for “physical, mental and emotional stress/PTSD” that the alleged attack caused.

Chancellor Russell T. Perkins yesterday filed a temporary injunction against musician John Oates, who is trying to sell his shares of Whole Oats Enterprises to third party publisher Primary Wave Music. Daryl Hall, the other half of the music duo Hall & Oates, filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court on Nov. 16, alleging the sale violates a business agreement between the musicians. The Tennessean reports that the injunction blocks the sale until a private arbitrator hired to weigh in on the dispute decides whether a restraining order in the arbitration is appropriate, or until Feb. 17, 2024, at 1 p.m. CST, whichever comes first.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals today ruled in favor of Covenant parents in their lawsuit to block the release of documents related to the March 27 shooting at the school, WKRN reports. Covenant families have fought for months to withhold release of the shooter’s writings. The court noted the Covenant School and Covenant Church, as well as parents of Covenant School students, have filed motions to intervene in the release of the documents, citing confidential information including school security and personal information of students and employees.

Tennessee’s attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti is leading 16 other states in opposing a federal proposal that would require LGBTQ foster children be placed with families or facilities that are supportive of their identities. Nashville Public Radio reports that LGBTQ youth are over-represented in the foster care system and that a growing body of research finds these children are more likely than their peers to face abuse and harassment in foster care. Skrmetti argues that the rule illegally expands Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) authority into family law, and that it would penalize foster care providers for “declining to violate their own conscious or religion.”

The American Bar Association (ABA) announced it has withdrawn two recent statements on the conflict in Israel and Gaza following a backlash from hundreds of lawyers, the ABA Journal reports. The two statements on the Israel-Hamas war made by ABA President Mary Smith on Oct. 9 and Oct. 17 have been replaced with a one-sentence explanation saying they have been withdrawn. Critics said Smith’s statements about “all parties” stopping hostilities and upholding international law were “deeply flawed” because they wrongly suggested Israel was guilty of war crimes and that the conduct of the two governments was equivalent. An ABA spokesperson told Law.com and the ABA Journal that the statements were removed “because they were no longer timely.”