A juvenile who was incarcerated for three days in 2016 is suing Rutherford County Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport and Juvenile Detention Center Director Lynn Duke for $15 million, the Daily News Journal reports. The plaintiff, who was 10 at the time of incarceration, was arrested for allegedly encouraging an off-campus fight which, according to the lawsuit, he was not actually present for. The suit pointed to a 2017 ruling by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., which said that the juvenile center was illegally incarcerating children accused of misdemeanors based on Davenport's 2003 order and memorandum in asking officers to "arrest all" children facing charges. Last month, Rutherford County agreed to pay $11 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of juveniles wrongly detained by the county. A report from Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica earlier this month revealed the county’s “staggering history of jailing children” and its use of an illegal filtering system for determining which children go to jail.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen is expressing concern over proposed legislation that would alter the length of a life sentence in Tennessee, WATE.com reports. State law defines a life sentence as 60 years, with the possibility of parole after serving 85%, or 51 years. House Bill 1532/Senate Bill 0561 would allow parole eligibility after 60% of a life sentence is served, or 36 years. Allen says she’s worried the new bill would allow those who have committed first-degree murder to be released even earlier if they earn certain credits. Though the bill does require a 25-year minimum sentence, Allen believes a life sentence “should mean more than 25 years.” She says a fiscal note from the state shows the bill would impact 1,600 inmates and would also have a retroactive effect, which would allow inmates to become eligible for parole decades before victims’ families were expecting. The fiscal note estimates the bill would save the state $1.2 million in the first year and $2.46 million for the following nine years.

James H. “Jim” Ripley has announced his campaign for chancery court judge of the 4th and 5th Judicial Districts, which cover Sevier, Jefferson, Cocke, Grainger and Blount counties. Ripley, a Republican candidate, has practiced in the 4th and 5th districts since he was licensed in 1983. The Chancery Court has previously appointed Ripley as special master to hear testimony and provide legal opinions in complex legal matters. Ripley is a past president of the Sevier County Bar Association, a TBA member and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Ripley says he “will bring 38 years’ experience with a focus on integrity, fairness and common sense in the finest tradition of my predecessors” if elected. Read his campaign announcement here.

Lebanon-based behavioral health facility Ameri-Kare and its CEO Janie Ganaway have agreed to pay the state $86,595.96 to settle claims that they violated the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act. Per the settlement agreement, the state alleges Ameri-Kare submitted false claims for payment for TennCare members, false claims for TennCare services provided by a physician no longer employed by the facility and altered records to conceal wrongdoing. Read the full settlement from the Attorney General’s Office website.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and 20 attorneys general from across the country are asking President Joe Biden to withdraw his administration’s COVID-19 mandate for all federal contractors. Pursuant to Biden’s September executive order requiring federal departments to contractually require contractors and subcontractors to adopt COVID-19 safety protocols, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force in September issued a vaccination mandate, which Slatery called “simply not workable.” Read more from the AG’s website.  

Results from the July 2021 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee are now available. Almost 350 candidates successfully passed the exam.

Samuel Earl Rich, the son of Bedford County General Sessions Court Judge Charles L. Rich, has been charged with first-degree murder, the Tennessean reports. In addition to the murder charge, a Davidson County Grand Jury also indicted Rich on especially aggravated robbery, possession of a weapon as a felon, and one count of theft. Rich is alleged to have killed James William Warner, the nephew of Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill, in August. At the time of the indictment, Rich was in the Bedford County Jail on an attempted homicide charge. Officials there say Rich shot Warner's girlfriend in Shelbyville also around the same time in August.

Davidson County lawyer David Dwayne Harris was temporarily suspended from the practice of law yesterday. The Tennessee Supreme Court took the action after finding that Harris failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding a complaint. The suspension will remain in effect until dissolution or modification by the court.

Just City Memphis is hosting a reception and art show tomorrow night to feature the work of Mark Loughney, who is currently incarcerated and uses art to humanize his fellow prisoners. The event, “Pyrrhic Defeat: A Visual Study of Mass Incarceration,” will take place at The Commonwealth, 240 Madison Ave., Memphis 38103 from 5-8 p.m. CDT. The show is part of a nearly 700-piece project Loughney started in 2014. See more of his work at @loughneyart on Instagram. The event is free and open to the public. Proof of vaccination is required and masks are required indoors. Pre-register here.

Lynne Ingram, a former counsel with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands and a former assistant U.S. attorney, has announced her intentions to challenge Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Jones for his seat in the 2022 Democratic primary. A 2003 graduate of Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School, Ingram worked in the U.S. Attorney’s offices in Phoenix and Nashville before a stint in private practice and a year with Legal Aid. She joined the firm of Robinson, Reagan & Young this month, the Nashville Post reports.