A Davidson County jury convicted the Petitioner, Elvin Pearson, of one count of felony murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder, for which he received an effective sentence of life imprisonment. He filed a timely petition for post-conviction relief, which the post-conviction court denied after a hearing. On appeal, pro se, he contends that the post-conviction court erred when it denied him relief because: (1) the trial court committed plain error when it failed to give correct and complete jury instructions, denied his judgment of acquittal, and merged the offense of attempted voluntary manslaughter into felony murder; (2) he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel’s failure to move to dismiss the indictment; and (3) the State violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963), by failing to disclose a witness prior to trial. He further contends that: (4) his post-conviction counsel deprived him of a full and fair post-conviction hearing by not presenting the mother of his children, Diane Reid, as a witness, not asking trial counsel questions relevant to his issues, and failing to investigate the subject matter of his questions; and (5) the post-conviction court erred when it did not allow post-conviction counsel to withdraw from the case and denied the Petitioner the opportunity to address the court. Upon review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti yesterday joined six other states in filing a federal antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), challenging the group's transfer eligibility rule. The rule requires college athletes who transfer between Division I schools to wait one year before competing in games, unless the NCAA waives the rule for a particular athlete. The NCAA began automatically exempting first-time transfers from the regulation in 2021, but has continued to enforce the rule for subsequent transfers and to deny waivers. The lawsuit alleges the rule restrains college athletes’ ability to market their labor and control their education. Read the full press release.

The Defendant, Hamid Houbbadi, was convicted by a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury of first degree premediated murder, first degree felony murder, and especially aggravated burglary, for which he received an effective sentence of life plus twelve years. The Defendant raises three issues on appeal: (1) whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain his convictions; (2) whether the trial court erred by admitting orders of protection the victim obtained against the Defendant; and (3) whether the trial court erred in imposing a twelve-year sentence for his especially aggravated burglary conviction and ordering that it be served consecutively to his life sentence. Based on our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) in October fined Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles a $5,750 civil penalty for multiple campaign finance violations incurred during the 2021-2022 election cycle, including missing and late-filed reports, illegal contributions and insufficient reporting documents. According to the Nashville Post, the FEC says that fine has now been paid, and Ogles’ campaign has until Jan. 2 to set up a specific tracking and reporting process, and must undergo additional training with the FEC by October.

Tennessee House Democrats Wednesday sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office investigate the 2019 passage of Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher bill. Action News 5 reports there have been allegations of attempted bribery and coercion by then-Speaker Glenn Casada. The letter reads, in part, “Before taking a final tally, Casada held the vote open for 45 minutes, meeting with lawmakers on a balcony behind the speaker’s podium to try and change their mind." They note that "media outlets" have reported that during one of these meetings, Casada unsuccessfully offered former Rep. John Mark Windle, D-Livingston, a promotion from colonel to general in the Tennessee National Guard if he changed his vote, and point out that only the governor would have the power to make that type of promotion.

This appeal arises from an action to recover delinquent ad valorem real property taxes. Whoriskey, Inc., which currently owns the property, raises numerous challenges to the proposed delinquent tax sale. In principal part, it asserts that the property at issue was not subject to taxation during the relevant tax period, 2017 and 2018, because it claims that, during that time, the property was owned by the United States Government through a federal forfeiture. Further, Whoriskey contends that Bledsoe County and the City of Pikeville are barred from recovering back taxes because they failed to assert a claim in federal court. The trial court found no factual or legal basis to support Whoriskey’s contentions and determined that the County and City could proceed with the delinquent tax sale to recover ad valorem real property taxes on the subject real property for the tax years 2017 and 2018. This appeal followed. We affirm.

This is an appeal by Father of a judgment rendered against him for child support. Because the final judgment does not provide adequate findings of fact and conclusions of law for this Court to conduct a proper review, we are unable to adequately address Father’s issues on appeal. Therefore, we remand the case back to the trial court for the entry of a judgment compliant with Rule 52.01 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure.

In the prior appeal of this case, a husband’s argument regarding the division of assets/unconscionability of the marital dissolution agreement was deemed waived because it was not raised in the trial court. The case was remanded for a determination of attorney’s fees. The husband attempted to bring the issue up again on remand, and the trial court refused to consider them. We affirm based on waiver and the narrow scope of the remand.

This appeal involves the termination of a mother’s parental rights to two minor children. The trial court concluded that several grounds for termination existed and that the termination of the mother’s parental rights was in the best interests of the children. Although we vacate two grounds for termination, we affirm the trial court’s reliance on the remaining grounds for termination and its best interests determination. The trial court’s termination of the mother’s parental rights is accordingly affirmed.

The Knoxville Bar Association (KBA) held its annual meeting today at which Carlos A. Yunsan of the University of Tennessee College of Law was sworn in as president. Executive Director Marsha S. Watson was recognized for her 33-year tenure at the helm of the KBA by the creation of a special lifetime membership for her and the renaming of the KBA’s conference room in her honor. New KBA Executive Director and former TBA President Tasha Blakney will step into the role full-time in mid-January. A press release from the KBA has more information, including new officers for the 2024 bar year and award winners.