A Davidson County jury convicted the Defendant, Jamil Toure Holloway, of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, attempted first degree murder causing serious bodily injury, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The trial court imposed a life sentence plus thirty-one years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The Defendant appeals, contending that there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

A Putnam County jury convicted the Petitioner, Stephen D. Demps, of four counts of aggravated sexual battery and five counts of rape of a child. The trial court sentenced him to twenty-five years of incarceration. The Petitioner appealed his convictions to this court, and we affirmed the judgments. State v. Demps, No. M2017-00641-CCA-R3-CD, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 156, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 27, 2018), no perm. app. filed. Subsequently, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel, that law enforcement altered evidence, and that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct. The post-conviction court denied the petition after a hearing. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.

The Appellant was convicted by an Anderson County jury of reckless aggravated assault and child abuse, for which he received an effective sentence of eight years’ imprisonment. On appeal, he argues that his sentence is excessive because the trial court: (1) misapplied certain enhancement factors, and the resulting sentence is inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Sentencing Act; and (2) imposed consecutive sentences based on the dangerous offender classification without making the requisite findings. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

This appeal concerns a petition to access public records filed against a private entity. David L. Hudson, Jr. (“Hudson”) and Public.Resource.Org filed a petition against Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., a division of LexisNexis Group (“Lexis”), in the Chancery Court for Davidson County (“the Trial Court”) pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act (“the TPRA”) seeking access to and a copy of the complete and current electronic version of the Tennessee Code Annotated (“the TCA.”).1\ The Tennessee Code Commission (“the Commission”) intervened on Lexis’s side in part to protect the state’s alleged copyright interest in the TCA. The Trial Court held that the TCA is exempt from disclosure because Tennessee law provides a separate avenue for publication of the TCA. In addition to its dispositive ruling, the Trial Court held that Lexis operates as the functional equivalent of a governmental entity, and that the TCA is disqualified from copyright protection. Hudson appeals. Lexis and the Commission raise issues as well. We hold, inter alia, that Lexis is a private company performing specific services for the state on a contractual basis. It has not assumed responsibility for public functions to such an extent as to become the functional equivalent of a governmental entity. We modify the Trial Court’s judgment in that respect. Otherwise, we affirm.

A defendant employer appeals the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment in this action alleging breach of a plaintiff nurse’s employment contract. We conclude that the contract language is unambiguous and that partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff was properly granted. Accordingly, we affirm.

This case involves a protracted and contentious child support action, which began when the State of Tennessee, acting on behalf of the mother, filed a petition for child support in 2005 against the father for financial support of the parties’ minor son. Over the years, the parties filed numerous petitions to modify the child support amount, petitions for contempt for failure to pay medical and other expenses, petitions for changes in visitation for the child, objections to the appointment of magistrates by the juvenile court judge, and requests to rehear many of the motions and petitions. The trial court addressed each of these motions and pleadings as they were filed. On September 1, 2020, a magistrate judge entered an order ruling on all of the mother’s outstanding motions for rehearing in the case but reserved the mother’s outstanding petition for contempt against the father for failure to pay the child’s medical and dental expenses and the mother’s petition for rehearing of a motion to modify child support. Those matters were set for hearing on November 24, 2020, before a special judge. At that time, the Tennessee Supreme Court had issued a standing order that all in-person hearings and trials were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, the November 24, 2020 hearing was set to be heard remotely via “Zoom” technology. The mother objected to the virtual hearing on grounds that the notice was insufficient and accordingly sought a stay of the pending matters via a motion filed on November 23, 2020. Neither party appeared for the Zoom hearing on November 24, 2020, and the special judge dismissed the action for failure to prosecute. The mother then filed a motion for rehearing and a motion to alter or amend the judgment, both of which were heard and denied by the special judge. The mother has appealed the trial court’s dismissal of the child support action. The father has not appeared or filed a responsive brief. Upon thorough review of the record and consideration of the issues raised by the mother on appeal, we affirm the decisions of the trial court.

This case arises from a protracted and contentious child support action, which began in 2005 with a petition for child support filed on behalf of the mother seeking child support assistance from the father for care of the parties’ minor son. Over the years, the parties filed numerous petitions to modify the child support amount, petitions for contempt for failure to pay medical and other expenses, petitions for changes in visitation with the child, objections to the appointment of magistrates by the juvenile court judge, and requests to rehear many of the motions and petitions. All pending matters were ultimately dismissed for failure to prosecute in an order entered December 1, 2020.1 This appeal arises from two petitions filed by the mother after the dismissal for failure to prosecute. The first was a petition for contempt against the father for failure to pay medical and dental expenses for the child and failure to pay the full child support amount, and the second was a petition seeking payment of extraordinary expenses for the child related to his senior year of high school and an extension of the father’s child support obligations until the child reached the age of twenty-one. Upon thorough review of the record and consideration of the issues raised by the mother on appeal, we affirm the decisions of the trial court.

A federal judge has sentenced former Shelby County Deputy Jailer Kimberly Price to 14 months in prison for possession of narcotics, knowing that the drugs would be distributed inside the county jail. The announcement was made by Kevin G. Ritz, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Price was sentenced for her role in arranging delivery of cocaine and fentanyl to inmates at the county correctional center. Price also was ordered to serve two years of supervised release after completing her prison term. She had pled guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute in May. Read the full release.

Seven unnamed Metro Nashville Police officers were put on "administrative assignment" yesterday after purported pages from the Covenant School shooter's notebook were released by a conservative media personality last week, the Tennessean reports. The officers have "full police power" and the assignments are "non-punitive" and meant to protect the ongoing investigation, according to a police spokeperson. While the police chief has verified authenticity of the documents, Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz has not. The Tennessean also notes that it has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the documents.

After more than two decades with the Tennessee Bar Association, Assistant Executive Director Barry Kolar is transitioning from the organization at the end of the year. He will remain active in Nashville’s non-profit community, continuing to serve with Sister Cities of Nashville, the YMCA, Urban Bicycle Food Ministry and other organizations. “It has been a privilege to be a part of the Tennessee legal community through the good works of the TBA. I will miss the many friends I have made on the staff and among the membership, and I hope to keep in touch with you,” Kolar said. During his time at the TBA, Kolar has been involved in the launch of TBA Today and TBA Leadership Law, the expansion of online CLE programming and a number of other programs. The TBA is now accepting applications for the assistant executive director position. Learn more here.