A federal trial has been set for May 2024 for five former Memphis police officers charged with violating Tyre Nichols' civil rights, reports the Commercial Appeal. The officers were indicted in federal court on Sept. 12. They each face charges of depriving Nichols of his right to be "free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer," deliberate indifference to Nichols' medical needs, tampering with evidence and intentionally providing false and misleading information. The maximum sentence the five former officers face is life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee elected not to pursue the death penalty for the case.

Because the order from which the appellant has filed an appeal does not constitute a final appealable judgment, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

Mother filed a petition alleging civil and criminal contempt against the father of her child due to unpaid child support. After several continuances, including based on Mother’s request for an in-person hearing, the juvenile court heard the matter remotely via ZOOM. At the start of the hearing, the trial court denied Mother’s request for a continuance for an in-person hearing. The trial court also ruled that it had the authority to choose whether Mother would prosecute her action as civil contempt or criminal contempt. The trial court ruled that Mother’s petition would be treated solely as a civil contempt matter, but then refused to punish Father for his past willful failure to pay child support because he had made a purge payment. We vacate the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings.

The Athens City Council approved a motion earlier this week allowing its members to begin carrying concealed firearms during council meetings, reports the Tennessean. Vice Mayor Larry Eaton promoted the measure over concerns for his personal safety. The motion would only allow for council members to carry concealed weapons who have a permit and would not include city residents attending meetings. Athens, the county seat of McMinn County, is located 60 miles south of Knoxville and has 14,000 residents.

Registration is now open for the TBA's Law & Culture in Ireland CLE program scheduled for May 2024. Two travel options are available: a four-night trip to Dublin and a six-night trip to Dublin and Belfast. In conjunction with CLE Abroad, travelers will engage with local experts, academics, officials and change makers who will offer in-depth commentary on the EU and UK legal-political systems, economics, environmental justice, history and religion. In Dublin, the group also will explore ancient castles, visit landmarks, museums and notable legal institutions, and sample local cuisine. In Belfast, travelers will learn about the region's unique political history, Good Friday Agreement, ongoing reconciliation efforts and peace process. Add on trips to the West Coast and Cliffs of Moher also are available. View a brochure for the trip or learn more online.

This year's Disability Law Forum is returning as a live and in-person program on Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT at the Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club in Hendersonville. Sessions will cover ways to prepare a successful GRID case, best practices from a vocational expert, a DDS/OHO update and an ethics course designed to help "unstick" stuck cases. A happy hour will immediately follow the program.

Have you been using your unlimited access to online legal research through Fastcase? The access is free with your TBA membership. Court opinions are available from all 50 states, the U.S. Supreme Court, all federal district and appellate courts, and the U.S. bankruptcy courts. Framed statutes, regulations, court rules, constitutions and more are available for all 50 states. Log in through your TBA.org account and start saving money on your online legal research.

Franklin alderman and mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson said yesterday on her Instagram account that she had been arrested and pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution in Dallas in the mid-1990s, the Tennessean reports. In the video, Hanson recalled that while attending Southern Methodist University, she took a job answering phones for a "modeling and entertainment casting company.” Hanson said she did not know the company was running an escort service until her arrest. The revelation of her arrest is the latest controversy for Hanson, who earlier this month faced a NewsChannel 5 investigation that reported on a group of women who said Hanson had used their social media posts to falsely claim they were supporting her mayoral campaign.

The Authors Guild filed a suit in a Manhattan federal court yesterday on behalf of prominent American writers including John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and "Game of Thrones" novelist George R.R. Martin, accusing OpenAI of unlawfully training its popular artificial intelligence based chatbot on their works, reports Reuters. The class-action lawsuit joins several others made by creative artists and source-code owners against generative AI providers. Similar lawsuits are pending against Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Stability AI over the data used to train their AI systems. OpenAI and other AI defendants claim their use of training data scraped from the internet qualifies as fair use under U.S. copyright law.

TBA's Federal Practice Section will host a one-hour webcast, Firearms Regulation in America and Emerging Legal Issues, on Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. CDT. The first portion of the presentation will consist of ATF Special Agent Thomas Waggoner and AUSA Brent Jones discussing issues associated with legal gun ownership in America and the federal regulation of firearms and parts under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934. Special Agent Waggoner will also discuss the types of cases ATF investigates within our community. The second portion of the presentation will feature Jason Todd Hardin and J. Allan Cobb, two attorneys in Louisville who were successful at the Sith Circuit Court of Appeals in blocking a nationwide prohibition on bump stocks as a machine gun part. Hardin and Cobb will discuss their work on the case, Scott Hardin v. ATF, et al., 65 F.4th 895 (6th Cir. 2023). Reserve your spot now!