A Maury County jury convicted Stacy Matthews, Defendant, of two counts of sale of 0.5 grams or more of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school zone and one count of sale of 0.5 grams or more of methamphetamine. At sentencing, the trial court struck the school zone sentencing aggravator for two of the convictions and entered judgments on three counts of sale of 0.5 grams or more of methamphetamine. The trial court imposed three concurrent sentences of twelve years, as a Range I, standard offender, in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, Defendant argues: he was prejudiced by the language of Counts 1 and 3 of the indictment; that the trial court imposed an excessive sentence; and that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions. Following our review of the entire record and the briefs of the parties, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal as of right pursuant to § 2.02 of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 10B from the trial court’s denial of a motion for recusal. Having reviewed the petition for recusal appeal, pursuant to the de novo standard as required under Rule 10B, § 2.01, we affirm the trial court’s decision to deny the motion for recusal.

At issue is the validity of an amendment to a revocable trust. The specific issue is whether the Settlor’s attorney-in-fact was authorized to execute an amendment to the Robert McKeel Bone Living Trust. The trial court held that the amendment was valid. We agree. Accordingly, we affirm.

In this appeal, we address the standards for severe child abuse as a ground for termination of parental rights. The statute defining severe child abuse includes “knowing” failure to protect a child from abuse or neglect likely to cause serious injury or death. Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-102(b)(22)(A)(i) (Supp. 2016). The statutes do not define “knowing.” We hold that, for severe child abuse, a person’s conduct is considered “knowing,” and a person is deemed to “knowingly” act or fail to act, when he actually knows of relevant facts, circumstances or information, or when he is either in deliberate ignorance of or in reckless disregard of such facts, circumstances, or information presented to him. Under this standard, the relevant facts, circumstances, or information would alert a reasonable parent to take affirmative action to protect the child. For deliberate ignorance, a parent can be found to have acted knowingly when he has specific reason to know the relevant facts, circumstances, or information but deliberately ignores them. For reckless disregard, if the parent has been presented with the relevant facts, circumstances, or information and recklessly disregards them, the parent’s failure to protect can be considered knowing. Here, the trial court terminated the parental rights of the parents of an infant who suffered over twenty rib fractures, in part for knowing failure to protect the child. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We reverse, holding under the particular circumstances of this case that the proof in the record does not clearly and convincingly show that the parents’ failure to protect the child was “knowing.”

Bernard E. Bernstein, 92, died this morning in Knoxville. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he attended New York University School of Law and received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Bernstein practiced law for 54 years with the firm he founded, which came to be known as Bernstein, Stair & McAdams. He was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Tennessee Bar Foundation, as well as a past president of the Knoxville Bar Association and a recipient of its Governors Award. He was committed to the provision of legal assistance for those who could not afford to hire an attorney, and, early in his career, was one of the founders of the Legal Aid Clinic at the UT College of Law. Legal Aid of East Tennessee recognized his devotion to that cause by honoring him as the first member in the Donald F. Paine Memorial Pro Bono Hall of Fame. Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. EDT at Rose-Mann Funeral Home in Knoxville and will also be streamed on the funeral home's Facebook page. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Legal Aid of East Tennessee, The University of Tennessee Medical Center or Heska Amuna Synagogue.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently announced a number of actions. First, on Tuesday, he led a coalition of 16 state attorneys general in urging the Biden administration to uphold Title IX protections for women and girls. On Wednesday, his office's Division of Consumer Affairs issued a warning regarding a widespread fraud scheme targeting medical professionals. Scammers impersonating agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are attempting to extort money or steal personal identifiable information. On these calls, scammers often claim the provider’s National Provider Identifier (NPI) has been compromised and is being used for illicit purposes. Today, Skrmetti joined a bipartisan coalition of 38 other attorneys general in urging congressional leadership to pass the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act (H.R.1839/S.993), which would provide critical measures to combat the widespread illicit use and trafficking of xylazine and help prevent xylazine-related deaths. Skrmetti also today led a coalition of 23 state attorneys general in urging various financial institutions to adhere to their fiduciary duties when voting their shares in the ongoing proxy season.

Marrell Graham, the son of Samuel Pettyjohn, a key FBI witness in Gov. Ray Blanton’s “cash-for-clemency” scandal in the late 1970s, is suing the FBI. Pettyjohn was killed in downtown Chattanooga in 1979. Graham’s federal lawsuit claims that the agency’s actions led to the deprivation of “the loss of income, services, protection, care, assistance ... counsel and advice of his father.” Pettyjohn agreed to cooperate with the FBI after he was subpoenaed to testify about corrupt officials selling prison pardons. The Associated Press has the full story.

The Tennessean has sued Metro Nashville government for the release of documents related to the March 27 Covenant School shooting. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, and Tennessean reporter Rachel Wegner also have signed on to the suit. According to the complaint, The Tennessean has filed multiple public records requests with the Metro Nashville Police Department to either view or obtain copies of documents in the case. The Tennessee Lookout reports that Michael Patrick Leahy of The Tennessee Star has also filed public records requests and 66 Republican members of the Tennessee General Assembly submitted a letter Monday requesting the documents’ release. Covenant School parents are opposed to making the shooter’s writings public.

Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice and current NSL Dean William Koch was honored by the Harry Phillips Chapter of the American Inns of Court this week. The organization voted May 16 to establish the Bill Koch-Harry Phillips American Inns of Court Scholarship. The award will be for a third-year law student in the top 20% of his or her class entering a fourth year of legal training at the Nashville School of Law. Author and former Tennessean reporter Keel Hunt penned this opinion piece on Koch’s contributions to the legal community.

Nashville attorney Joanne Sowell filed paperwork establishing a Democratic campaign for Senate with the Federal Election Commission last month. Sowell is an attorney at the Wood Stabell Law Group, whose managing attorney Nancy Wood Stabell is listed as Sowell’s campaign treasurer. Sowell received her law degree from Tulane University Law School and has worked or volunteered with several local nonprofits, including Room in the Inn, Emerge Tennessee and Impact100. The Nashville Post reports that at least one other Democrat, Dylan Fain of Nashville, has filed paperwork establishing a campaign.