The Defendant, William Dangelo Penny, was convicted of driving under the influence of an intoxicant. The trial court placed him on probation for eleven months and twenty-nine days after service of forty-eight hours. The court also suspended his driver’s license. Thereafter, the Defendant was arrested for evading arrest, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving on a suspended license. After a hearing, the trial court fully revoked the Defendant’s probationary sentence. On appeal, the Defendant argues that a complete revocation of his sentence was an abuse of discretion. Upon our review, we respectfully disagree and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

The Tennessee Supreme Court temporarily suspended Cumberland County lawyer Melanie Beth Shada from the practice of law after finding that she failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility concerning a complaint of misconduct. Shada is immediately precluded from accepting any new cases, and she must cease representing existing clients by May 25. The suspension will remain in effect until dissolution or modification by the court.

The TBA’s 2024 Litigation Forum will take place May 16 as a live virtual event. Programming will include a session covering Tennessee summary judgement, evidentiary privilege and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence from the perspective of the Board of Professional Responsibility. Speakers include Chattanooga attorney David Nagle with Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Nashville attorney Todd Presnell with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Tiffany Tant-Shafer with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. The program will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT.

The Tennessee House and Senate have come to an agreement on their differences in the franchise tax legislation, the Nashville Post reports. House members of the conference committee agreed to the Senate’s language providing a three-year period for businesses to be able to request a refund, while the Senate members agreed to some transparency. Under that language, the names of businesses that request refunds would be released in May 2025. The exact amount they received would not be given. Instead, the companies would be placed in four broad categories: refund pending, $0 to $750 refund received, $750 to $10,000 refund received, and more than a $10,000 refund received. The compromise bill, HB1893/SB2103, then passed both the Senate and the House floors.

The Tennessee General Assembly has passed legislation that will remove two judgeships from Shelby County, despite local opposition, the Daily Memphian reports. HB2002/SB2517, approved by the Senate yesterday and the House today, removes Division 7 of Shelby County Circuit Court and Division 9 of Shelby County Criminal Court. The bill now heads to Gov. Bill Lee for his consideration. The Division 7 seat is currently held by Judge Mary Wagner, who was recently confirmed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The Division 9 seat was held by former judge Melissa Boyd, who resigned recently after months of turmoil on the bench. Four candidates had applied to fill that seat.

The Davidson County Election Commission met Monday to set the rules for two ballot challenges scheduled to be considered at a May 2 special hearing. Democratic State Rep. Justin Jones' Republican opponent Laura Nelson is challenging his qualification to be on the ballot after he turned in 26 petition signatures, of which 25 (the legal minimum) were deemed valid. In addition, state Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, is challenging the qualification of his Republican opponent, Metro Councilmember Jennifer Frensley Webb. Both sides in the cases will be allowed to submit supporting documentation ahead of time and present to the commission at the hearing. The Nashville Banner has more on this story.

A proposal aimed at strengthening oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers will not pass this year, WPLN reports. Despite a concerted push for reform, the proposal has been sent to a summer study committee. According to sponsors, the measure was introduced in response to media reports that seclusion was being used as punishment for minor rule infractions. The oversight proposal would have given an independent agency the power to require changes at facilities that violate state standards. Currently, the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth responds to family complaints but does not have enforcement power.

The Defendant, Shenessa L. Sokolosky, appeals from the Smith County Criminal Court’s probation revocation of her two consecutive eleven-month, twenty-nine-day sentences for her guilty-pleaded misdemeanor convictions for drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking her probation. We dismiss the Defendant’s appeal pursuant to the mootness doctrine.

Tyrel J. Sidwell, Defendant, was charged in a presentment with nine counts related to the physical assault of his wife, the victim, Bithiah Lufcy, and his actions after his initial arrest. The charges included aggravated assault, domestic assault, coercion of a witness, and six counts of violation of a no contact order. Prior to trial, the coercion of witness charge was severed and the State dismissed two of the counts of violating a no contact order. A jury acquitted Defendant of aggravated assault but found Defendant guilty of domestic assault and four counts of violation of a no contact order. Defendant was ultimately sentenced to 11 months and 29 days on each conviction with the sentences to run consecutively. The trial court denied probation on the sentences for Counts 2 and 4 and suspended the remainder of the sentences to probation. Defendant appeals, arguing that the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions for violation of a no contact order because he was in custody at the time of his alleged contact with the victim. Defendant also argues that the trial court erred in denying probation and ordering Defendant to serve consecutive sentences. Because the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and the trial court did not err in denying probation and ordering consecutive sentences, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

A Cumberland County jury found Defendant, Warren J. Nostrom, guilty of two counts of first degree premeditated murder. The trial court imposed concurrent life sentences. On appeal, Defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions, and the trial court erred by (2) finding Defendant competent to stand trial and precluding an attorney from testifying as an expert at the competency hearing, (3) admitting Defendant’s pretrial statement to police, and (4) denying Defendant’s motion for a continuance. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.