After almost nine hours of deliberation, the jury has returned a blanket "not guilty" verdict for three former police officers charged with killing Tyre Nichols. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith Jr. were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression under state law. The jury found all three not guilty on each count, The Commercial Appeal reports. By contrast, all three were convicted in federal court and face time in federal prison. Bean and Smith were found guilty of witness tampering and face up to 20 years in prison. Haley was found guilty on all counts and could serve a life sentence in prison. Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty in the federal case to using excessive force and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.

The TBA’s 2025 Convention will feature a joint CLE program from the TBA and the Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers (TABL) on June 12. “Realign: Justice, Well-Being & the Law — Addressing Bias for a Healthier Legal System” will explore how unconscious influences can lead to disparities in legal outcomes and offer practical strategies to promote fairness and equity. Using real-world examples and interactive discussion, the program is designed to equip judges, attorneys and advocates with tools to foster a more just and inclusive legal environment. The program will be presented by Nashville lawyer Sunny Eaton.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, in coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement partners, have arrested 84 undocumented immigrants in the Nashville area since Saturday, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Tennessean, the news outlet reports. ICE said some of those arrested have “significant criminal histories” and outstanding final orders of removal. The agency has not released the names of those taken into custody and noted that all individuals arrested were either pending immigration proceedings or removal. “Protecting the safety and security of our communities remains a top priority for ICE,” Lindsay Williams, ICE media operations unit chief, said in the statement.

The American Alliance for Equal Rights on April 12 filed a federal lawsuit against the American Bar Association (ABA) alleging that the ABA’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund is racially discriminatory and unlawfully excludes white students. The complaint challenges the program under a federal statute that guarantees all individuals the right to make and enforce contracts regardless of race, Bloomberg News reports. The suit also references past challenges to the ABA's judicial clerkship program and a temporarily suspended diversity requirement for law school accreditation. In 2024, the ABA loosened its requirements for the clerkship program. In March, the Trump administration directed the group to permanently eliminate the diversity standard or risk losing its accrediting authority.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed a new law eliminating a $350 fee property owners must pay to reclaim items seized by the government in civil asset forfeiture cases, WBIR reports. The Tennessee General Assembly had unanimously approved the measure — HB1229/SB481 — in April. Sponsored by Rep. Justin Lafferty, R-Knoxville, the law waives the fee as long as property owners go through a civil hearing to recover their property. “Tennesseans shouldn’t have to pay a fee just to reclaim their own property, especially when they were innocent bystanders, which is often the case in civil forfeiture,” Lafferty said of the law, which will take effect on July 1. The law will not affect processes associated with criminal asset forfeiture.

A Metro Nashville police whistleblower has been indicted on charges of stealing documents related to the Covenant School shooting, according to WPLN news. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents arrested retired Lt. Garet Davidson following a yearlong investigation. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk authorized the probe in June 2024 after the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) alleged Davidson may have leaked pages from the Covenant School assailant’s journal to the Tennessee Star news outlet. Davidson, who served in the department’s Office of Professional Accountability, also accused MNPD leadership of mishandling an internal investigation into an earlier leak and claimed he faced harassment and discrimination within the department. He was booked into the Davidson County jail on a $150,000 bond.

U.S. Immigration Judge Rebecca Holt will be retiring from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) later this year after serving with the immigration court in Memphis for 15 years. Her last day presiding over cases will be on May 22. Holt has served the court with distinction according to colleagues and EOIR plans to honor her remarkable contributions. The office invites all interested parties to attend a celebration at the Hu Hotel Rooftop next Friday, May 16, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. CDT. The hotel is located at 79 Madison Ave., Memphis 38103. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available. No RSVPs are necessary, so please make plans to attend.

Thank you to everyone who attended last month's Immigration Law Forum as well as those who helped plan the event.

Videos of the sessions that were recorded are now available for purchase as on-demand courses, both individually and as a convenient 1-Click Package. As a reminder, the section also has held three webcasts so far this year, and those also are available on demand.

The section's executive council is committed to keeping practitioners informed during this ever-changing immigration climate so be on the lookout for future programming to be announced later in the year.

Get ready for the summer travel season with savings from the Tennessee Bar Association Travel Discount Program. Savings average 10-20% below market on all hotels and car rental suppliers around the world. Save time and money. To access this service, make sure you are logged in to your TBA member account first, then explore any hotel, any car, anywhere, anytime.

President Donald Trump has nominated Whitney Hermandorfer, director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The vacancy was created when Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch announced she would take senior status following confirmation of a successor. It is Trump’s first judicial nomination since returning to the Oval Office and is expected to be one of more than 100 federal court appointments he could make over the next four years, according to Reuters. Trump praised Hermandorfer’s background, noting that she has clerked for three current members of the U.S. Supreme Court: Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called Hermandorfer “an outstanding nominee,” adding in a statement, “Whitney Hermandorfer's unwavering commitment to the rule of law, her exacting analytical rigor and her unshakeable optimism will serve our country well.”