The TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Board recently held its winter meeting in Nashville. YLD President Sean Aiello presented Stars of the Quarter to Nashville attorney Darius Walker Jr. for his role as treasurer, Nashville attorney Alix Rogers for her role as Middle Tennessee Governor and Lewisburg attorney Savannah Oliver for her role as chair of the Public Service Committee. The board also welcomed the Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI) Class of 2025 for its first in person meeting. Special thanks to YLD Board members Ginny Blake, Grace Burnett, Billy Leslie, Alix Rogers, Jennifer Safstrom, Darius Walker Jr. and Rod Watson who held programming for the students. The DLI class will join the board again at the Mock Trial Competition in March and the TBA's Annual Convention in June. See photos from the event.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. Nashaun Drake pleaded guilty to several drug offenses. At Drake’s sentencing, the district court treated him as a “career offender” based, in part, on a prior marijuana conviction. The court sentenced Drake to a within-guidelines sentence of 200 months’ imprisonment. Drake now argues that his prior marijuana conviction did not qualify as the type of drug offense that can trigger the career-offender sentencing enhancement. And he argues that his 200-month sentence was unreasonable. But our binding precedent requires us to reject his first claim, and our deferential standard of review requires us to reject his second one. We affirm.

The defendant, Montreal Portis Robinson, appeals the twenty-five-year sentence imposed by the trial court upon resentencing for his second-degree murder conviction arguing the trial court imposed an excessive sentence. Upon our review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. However, our review has revealed a possible issue as to the sentences imposed in Counts 5 and 6, and we remand for the trial court to make further findings.

The pro se petitioner, Marlon McKay, appeals from the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus by the Circuit Court for Lake County, arguing the habeas court erred in finding the petitioner was not entitled to relief as a matter of law and summarily dismissing his petition without appointing counsel. Upon our review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the judgment of the habeas court.

The Petitioner, Zion Houston, appeals from the Madison County Circuit Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief from his convictions for aggravated robbery and misdemeanor theft. On appeal, the State contends that the post-conviction court properly dismissed the petition as untimely because it was filed more than one year after the Petitioner’s judgments were entered. The Petitioner contends that the post- conviction court erred when it determined the petition was untimely because the judgments in question did not become final until thirty days after they were entered, and the petition was filed one year after the judgments became final. We reverse the judgment of the post- conviction court and remand the case for preliminary consideration of the post-conviction petition consistent with this opinion and pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-30-106.

The Defendants, Jeffrey Pete Fautt and Robin Leanne Osborne, appeal their convictions for selling one-half gram or more of methamphetamine. They argue the evidence was insufficient to support the guilty verdicts because officers’ testimony was inconsistent, unreliable, and uncorroborated. Specifically, they assert that the controlled purchases were not captured by audio and video recordings, the searches of the confidential informant’s vehicle were not recorded, and officers did not deploy a canine unit during the searches of the informant’s vehicle. The Defendants additionally contend that Defendant Osborne’s testimony should have been accredited over the confidential informant’s testimony. The State avers that the testimony, video evidence, and laboratory results introduced at trial were sufficient to support the jury’s verdicts. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

A Madison County jury convicted the defendant, Cordaro Dywon Black, of four counts of rape of a child and one count of incest. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed an effective sentence of sixty-four years and six months in confinement. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. After reviewing the record and considering the applicable law, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Defendant, Brandon Eugene Beard, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault and one count of being a felon in possession of a handgun. After the plea, but before the sentencing hearing, the State filed a notice to seek enhanced punishment offering exhibits showing that the Defendant qualified as a Range I offender and asking the court to impose consecutive sentences and the maximum sentence. After the hearing, the trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range Il offender to eighteen years for each of the assault convictions to be served concurrently at 85% and to ten years for the handgun conviction to be served at 35% and consecutively to the assault sentences, for a total effective sentence of twenty-eight years. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred when ti ordered partial consecutive sentencing and when it considered the State's notice to seek enhanced punishment, which the State filed after he pleaded guilty. After review, we affirm the trial court's judgments.

A minor Plaintiff, acting through his grandmother, sued several healthcare providers for injuries stemming from his birth. The Plaintiff later voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit. The Plaintiff provided statutorily compliant pre-suit notice to each defendant within a year of dismissal but did not refile the suit for over a year after dismissal. The Plaintiff asserted this was permissible in accordance with the 120-day extension available under Tennessee’s Healthcare Liability Act. The trial court rejected this contention and dismissed the suit. On appeal, much of the parties’ respective briefing tracked the arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court in the case of Richards v. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, __ S.W.3d __, No. M2022-00597-SC-R11-CV, 2025 WL 259059 (Tenn. Jan. 22, 2025). While the suit was pending on appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court decided that the 120- day extension does not apply to the one-year deadline for refiling suit after a voluntary dismissal. This case is controlled by the Richards decision. Accordingly, we affirm.

Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group, last week sued the Trump administration to block fast-track deportations of people in the country illegally. The lawsuit claims that the policy issued by the Department of Homeland Security, known as "expedited removal," violates the constitutional right to due process as well as immigration and administrative law since people facing fast-track deportations do not have access to an attorney and are unable to present evidence against their removal. Additionally, Quaker groups sued on Monday to prevent U.S. immigration agents from carrying out arrests and searches in houses of worship, after the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a Biden administration order that limited immigration enforcement in "protected areas" such as hospitals, shelters, playgrounds and food pantries. Reuters reports on both lawsuits.