Virginia lawyer Atina Rizk Stavropoulos has been reinstated to active practice of law in Tennessee. The Tennessee Supreme Court notes that the Board of Professional Responsibility found the petition for reinstatement to be satisfactory. Stavropoulos was placed on inactive status more than five years ago on Sept. 13, 2013.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced that his office will be looking into Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC, the little-known entity that attempted to put Graceland up for a foreclosure auction. "My office has fought fraud against homeowners for decades, and there is no home in Tennessee more beloved than Graceland. I have asked my lawyers to look into this matter, determine the full extent of any misconduct that may have occurred, and identify what we can do to protect both Elvis Presley’s heirs and anyone else who may be similarly threatened.” Naussany said it would drop the foreclosure action after Elvis’ granddaughter filed suit alleging the company was basing its actions on forged documents. A Memphis judge halted the auction this week to investigate the claims.

Garfield Scott has announced his bid to run for Tennessee House of Representatives District 68. The seat, which represents east and south Clarksville’s rural and suburban areas, is currently held by retiring Republican Rep. Curtis Johnson. Scott is a retired truck driver and former cattle farmer, who also raised grain and tobacco on the family farm in the once rural area of St. Bethlehem. According to Clarksville Now, Scott says his campaign will focus on issues affecting all county residents, including supporting public education, building infrastructure for future growth and holding corporations accountable for public investments. Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Smith also is seeking to replace Johnson.

A man detained in pretrial custody at the Shelby County Jail is suing the county and a number of jail personnel for a minimum of $500,000 in damages for an alleged assaulted by corrections officers. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday night, comes about six months after Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced that two deputies had been indicted in the alleged beating. The Commercial Appeal has more on the story.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue will host a free webinar on May 28 on the basics of the state sales tax. Revenue administrative staff will discuss who and what is subject to the tax, rates, exemptions and more. Learn more or register here. The webinar is one in a series of educational sessions held by the department each month.

Two recent stories in TBA Today — one on May 7 and one on May 21 — incorrectly stated that the Shelby County Jail had failed two inspections over the last six years. The original source has now updated its reporting to note that the inspections found "deficiencies" not "failures" in the jail's operations. We have updated our reporting accordingly.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed into a law a bill to ban juveniles found to have committed serious crimes from buying firearms until they turn 25, Tennessee Journal reports. The “juvenile prohibitor” measure sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, cleared both chambers late last session with a bipartisan vote. Aggravated assault, cruelty to animals, robbery and threats of mass violence are among the crimes that would be included in the ban according to the Tennessean.

The Defendant, Deondre Raymon McClain, appeals the trial court’s revocation of his effective six-year probationary sentence stemming from his guilty-pleaded convictions for unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance with the intent to sell. On appeal, he argues that the trial court’s findings were insufficient to support its decision to fully revoke his probation and order him to serve the remainder of his sentence in confinement. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

State Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, is again challenging the qualification of his Republican opponent Jennifer Frensley Webb ahead of the November election, the Tennessean reports. A new lawsuit against Metro Nashville and the Davidson County Election Commission alleges that the commission violated state law when it certified Webb’s candidacy. The commission affirmed Webb's qualification to be on the ballot after spending several hours reviewing her petition signatures earlier this month, according to the Nashville Banner. This week, Mitchell’s attorney called that hearing "a farcical display of incompetence, lacking in legitimate procedure and riddled with flaws.”

The Defendant, Valerie Ann Dollar, was convicted by a Johnson County Criminal Court jury of first degree felony murder in perpetration of kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping. See T.C.A. §§ 39-13-202 (2018) (subsequently amended) (first degree murder), 39-13-305 (2018) (especially aggravated kidnapping), 39-12-103 (2018) (conspiracy). The trial court imposed an effective life plus twenty-year sentence. On appeal, the Defendant contends (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions and (2) that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of the State’s pretrial offer to dismiss the murder charge. We affirm the judgments of the criminal court.