The Nashville Tennessean reported yesterday  that Metro Nashville Police Department will not be getting funding for body cams. This news is shocking. Why ?  Metro Nashville Police Department has for years resisted a department wide implementation of body cams. Police s have for years hid behind the cost of the body cams as the reason

Nashville’s News Chanel Five reported yesterday of one Tennessee judge’s unusual method to reduce one’s jail sentence. White County Tennessee General Sessions Judge Sam Benningfield entered a standing court order granting 30 days of jail credit to those serving jail sentences. The catch to getting the jail credit is to agree to have a vasectomy

It appears from the news accounts that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have given untruthful testimony under oath before the U.S. Senate. What are the ramifications ? Let’s look what could happen to Mr. Sessions under Tennessee law.

First, Mr. Sessions committed aggravated perjury under Tennessee’s criminal laws. Perjury is defined in Tennessee as

Steven Hale wrote an article in last week’s Nashville Scene on the Nashville Public Defenders Office overwhelming caseload. One visit to any of the criminal courtrooms in Nashville supports that conclusion. The article does a great job setting out the facts and the money issues. A hearing was held last year arguing a case should be dismissed based upon

The Tennessean’s follow up story to the Nashville Scene reporter being arrested for trespass had an interesting side story. The Tennessean complained in the story about not getting a copy of the complaint after multiple requests by the paper. It is standard procedure that no information is released in Nashville Davidson County until the warrant

The Marshall Project provides excellent commentary regarding the criminal justice system. A recent post was titled 13 Important Questions About  Criminal Justice We Can’t Answer. Today’s post focuses on one question. How many criminal cases are referred to prosecutors and how do they decide which to pursue.

I have never been a prosecutor so

I was in the Circuit Court for Williamson County , Tennessee recently. The court announced that the public defenders had requested not to be appointed to any new cases for a short period of time. The judges agreed and started to appoint local attorneys to represent indigent defendants. The District attorney objected and requested to

The Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission regulates the sale of wine and liquor in Tennessee. It also has an enforcement division. The Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission (ABC) has over thirty investigators. Besides granting licenses, they also look for violations of the law. Underage drinking and the sale of alcohol to those that are already intoxicated are the