News
April 15, 2005
Tennessee’s criminal sentencing laws do not violate the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a jury trial and were not affected by two United States Supreme Court rulings last year addressing the authority of judges to enhance sentences, the state Supreme Court said Friday in a 3-2 decision.Chief Justice…
April 21, 2005
Phil Bredesen announced that Memphis attorney Jerry Stokes will fill a vacancy in division six of the 30th Judicial District's Circuit Court, created by the retirement of George H. Brown, Jr. The 30th Judicial District Circuit Court covers Shelby County. "Jerry Stokes has more than 20 years…
May 9, 2005
The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction and death sentence a Missouri man received for killing a Dyer County tow truck driver who had answered his murderer’s Sunday morning call for help.Steven Ray Thacker was convicted of first degree murder for the Jan. 2, 2000, stabbing death of…
May 11, 2005
Tennessee Judges to Receive National HonorsJudges from Madisonville, Nashville and Memphis are being recognized with awards from the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), with more than 1,500 members nationwide representing all levels of the state and federal judiciary.State Court of Appeals…
May 23, 2005
The Tennessee Supreme Court has set a legal standard for “abandonment” of property for school purposes in a case involving an attempt by heirs to reclaim land conveyed - with conditions attached - to Davidson County schools nearly 100 years ago.In 1908, George E. and Sarah Haley sold the one-acre…
May 24, 2005
American Legion Boys State delegates from high schools in all 95 counties will participate Wednesday, May 25, in the SCALES Program, an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students. SCALES is a Tennessee Supreme Court initiative designed to educate young Tennesseans about…
May 24, 2005
The Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected Paul Dennis Reid’s appeal of his convictions and death sentences for the 1997 stabbing murders of two young women he had kidnapped from a Clarksville ice cream parlor.In an opinion written by Justice E. Riley Anderson, the court affirmed Reid’s convictions…
May 31, 2005
More than 100 print and broadcast reporters and editors from across Tennessee will gather in Nashville June 6 to attend a Law School for Journalists, co-sponsored by the Tennessee Supreme Court and the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.“Legal issues and the judicial system are complex…
June 6, 2005
Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III, who has served longer than any of the 183 active state court judges, is retiring after 35 years of judicial service, including a quarter century on the Tennessee Supreme Court and two terms as chief justice.Drowota“This morning I visited with and delivered to…
July 1, 2005
Circuit Court Judge William B. Acree, Jr., of the 27th Judicial District has been elected by his judicial peers statewide to serve as president of the Tennessee Trial Judges Association (TTJA). All 153 circuit, chancery and criminal court judges in Tennessee are members.
Acree, of Union City, has…
July 6, 2005
Chancellor Jeffrey F. Stewart of Winchester has been chosen as president-elect of the Tennessee Judicial Conference, which includes all of the state’s 178 trial and appellate court judges. He will become president of the organization in June 2006 for a one-year term.Stewart, of the 12 th Judicial…
July 11, 2005
Chancellor Arnold Goldin of the 30th Judicial District (Shelby County) has completed an advanced evidence course at the National Judicial College in Reno, NV. He received a Bureau of Justice Assistance scholarship to attend the four-day program."It was a great learning experience to study evidence…
July 11, 2005
Criminal Court Judge E. Shayne Sexton of the Eighth Judicial District, including Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Scott and Union counties, has received a State Justice Institute grant to attend a four-day Advanced Evidence course at the National Judicial College in Reno, NV.Sexton, of Jacksboro, was…
August 12, 2004
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., and 20th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins have received honors from the National Bar Association (NBA). Founded in 1925, the NBA is the oldest and largest organization of African-American lawyers and judges with 20,000…
August 29, 2005
Chancellor Steven Stafford of the 29 th Judicial District, including Dyer and Lake counties, has been reelected presiding judge of the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary. The 15-member panel, created by the General Assembly, receives complaints against judges and is authorized by state law to impose…
September 1, 2005
Governor Phil Bredesen today named attorney Donald Ray Elledge to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court in Anderson County. Elledge fills a vacancy created by the retirement of James B. Scott, Jr., which is effective Friday, September 2.“I would like to thank Judge Scott for his honorable service to…
September 1, 2005
For the fourth time since 1990, E. Riley Anderson of Knoxville has been elected chief justice of the five-member Tennessee Supreme Court. He succeeds former Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III, who retired from the court effective Sept. 2.In an order filed Friday, the court unanimously said…
September 9, 2005
The state Court of the Judiciary, which investigates complaints against judges, disposed of a record 440 cases during the past fiscal year, with a majority dismissed as having no merit, said Chancellor Steven Stafford, presiding judge for the 16-member court.“The court’s disciplinary counsel,…
September 9, 2005
Cornelia Clark, administrative director of the Tennessee court system, has been invited to represent United States courts at a conference in Madrid, organized by Spanish officials to assist with a legally-mandated overhaul of their judicial system."Our legal system often is used by other nations as…
September 14, 2005
The Tennessee Judicial Evaluation Commission will meet in Memphis Thursday and Friday to interview nine of the state's 29 appellate court judges who will be evaluated to help voters make informed decisions in 2006.The evaluation of appellate court judges was mandated by the legislature in 1994. The…