The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals visited the University of Tennessee at Martin campus recently to hear cases before UT Martin students as well as area high school students.
The court convened in the Boling University Center’s Watkins Auditorium as the students heard oral arguments from the state and the defendants in four criminal appeals cases. In appeals cases, there are no witnesses, testimony or evidence, just discussion about the applicable law and facts. Students also had the opportunity to question the attorneys after the case was heard.
Judges John Everett Williams, Roger A. Page and Timothy L. Easter presided over this session. Williams, of Huntingdon, was appointed to the court in 1998 and is a graduate of the UT Martin criminal justice program. Page, of Jackson, was appointed in 2011 and Easter, of Nashville, joined the court in 2014.
More than 100 criminal justice students from nine area high schools participated, as did criminal justice students from UT Martin. The judges joined the students for lunch during the day as well.
The court’s visit to UT Martin was hosted by the UT Martin Criminal Justice Program, the Department of Behavioral Sciences and the College of Education, Health and Behavioral Sciences, as well as the Kappa Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Criminal Justice Honor Society.
