Supreme Court of Tennessee
Administrative Office of the Courts
Internet: www.tncourts.gov
Elizabeth Sykes, Director
Tim Townsend, Deputy Director
For Information, contact Sue Allison, (615) 532-6047
(12/10/2007)
Governor Phil Bredesen has appointed Kenneth F. Irvine Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn., to fill the vacancy on the Knox County Criminal Court, Division II. The vacancy was created by the death of Judge Ray Lee Jenkins. Bredesen first appointed Irvine as Special Judge in August to fill the seat on a temporary basis.
Prior to his appointment as Special Judge in August, Irvine served as an assistant district attorney since 2006 and was an assistant public defender from 2004 to 2006. After graduating from the University of Tennessee School of Law in Knoxville, he clerked for former Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joseph B. Jones and practiced law in the private sector.
Click here to see Governor Bredesen's full press release.
Most jury service exemptions would be eliminated under proposed legislation that would overhaul state laws detailing how jurors are selected in Tennessee.
The proposal will be considered when the Tennessee Judicial Council meets at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), 511 Union Street, Nashville. The council will decide whether to recommend the changes to the General Assembly.
The suggested revisions to jury service laws were prompted by a bill sponsored by Rep. Rob Briley, said David Haines, general counsel for the AOC. Haines served as AOC liaison to a committee created by the Judicial Council to review jury service statutes and make recommendations to improve the system.
The committee’s changes would do away with most absolute exemptions in the current law, such as those for certain professionals, the disabled and the elderly. Instead, judges could grant hardship exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
“Under the law now, doctors, lawyers – certain professionals – and others can defer service when they are called. They are supposed to specify a seven day period when they will be available to serve, but in some counties, they just aren’t called for service,” Haines said. “As a result, jury pools are not always representative cross-sections of the community.”
The legislation being proposed includes recommendations included in a model piece of legislation, The Jury Patriotism Act, drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Counsel. Most of the changes track recommendations made by the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, Haines said.
“The subcommittee polled court clerks to find out what works and what doesn’t work,” Haines said, “Some parts of the current laws are pretty archaic, such as the requirement that counties have jury commissioners. Those are a throwback to the time when everyone knew everyone else and whether they were morally and otherwise fit to be jurors.”
Under the proposed legislation, jury commissions would be eliminated and court clerks would be designated instead to select jury pools. It also provides for separate jury coordinators where necessary.
Other changes include removing a provision of current law that says the names of prospective jurors should be drawn from the box by a child under the age of 10 or by a blindfolded adult. Under the proposed law, an automated system would be the default method or the clerk would draw names.
“The subcommittee believes all of the changes they are proposing would improve the jury system in Tennessee and some of them are long overdue,” Haines said. “The draft has been circulated to the state Judicial Conference, the Public Defenders Conference and the District Attorneys Conference. Comments from each group were solicited and considered.”
Members of the subcommittee are Chairman Jeff Henry, Deborah R. Alexander-Davis, District Attorney General Dan Alsobrooks, Representative Briley, Sen. Dewayne Bunch, Judge Lee V. Coffee and Tom Hatcher. Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark, who served on the American Bar Association’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the American Jury, said a goal of the Judicial Council committee was to promote appreciation of the jury system and improve the response rate to summonses.
The Supreme Court conducted a jury service study and adopted rule changes in 2003. The changes, which included allowing jurors to take notes and submit questions for witnesses, resulted from recommendations by the Tennessee Bar Association Jury Reform Commission.
(11/15/2007)
Editors and Broadcasters: Chancellor Frierson will allow cameras in the courtroom for this event. If you need additional information, call Sue Allison at 615-532-6047 or call Chancellor Frierson’s office at 423-586-9500.
Children will leave the Hamblen County Chancery Courtroom in Morristown on Saturday with new permanent families, new names and new Teddy bears, following a special 9 a.m. adoption ceremony to be conducted by Chancellor Thomas (Skip) Frierson.
“This is the fourth year we’ve celebrated National Adoption Day at our courthouse,” Frierson said. “It is especially significant in my family since my wife and I adopted our three children. There are few times when everyone leaves the courthouse with a smile, but on this day, they do.”
In addition to presenting the children with Teddy bears, a professional photographer will take portraits of the new families with the chancellor. The courtroom will be decorated with balloons and refreshments are being provided. A Power Point presentation showing celebrations from past years will be shown prior to the ceremony, Frierson said.
“The Hamblen County Bar Association has, again, contributed to this event,” he said. “It has become one of our favorite days of the year.”
For Frierson, the legal duty is a personal pleasure.
“As the father of adopted children, I cannot imagine a more rewarding and fulfilling honor than to have a small role in creating these new families,” he said.
National Adoption Day was designed to facilitate the adoption of the nation’s 114,000 foster children and bring attention to their plight. In Tennessee, more than 8,200 children are in foster care, including nearly 1,600 in East Tennessee.
Abused and neglected children, disabled and rural attorneys, high school students and substance-addicted mothers are among thousands of Tennesseans who will benefit from $1.2 million awarded to organizations across the state.
Excess fees and penalties collected from attorneys by the Commission on Continuing Legal Education will be distributed to the organizations based on grant proposals submitted to a blue ribbon committee appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court and chaired by Nashville attorney Margaret Behm. The committee reviewed the requests and recommended awards. The grants, ranging from $10,000 to $355,806, were approved by the Supreme Court.
“This is a wonderful use of the excess CLE money,” Chief Justice William M. Barker said. “It will help not only lawyers, but many others, including children in foster care and mothers who will be able to stay with their children while they overcome addictions. We are grateful to the Continuing Legal Education Commission for making this possible.”
The largest award will be used for two related proposals submitted by the Tennessee Bar Association and the Memphis, Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville Bar Associations. The grant will be used to purchase webcasting equipment, including cameras and microphones. It also will be used for maintenance and hosting. In part, it will provide required Continuing Legal Education (CLE) to rural attorneys and those with disabilities, since most CLE is conducted in urban areas.
The equipment automatically webcasts programs over the internet so they can be viewed in real time or later on demand. It also allows interaction with viewers and has moderated question and answer capability. The five Bar associations will allow the Tennessee judicial system and organizations providing legal services to low income clients free use of the equipment for five years.
Other grants are:
The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, made of legal aid organizations from across the state, will receive $166,000 to provide 24 Continuing Legal Education Workshops on poverty law issues.
The Tennessee Legal Community Foundation has been awarded $103,597, which requires a dollar for dollar match, to create The Tennessee Loan Repayment Assistance Program for attorneys employed by non-profit organizations providing civil legal services to low-income Tennesseans. The proceeds would be used to assist with the payment of loans incurred during law school.
The Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) will receive $103,597 to establish a revolving loan fund to assist impaired lawyers and judges without resources. TLAP’s grant proposal said 18-25 percent of lawyers suffer from addiction or mental illness and at least 50 percent of lawyers who contact TLAP for help are denied immediate access to needed services, such as alcohol treatment and psychiatric care, because they do not have insurance and cannot pay for them. The proposal calls for funds to be made directly payable to treatment centers and mental health providers, with none of the money going directly to the lawyers needing assistance.
The Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators (TAPM) has been awarded $99,500 to develop a peer mediation program for students and faculty in selected schools across the state. TAPM proposes six grants of $15,000 for six geographical areas and $9,500 to initiate the program.
The University of Tennessee College of Law requested and received $90,000 for its CAN-LEARN Project. The money will cover the salary of a full-time staff attorney for two years. CAN-LEARN serves as a support center for Tennessee lawyers who provide representation in proceedings such as school disciplinary hearings and special education due process hearings.
The Community Legal Center in Memphis will receive $87,000 to expand the Immigrant Justice Program (IJP), which was started 16 months ago with a grant from United Way of Memphis. The funding will be used for the only program in Tennessee that assists immigrants who appear before the immigration court located in Memphis. The funding will enable the IJP to set up screening locations across the state so that immigrants will not have to travel to Memphis to be interviewed and then make a return trip for court appearances. Under the program, initial interviews could be done in the Nashville or Knoxville areas.
The Nashville Conflict Resolution Center was awarded $50,000 to hire an executive director and begin its operations with paid staff. The NCRC, which was created by the Nashville Bar Association in 2000, supervises and operates five no-cost and low-cost mediation programs. Currently, the program is managed by its board members and approximately 20 volunteer mediators, with no paid staff.
Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers will receive a $44,000 grant to update and distribute “Tools for the Ultimate Trial” (The Manual), a guide for defense attorneys in capital cases, for the first time in 15 years. The Manual includes four volumes and 1,000 pages. The funds also will be used to print and distribute the Manual, which will be free for public defenders and defense attorneys appointed in capital cases.
CASA of Nashville and Davidson County will use its $35,000 grant to train additional volunteers to advocate for children who have come to the attention of juvenile court, primarily because of abuse or neglect. According to the proposal, CASA advocated for 530 abused children through 225 volunteer advocates in 2006-07. The volunteers put in more than 27,000 hours each year. “The work of our agency is estimated to save taxpayers up to $800,000 in foster care payments each year,” the CASA grant proposal said.
Renewal House in Nashville will receive $30,000 to support its program making it possible for low-income substance-addicted mothers in recovery to live with their children while in treatment. Renewal House provides a residential program and serves 35-45 families a year. Women staying at Renewal House receive case management, including assistance in addressing legal issues. The families live in one of 17 apartments for six to 15 months while completing individualized recovery programs. After graduating, the women also receive up to six months of aftercare case management support.
CASA of Memphis and Shelby County has been awarded $25,500 to recruit and train 20 additional volunteer advocates to speak in court on behalf of abused and neglected children. According to CASA’s grant proposal, the average length of time a child spends in state custody is 11 months nationwide and two-and-a-half years in Shelby County.
The Jackson-Madison County Bar Association is the recipient of a $10,000 grant to pay for six to eight classes providing information regarding child support modification and visitation for pro se family law litigants. The court will provide class times and locations to pro se litigants and classes will be offered at various times of the day and night.
Courthouses in 83 counties will become safer soon with the additions of new security equipment to be purchased with $2 million appropriated by the Tennessee General Assembly.
“As you may be aware, the Supreme Court requested, and the governor included, $2 million in the court system’s budget for Fiscal Year 2007-08 to enhance courtroom security across the state,” Administrative Director of the Courts Elizabeth Sykes wrote to presiding judges and county officials, inviting them to apply for grants. “The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) believes the safety of our courtrooms to be a critical issue and should be a top priority.”
Counties in need of stepped up security for their courthouses will receive money for the items they listed, Sykes said. The AOC has sent letters to legislators and local officials notifying them of the amount their counties will receive, based on what they requested.
“There were a few counties in which security needs had already been met, so they did not ask for a share of the limited funds available,” Sykes said. “We appreciate that they did not submit requests, which left more for those with serious security needs.”
In addition to providing funds for equipment, a portion of the $2 million will be used for training courthouse security personnel. The training will be coordinated by the AOC and conducted in East, Middle and West Tennessee.
Requested equipment included panic buttons, handheld metal detectors, bulletproof benches, walk through magnetometers, x-ray machines, camera and surveillance systems, Tazer guns and bulletproof vests.
Chancellor George Ellis of Trenton, chairman of the Tennessee Judicial Conference Security Committee, said courthouse violence, especially involving the use of guns, has made security a necessary priority.
"The Security Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference believes that one of the most critical responsibilities judges have is to ensure that our courtrooms are safe for everyone who enters them, including defendants, litigants, attorneys, jurors, witnesses and court personnel,” Ellis said. “The committee is gratified that Governor Bredesen and the Tennessee General Assembly have recognized this need by providing funds enabling counties to purchase equipment and provide training to help us achieve the goal of having safe and secure courthouses across the state.”
A state law that took effect in 2006 also provided money for court security by increasing the cost of continuance fees from $5 to $7. The additional $2 collected for every court continuance remains in the counties where it is collected and must be used for courthouse security.
With concern about security increasing, the Judicial Conference and General Sessions Judges Conference adopted minimum courthouse security standards calling for equipment and training aimed at making courts safe.
“The cost and installation of such standards and procedures is more than offset by the security and protection it offers against bodily injury, loss of life and destruction of property,” members of the conferences wrote in a preface to the minimum standards. Click here to see the list of grants.
(10/16/2007)
Students from six public and private 5th Judicial District high schools will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases Thursday, Oct. 25, in Maryville as participants in a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 420 students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session at the Blount County Justice Center. Each of three groups of students will hear oral arguments in one actual case, beginning at 9 a.m., followed by a question and answer session with the attorneys for both sides in the cases.
Schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students – are Alcoa High School, Maryville High School, Apostolic Christian Academy, Heritage High School, Maryville Christian School and William Blount High School.
Since the first SCALES program in 1995, more than 18,000 students have participated. Chief Justice William M. Barker and Justices Janice M. Holder, Cornelia A. Clark, Gary R. Wade and William C. Koch, Jr., hold SCALES programs in communities across the state at the request of local judges and members of the Bar.
The Blount County students and teachers will join the Supreme Court, local judges, attorneys and other guests for lunch and a brief program. The meal is being sponsored locally.
Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session Sept. 14 led by Court of Criminal Appeals Judges D. Kelly Thomas, Jr., and James Curwood Witt, Jr. The session included a review of cases to be argued at SCALES. The teachers also were provided with notebooks of materials to use in their classrooms, including suggested activities, and SCALES Project handbooks for each student.
"The Tennessee Supreme Court is committed to SCALES because we believe the program plays a role in shaping well-informed good citizens,” the chief justice said. “These young people will inherit the system and should understand how it works and how it affects them. Every time we conduct SCALES and I have an opportunity to visit with the students, it renews my faith that our nation’s future is in very good hands.”
Thomas and Circuit Court Judge Michael Meares coordinated the project in the 5th Judicial District. Local judges and attorneys met with teachers at the professional development session to schedule classroom visits to review the cases and issues to be considered by the Supreme Court. After justices rule in the cases, copies of the court's opinions will be provided to the classes and posted on the court system website at www.tncourts.gov.
Cases the students will hear involve a mother’s claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress based on witnessing an accident in which her infant son was killed; whether there were prejudicial errors in the trial of a man convicted of robbing and murdering an antique shop owner; and whether there was sufficient evidence to convict a woman for criminally negligent homicide in the drowning death of a 5-year-old boy.