(06/21/2006)
Award named for Drowota to be given each year to a Tennessee judge
Former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota was awarded the naugural Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award for Outstanding Judicial Service during the Tennessee Bar Association’s annual convention in Memphis last week.
This past year Drowota chaired the TBA’s committee working to ensure fair and ethical judicial campaigns. He helped develop a code of conduct to govern judicial campaigns (a copy of which is available at http://www.tba.org/judicialcampaign) and personally contacted each judge and judicial candidate in the state to encourage them to abide by the code during the coming election cycle. Drowota retired from the Supreme Court in 2005 after serving 35 years on the bench, including service on the Davidson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. He began his career in the law after graduating from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1965.
This award for judicial service will be presented each year to a Tennessee judge who demonstrates outstanding and dedicated service to the bench and the bar.
The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is the largest professional association in Tennessee with more than 9,000 members. Founded in 1881, the TBA provides opportunities for continuing legal education, professional development and public service. The TBA's dedication to serving the state's legal community is evidenced by its membership roll, which represents the entire spectrum of legal practice: plaintiff and defense lawyers, corporate counsel, judges, prosecutors, public defenders, government lawyers and legal services attorneys.
(06/16/2006)
A new state-of-the-art $49 million criminal justice building will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, in honor of Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., who is retiring Aug. 31 after 37 years of judicial service at every level of the court system.
The A.A. Birch Building ribbon cutting ceremony will include remarks by Chief Justice William M. Barker, Birch, members of his family and Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell. The six-story building at 408 2nd Ave. No. in Nashville will house general sessions and criminal courts serving the 20th Judicial District.
“It is truly with mixed emotions that I am retiring from the judiciary,” Birch, 73, said. “I have been privileged to spend most of my life in public service doing something I enjoy. I cannot adequately express how grateful and humbled I am by the honor of having this beautiful building named for me.”
The courts in the A. A. Birch building had been housed in the 69-year-old Davidson County Courthouse, along with other courts and offices. The historic building has undergone a total renovation and the new building has been added to the complex.
Birch, who was described by Gov. Phil Bredesen as “a trailblazer in the legal profession,” sat as a judge in the old courthouse before being elevated to the Court of Criminal Appeals and, later, the Supreme Court. His portrait hangs in the courtroom over which he presided as a Criminal Court judge.
He began his judicial career in 1969 as a General Sessions Court judge in Davidson County. He previously had served as an assistant public defender and assistant district attorney in Nashville. In 1978 Birch became a Criminal Court judge, and in 1987, he was appointed to the state Court of Criminal Appeals. He was elected to the intermediate appellate court in 1988 and was reelected in 1990.
Gov. Ned McWherter appointed Birch to the five-member Supreme Court in 1993. He was elected the following year and reelected to an eight-year term in 1998. Birch became Tennessee’s first African-American chief justice when members of the court elected him to the position in 1996. He served as chief justice from May 1996 to July 1997.
During his tenure on the bench, Birch has been recognized with a number of professional awards and honors, including the National Bar Association’s prestigious William H. Hastie Award in 1995. Other honors have included the Barbara Jordan Award, the highest honor given by the international Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.
Birch earned his B.A. and law degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he was a member of Law Review. He is a former associate professor of Legal Medicine at Meharry Medical College and a former lecturer in law at Fisk University and Tennessee State University. He is a member of the teaching faculty at the Nashville School of Law and has served as University of Memphis School of Law distinguished jurist in residence.
In announcing his retirement, Birch said he has been “immeasurably blessed” in his career.
In his letter to the governor informing him of his decision to retire Birch wrote that his public service “has proven to me that a well-lived life depends not upon what one obtains, but upon what one gives.”
(06/06/2006)
Governor Bredesen appointed Gary R. Wade to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Wade, who has served as presiding judge of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals since 1998, fills one of two vacancies created by the retirements of Justice E. Riley Anderson and Adolpho A. Birch, Jr.
“Gary Wade is a highly qualified judge who has proven himself in the practice of law and his service on the Court of Criminal Appeals,” Bredesen said. “His reputation for fairness and consistency, his strong commitment to the law and his dedication to the timely and faithful dispensation of justice will serve the Tennessee Supreme Court and the citizens of our state well.”
A Tennessee native, Wade resides in Sevier County where he served five two-year terms as mayor of Sevierville prior to his appointment to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1987. Wade was in private law practice from 1973 to 1987, including eight years as managing partner of Ogle, Wade & Wynn in Sevier County. He also served as city attorney for the City of Pigeon Forge from 1973 to 1987.
“I’m honored to receive this appointment and appreciate the confidence Governor Bredesen has shown in me,” said Wade. “I have developed a judicial philsophy in my career of due process to litigants, courtesy to counsel, faithfulness to the law and accountability to the people. I believe our supreme court is in the best possible position to inspire the confidence of our citizens in the state’s legal system, and I will apply my philosophy to the Supreme Court to help achieve that goal.”
Wade was named Appellate Judge of the Year by the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2004 and received the Judicial Excellence Award from the Knoxville Bar Association in 2005. He is a member and former president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference and a founder of the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation, on which he serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors. The foundation is responsible for endowing five need-based scholarships per year for aspiring law students.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the state and hears appeals in both civil and criminal cases. The five justices are nominated by the Judicial Selection Commission, appointed by the governor and retained by a “yes-no” vote for eight-year terms.
Wade, 58, graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and received his legal degree from the University of Tennessee School of Law. He serves on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, The United Way of Sevier County and the Sevier County Library Foundation. He is also the immediate past president of the Boards of Directors for Knoxville Zoological Gardens and the Walters State Community College Foundation Board.
With the appointment of Wade, the Judicial Selection Commission will now solicit applicants to fill the second vacancy on the Supreme Court and will recommend three of those applicants to the Governor.
(05/30/2006)
American Legion Boys State delegates from high schools in all 95 counties will participate Wednesday, May 31, 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 the judicial branch of government.
The 650 students will attend a special Supreme Court session at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville as part of the week-long Boys State program, sponsored by The American Legion. The boys, who are in the top one-third of their high school classes, will hear oral arguments in two actual Supreme Court cases.
Circuit Court Judge John Maddux of Cookeville is coordinating the SCALES Project at Boys State. More than 15,500 students from public and private schools across the state have taken part in SCALES since the Supreme Court initiated it in 1995.
"Boys State delegates are leaders in their schools, which means they probably will continue to be interested and involved citizens,” Chief Justice William M. Barker said. “SCALES provides them with an opportunity to see the judicial branch of government and how it affects their lives. The program helps these young Tennesseans become better-informed leaders.”
Issues in the cases students will hear at Boys State include whether a defendant’s sentence should be null and void because the trial judge erroneously noted that he would be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of his sentence, when he would be required by law to serve 100 percent. The students also will hear a case in which the issue involves a vague search warrant affidavit.
Each SCALES participant will receive a handbook containing information about the state and federal court systems and the two cases. In addition, Maddux and other lawyers and judges will conduct educational sessions with the students.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed the death sentence Cocke County jurors imposed on a truck driver for his role in the contract killing of his wife who was shot at close range after being lured to a remote area.
Jonathan Wesley Stephenson was first sentenced to death in 1990 for the first degree murder of Lisa Stephenson. He also received a 25 year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. A new sentencing hearing was ordered due to a legal error nullifying the jurors’ verdict. By agreement with the prosecution and defense, the death sentence was later changed to life without parole for the murder and 60 years in prison for conspiracy.
Stephenson then challenged the reduced sentence and the Tennessee Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing. Jurors again imposed a death sentence which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
“Having carefully reviewed the record and relevant legal authority, we conclude that none of the errors alleged by the defendant warrants relief,” Justice Janice M. Holder wrote for the majority. Chief Justice William M. Barker and Justices E. Riley Anderson and Cornelia A. Clark concurred in the decision filed Friday.
In a separate concurring and dissenting opinion, Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., said he agrees with the majority that Stephenson’s convictions should be affirmed, but disagreed concerning the majority’s conclusion regarding an issue raised by Stephenson in his appeal.
“I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority’s opinion concluding that the Sixth Amendment right to confrontation of witnesses and the state constitutional right to confront witnesses ‘face-to-face’ does not apply to capital sentencing hearings,” Birch wrote.
As in previous dissents, Birch also wrote that the method used by the court to review and compare Tennessee capital cases is “inadequate” in his view. State law requires the court to conduct comparative proportionality review in each death penalty case to determine whether the sentence is disproportionate to the penalties in similar cases.
Holder said the court recognizes that no two cases involve identical circumstances. Quoting an earlier case, State v. Bland, she wrote that the court’s objective is not to “’prove that a defendant’s death sentence is perfectly symmetrical, but to identify and to invalidate the aberrant death sentence.’”
“We conclude that the sentence of death has not been imposed arbitrarily, that the evidence supports the jury’s finding of the statutory aggravating circumstance, that the evidence supports the jury’s finding that the aggravating circumstance outweighs the mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt and that the sentence is not excessive or disproportionate,” Holder wrote.
The court set an Oct. 11, 2006, execution date for Stephenson, who has appeals remaining.
Stephenson and a co-defendant, Ralph Thompson, Jr., were found guilty of killing Lisa Stephenson, the mother of two young children, with a rifle as she sat in her vehicle in an isolated area in Cocke County. Thompson received a life sentence for the murder and an additional 25 years for conspiracy to commit murder. Each defendant blamed the other for the actual shooting.
Stephenson had offered Thompson and others cash, a boat, a motor and a truck if they would kill his wife. He complained that he would “lose everything he had worked for” if they divorced.
The court considered and rejected all issues raised by Stephenson in his appeal. The decision upholds a decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals, which also found his claims to be without merit.
(05/24/2006)
A University of Tennessee College of Law scholarship in memory of long-time Knoxville attorney Robert W. Ritchie, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, has been established by the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation. Ritchie died April 28 after a battle with cancer.
“As effective as he was as an attorney, Bob was renown for his courtroom civility,” Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Gary R. Wade of Sevierville said. “Bob and I tried many cases together as lawyers and I always was impressed with his skill and courtroom demeanor. He was beloved and widely respected in the legal community and beyond for many reasons.”
Wade, who was instrumental in establishing the TJC Foundation, said a scholarship in Ritchie’s memory is especially appropriate because he was a mentor to many young lawyers, some of them now judges. Ritchie also was devoted to the law school from which he graduated and where he was an adjunct faculty member.
Ritchie, 67, served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army and was a founding member of the Ritchie, Dillard & Davies law firm.
The TJC Foundation provides scholarships to students at each law school in the state. Donations in memory of Ritchie may be sent to Foundation Treasurer Suzanne Keith, 1903 Division Street, Nashville 37203.
(05/17/2006)
Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker will deliver The Webb School commencement address at 1:30 p.m. May 26 at the historic campus in Bell Buckle.
“My brother attended Webb School and I have many fond memories of visiting him while he was a student there,” the chief justice said. “I certainly could not have imagined then that I would someday have the honor of being the graduation speaker at Webb.”
Barker, of Chattanooga, was appointed in 1998 to the Tennessee Supreme and was elected the same year to an eight-year term. He began his judicial career in 1983 as a Circuit Court judge in Hamilton County. In 1995, he was appointed to the state Court of Criminal Appeals where he served until he joined the five-member Tennessee Supreme Court. He was elected chief justice by his colleagues on the court in October 2005.
From 1984 until 2002, Justice Barker also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In 2000, he was named Outstanding Adjunct Professor by the Student Government Association.
Barker was chosen to receive the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Awards at both the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and University of Cincinnati School of Law. The chief justice received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1964 and earned his law degree from the University Of Cincinnati School Of Law in 1967.
He is a frequent lecturer at legal seminars on the subject of ethics. Barker and his wife Catherine, a teacher, traveled to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 2005 where they had been invited to lecture at several schools, including two Slovakian law schools. He taught prospective lawyers in the former communist nations about the United States and Tennessee legal systems.
Founded in 1870 by noted scholar William R. "Old Sawney" Webb, The Webb School is the South's oldest continuously operating boarding school. The graduating class includes 46 boarding and day students from five states and four other countries. They will be attending colleges and universities across the country, including Yale, Sewanee and Mount Holyoke.
(05/03/2006)
Tennessee Attorney General Paul G. Summers announced today he will not seek a second term as Attorney General when his term expires in August.
He has made no plans for his immediate future at this time, except to
continue his work with the Jason Foundation, a national nonprofit
foundation dedicated to the education about and prevention of teenage
suicide. Attorney General Summers currently chairs the nonprofit
organization.
Serving as Tennessee Attorney General has been "the highest professional honor," General Summers said. "Managing 325 professionals is a job that would not appeal to many. It did to me, and I really appreciate this unique opportunity. I have worked with quintessential lawyers and professionals. I will never forget the privilege I have had to serve Tennessee in this capacity."
General Summers has served as Tennessee Attorney General since January 1999. The Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the state and represents all branches, agencies and departments.
Some highlights of General Summers' term include:
General Summers spent active duty in the Air Force, Army and Army
National Guard. Upon his retirement after 33 years of commissioned
military service, he was awarded the National Guard Distinguished
Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. He is a Fellow of the Tennessee
Bar Foundation, member of the TN Trial Lawyers Association, TN Judicial
Conference, and TN Bar Association. General Summers is an active martial
artist and karate instructor. He has earned the black belt.
(04/27/2006)
Students from 18 Hamilton County high schools, along with 15 local home schooled students, will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases May 5 as participants in a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 677 students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. Each of three groups of students will hear oral arguments in one actual case, followed by a question and answer session with the attorneys for both sides in the case.
Schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students - are Brainard, Soddy-Daisy, East Ridge, Lookout Valley, Sale Creek, Hixson, Central, Ooltewah, Baylor, Notre Dame, 21st Century and Red Bank High Schools. Also taking part in SCALES are the Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts, Boyd Buchanan School, Girls Preparatory School, McCallie School, Silverdale Baptist Academy, David Brainerd Christian School and the Chattanooga Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association.
Since the first SCALES program in 1995, more than 15,000 students from public and private schools across the state have participated.
The Hamilton 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 by the Chattanooga Bar Association.
Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session March 2 at the Hamilton County Courthouse, led by Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge 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,” Chief Justice William M. Barker of Chattanooga 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.”
Circuit Court Judge Neil Thomas coordinated the project in Hamilton County. He and other 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.
Issues in the cases Hamilton County students will hear include whether a trial court correctly ruled that the death of a day laborer was a compensable injury resulting from his employment ; whether the state constitution guarantees a right to a jury trial in an appeal to criminal court from a juvenile court decision; and whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming a trial court’s child support award in a case in which the legality of the parents’ marriage was in question.
(04/17/2006)
Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge William C. Koch, Jr., is among “The 500 Leading Judges in America,” based on a months-long survey of lawyers and judges conducted by Lawdragon.com.
“Our staff of reporters and editors spent several months interviewing thousands of lawyers and judges nationwide to create this survey,” Lawdragon Publisher Katrina Dewey wrote. “We believe this guide provides a remarkable public service by highlighting those selfless professionals who inspire and guide us by their dedication to upholding our nation’s finest ideals of justice.”
The 500 judges selected for the listing included state and federal judges at every level chosen from more than 30,000 members of the judiciary nationwide. Lawdragon reported that frequent comments in the survey concerning the leading judges included “extremely bright” and, among appellate court judges, “the ability to write well-reasoned decisions that can guide attorneys in other cases.”
Lawdragon.com provides legal news and evaluations of lawyers and judges. The online publication describes Koch as a “widely respected jurist.”
Koch, 58, of Nashville is a fomer deputy attorney general; commission of the state Department of Personnel and was legal counsel to Gov. Lamar Alexander.
He was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1984 and was elected to the court later the same year. He was re-elected in 1990 and 1998.
(04/13/2006)
State Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker has been tapped by a Tennessee university and an Ohio law school as recipient of their 2006 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
“To be Distinguished Alumni at one school is humbling, but to chosen for the award at both the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Cincinnati School of Law is an unimaginable honor,” Barker said. “These schools have a special place in my life and heart and both are outstanding institutions.”
The chief justice will receive the award from the law school April 21 at a luncheon in Cincinnati to which all alumni have been invited. He will be honored by his undergraduate university May 5 at a banquet at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
Barker, a native of Chattanooga, received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1964 and earned his law degree from the University Of Cincinnati School Of Law in 1967. Following service as a captain in the United States Army Medical Corps, he entered the private practice of law.
In 1983, he was appointed Circuit Court judge by Gov. Lamar Alexander and was elected to the position by Hamilton County voters in 1984 and 1990. During his service as a Circuit Court judge, Barker was consistently given the highest rating by the Chattanooga Bar Association in polls of its members.
In 1995, Barker was appointed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. He was elected to the appellate court the following year and served until his 1998 appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court. He was elected to an eight-year term in 1998.
Barker, who chairs the Tennessee Judicial Council, was elected chief justice by his colleagues on the court in October 2005.
From 1984 until 2002, Justice Barker served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In 2000, he was named Outstanding Adjunct Professor by the Student Government Association.
He is a frequent lecturer at legal seminars on the subject of ethics. Barker and his wife Catherine, a teacher, traveled to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 2005 where they had been invited to lecture at several schools, including two Slovakian law schools. He taught the prospective lawyers in the former communist nations about the United States and Tennessee legal systems.