News
April 25, 2007
Students from 10 public and private Montgomery and Robertson County high schools will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases Friday, April 27, as participants in a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 580 students and their teachers will…
May 21, 2007
American Legion Boys State delegates from high schools in all 95 counties will participate May 30 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…
May 23, 2007
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Arthur T. Copeland, who was convicted of first degree murder for the 1998 shooting death of Andre Jackson in Maryville.A unanimous court concluded the trial court should have allowed the defense to present the testimony of an expert on the…
May 24, 2007
Sarah Appleby has accepted the position of education manager for the court services division of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). She will assume her new position June 19, 2007, succeeding Shannon Howell, who will attend the University of Tennessee College of Law. Appleby’s…
June 6, 2007
Andrea Ayers, AOC programs manager, was among 56 new attorneys sworn in June 5 by the Tennessee Supreme Court during a ceremony in Nashville. Ayers and the others who were sworn in took the Bar examination in February.
June 15, 2007
Governor Bredesen today appointed William C. Koch Jr. to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Koch, who has served as presiding judge of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Section, since 2003, fills the remaining vacancy created by the retirements of Justice E. Riley Anderson and Adolpho A. Birch, Jr.“…
June 26, 2007
NASHVILLE, June 26, 2007. Lance Bracy, former chief disciplinary counsel at the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, was awarded the Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award for Outstanding Judicial Service during the Tennessee Bar Association's annual convention in Nashville.Named for former…
June 26, 2007
Court of Criminal Appeals Judge D. Kelly Thomas of Maryville has been elected president of the 178-member Tennessee Judicial Conference (TJC), which includes all state appellate and trial court judges.Thomas succeeded Chancellor Jeffrey Stewart, of the 12th Judicial District, including Bledsoe,…
July 24, 2007
Improving conditions for thousands of Tennesseans who receive notices every year to render verdicts in civil and criminal trials and encouraging participation on juries are among the missions of a new committee created by the Tennessee Judicial Council.
The panel will review state laws dealing with…
August 8, 2007
Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker has been elected to a two-year term on the 14-member Board of Directors for the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) at the organization’s annual meeting in Michigan.
CCJ’s membership includes the highest judicial officers from all 50 states,…
August 15, 2007
Defendants may be eligible for the death penalty in Tennessee if they have scored at least 70 on IQ tests before age 18, regardless of later lower scores, the Tennessee Supreme Court said in a case involving a man charged with beating a Bledsoe County store owner to death during a 2001 robbery.
In…
August 21, 2007
Circuit Court Judge Robert L. Childers of Memphis has been appointed chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs (CoLAP), which provides help for legal professionals and law school students with addiction, mental health and other issues that affect their…
October 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…
November 5, 2007
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…
November 13, 2007
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…
November 26, 2007
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),…
February 23, 2007
In 1976, when the Tennessee Supreme Court tapped Lance Bracy to be disciplinary counsel for the newly-created Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR), 4,433 attorneys were practicing law in the state. During the next 31 years, Bracy, who will retire May 1, has watched that number swell to 18,400…
February 28, 2007
New applications from Middle and West Tennessee will be accepted through March 16 for a vacant position on the Tennessee Supreme Court, Judicial Selection Commission Chairman Dale Tuttle said Wednesday.“The commission unanimously decided in a meeting today to reopen the application process in…
February 20, 2008
The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the death sentence jurors imposed on Michael Dale Rimmer for the first degree murder and aggravated robbery of Ricci Ellsworth, a night worker at a Memphis hotel.Rimmer pleaded guilty to raping Ellsworth in 1989 and, while serving a term in prison…
April 23, 2008
Students from 10 public and private 8th Judicial District high schools will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases Thursday, May 8, in Jacksboro as participants in a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.The 402 students and their teachers will…