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Tennessee Supreme Court Announces State Statute Automatically Sentencing Juvenile Offenders Convicted of First-Degree Murder to Life in Prison Is Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2023 • from CLN June, 2023

Filed under: U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Doctrine of Unconstitutional Conditions, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders

Tennessee Supreme Court Announces State Statute Automatically Sentencing Juvenile Offenders Convicted of First-Degree Murder to Life in Prison Is Unconstitutional by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Tennessee followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s guidance for proportionality analysis when sentencing juvenile offenders …

News in Brief

Article • May 15, 2023 • from CLN June, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arkansas: The DOJ announced on Jan. 24, 2023, that two former police officers in Crawford County were charged with excessive use of force after beating a man at a gas station. The New York Times reported that the two former officers, Zackary King and Levi White, …

Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Training Teaches Police Officers How to Intervene When Their Fellow Officers Use Excessive Force

Article • March 5, 2023

Filed under: Intervention, Staff Training, Excessive Force (Police)

Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Training Teaches Police Officers How to Intervene When Their Fellow Officers Use Excessive Force by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott An epidemic of police officers using excessive force in situations that do not require police brutality to subdue or arrest an individual in …

Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Training Teaches Police Officers How to Intervene When Their Fellow Officers Use Excessive Force

Article • February 19, 2023

Filed under: Intervention, Excessive Force (Police)

Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Training Teaches Police Officers How to Intervene When Their Fellow Officers Use Excessive Force by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott An epidemic of police officers using excessive force in situations that do not require police brutality to subdue or arrest an individual in …

News in Brief

Article • February 15, 2023 • from CLN March, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: The DOJ Civil Rights Division announced on Oct. 21, 2022, that a former sheriff’s deputy in Dallas County was charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in the middle of the day on Jan. 30, 2020. The Miami Herald reported that the then-active deputy, …

Body Cam Footage and Cellphone Videos Will Make the Quick Dismissals of Bad Police More Common

Article • January 29, 2023

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Videotaping, Acceptance of Responsibility

Body Cam Footage and Cellphone Videos Will Make the Quick Dismissals of Bad Police More Common by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott When five police officers were fired in Tennessee less than two weeks after brutally beating Tyré Nichols on January 7, 2023, and causing his death, the …

News in Brief

Article • January 15, 2023 • from CLN February, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: WBMA in Birmingham reported that a former probation officer in Fayette County was convicted of sexual misconduct on Dec. 8, 2022. The former officer, Michael Steven Painter, 51, was found guilty on charges of using his office for personal gain and custodial sexual misconduct — …

Former Memphis Cop Sentenced to 12 Years for Scheme to Torture and Rob Drug Dealers

Article • December 18, 2022

Filed under: Police Misconduct

Former Memphis Cop Sentenced to 12 Years for Scheme to Torture and Rob Drug Dealers by Kaden Gicker by Kaden Gicker One night, Eric Cain was pulled over as he was driving his car, The Commercial Appeal reported. The Tennessee drug dealer had seen a blue flashing light behind him …

News in Brief

Article • December 15, 2022 • from CLN January, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: A police officer in Scottsdale was arrested on Nov. 4, 2022, after allegedly causing a car crash while intoxicated. AZFamily reported that officer Michael Lanouar, a police detective, was taken into custody on suspicion that he had been driving a city-leased car while under the …

TN Lethal Injection Protocol Investigation Report and Findings-Dec. 13, 2022

Publication • December 13, 2022

Filed under: Lethal Injection, Lethal Injection Method of Execution

TN Lethal Injection Protocol Investigation Report and Findings-Dec. 13, 2022 TENNESSEE LETHAL INJECTION PROTOCOL INVESTIGATION REPORT AND FINDINGS Confidential Attorney-Client Communication And Attorney Work Product DECEMBER 13, 2022 Butler Snow LLP BU T L E R I SNOW INVESTIGATIVE REPORT Confidential Attorney-Client Communication And Attorney Work Product To: Governor Bill …

TN Lethal Injection Protocol Investigation Report and Findings 12-13-22

Publication • December 13, 2022

Filed under: Lethal Injection, Lethal Injection Method of Execution

TN Lethal Injection Protocol Investigation Report and Findings 12-13-22 TENNESSEE LETHAL INJECTION PROTOCOL INVESTIGATION REPORT AND FINDINGS Confidential Attorney-Client Communication And Attorney Work Product DECEMBER 13, 2022 Butler Snow LLP BU T L E R I SNOW INVESTIGATIVE REPORT Confidential Attorney-Client Communication And Attorney Work Product To: Governor Bill Lee …

Sixth Circuit: District Court Confused ‘Attenuation Doctrine’ and ‘Inevitable Discovery Exception’ in Applying Exclusionary Rule

Article • November 15, 2022 • from CLN December, 2022

Filed under: Attenuation Doctrine, Inevitable Discovery

Sixth Circuit: District Court Confused ‘Attenuation Doctrine’ and ‘Inevitable Discovery Exception’ in Applying Exclusionary Rule by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated the U.S. District Court for the District of Western Tennessee’s denial of a defendant’s suppression motion, ruling the …

News in Brief

Article • November 15, 2022 • from CLN December, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Court documents revealed the week of Oct. 3, 2022, show that a former Brookside police chief, Mike Jones, was indicted by a grand jury for speeding and impersonating an officer. AL.com reported that Jones had resigned from his post as the town’s Chief of Police …

Sixth Circuit: Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery and Attempted Hobbs Act Robbery Are Not Qualifying Predicates to Sustain § 924(j) Conviction

Article • October 15, 2022 • from CLN November, 2022

Sixth Circuit: Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery and Attempted Hobbs Act Robbery Are Not Qualifying Predicates to Sustain § 924(j) Conviction by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee’s denial of Dominique Cordell Wallace’s 28 …

News in Brief

Article • October 15, 2022 • from CLN November, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arkansas: A Mulberry police officer and two sheriff’s deputies from Crawford County were suspended after a video surfaced appearing to show them beating a man suspected of making violent threats. Maine Public Radio reported that the three officers were videoed by a bystander as they held …

Sixth Circuit Reverses Denial of First Step Act Relief Because Sentence Imposed Is Substantively Unreasonable

Article • August 15, 2022 • from CLN September, 2022

Filed under: First Step Act

Sixth Circuit Reverses Denial of First Step Act Relief Because Sentence Imposed Is Substantively Unreasonable by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee’s denial of Michael B. Johnson, II’s motion seeking a …

FBI Forces Suspect to Unlock Messaging App Using FaceID

Article • August 15, 2022 • from CLN September, 2022

Filed under: Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Electronically Stored Information, Child Pornography

FBI Forces Suspect to Unlock Messaging App Using FaceID by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso In the first known public instance of such a warrant, a US District Court approved a warrant allowing the FBI to use a suspect’s face to unlock his secure messaging app in order to …

News in Brief

Article • July 15, 2022 • from CLN August, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: The Daily News reported that two former police officers from Fullerton and Anaheim were indicted on counts of kidnapping while working illegally as bounty hunters. The former officers were Rodger Corbett, 49, formerly of the Fullerton PD and Kevin Pedersen, 34, formerly of the Anaheim …

Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Not Getting Better

Article • May 1, 2022 • from CLN May, 2022

Filed under: Racial Profiling, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders

Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Not Getting Better by Jacob Barrett by Jacob Barrett Tennessee’s Rutherford County hasbeenunderscrutinyafteritwaswidelycriticizedforitsdysfunctional juvenilejusticesystem.TheCountyhasbeenincarceratingBlackchildrenatadisproportionatelyhighrate, accordingtodataobtainedbyProPublicaandNashvillePublicRadio(“NPR”).Themostrecentdatarevealthat theCounty’sincarcerationofBlackyouthisanextremedeparturefromnationaltrendsandtheCounty’sracial disparityisgettingworse,notbetter. ProPublica and NPR documented how Rutherford County charged 11 Black children for a crime that did not exist. Four of the children were confined in …

Woman Suing Deputy, Who Has a History of Performing Anal Cavity Searches During Traffic Stops, for Forcibly ‘Baptizing’ Her During Traffic Stop Found Dead

Article • April 18, 2022

Filed under: Assault by Police, Police/Govt Misconduct

Woman Suing Deputy, Who Has a History of Performing Anal Cavity Searches During Traffic Stops, for Forcibly ‘Baptizing’ Her During Traffic Stop Found Dead by Brooke Kaufman by Brook Kaufman A bizarre story out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, captured national attention in 2019 when a police officer stripped down to his …