Criminal Justice & Policing
GOP lawmaker: TBI is investigating current and former DCS employees
A Republican lawmaker said during a public hearing this week that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing the conduct of current and former employees of the Department of Children’s Services – an investigation a TBI spokesperson later said she could neither confirm nor deny. “I’ve been made aware of a specific instance where the […]
GOP senators sent message to interim correction commissioner on Community Corrections
Republican senators upset about the phasing out of Tennessee’s Community Corrections program met last fall with the state’s interim correction prisoner and other officials to make a last-ditch effort at salvaging the intensive effort to keep felons out of prison. The handful of senators didn’t raise the roof but sent a strong message. They were […]
Juvenile justice recommendations from legislature lean heavily on institutions
A legislative committee charged with reviewing the state’s troubled juvenile justice system made more than a dozen recommendations on Wednesday that are expected to serve as a blueprint for General Assembly action this year. Among the recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee on Juvenile Justice: constructing a new secure lockup for youth, adding mental health […]
Governor appoints new correction commissioner in wake of lethal injection debacle
A week after unveiling a report displaying incompetence in the state’s lethal injection program, Gov. Bill Lee appointed an Arizona prison official who oversaw a renewal of executions there to lead Tennessee’s prison system. Frank Strada, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, will replace interim Commissioner Lisa Helton this week as the governor […]
State holds release of independent report on executions
The state has received an independent review of its lethal injection protocol on executions but is refusing to release it to the public until the Governor’s Office assesses it. Gov. Bill Lee put a hold on executions in May aftering finding out the state failed to follow guidelines on the testing of lethal injection drugs, […]
Knoxville Police Advisory & Review Board expands power
The state legislature may want to limit citizens in how much of a say they have over how their communities’ police departments work, but Knoxville is trying to forge its own path. The city’s citizen review board, known as PARC (Police Advisory and Review Committee) has recently seen its powers expanded through an agreement hammered […]
Howard Atkins was sentenced to life at age 16; a TN Supreme Court ruling could soon free him
Howard Atkins first got the news that may soon change his life from a fellow inmate inside Tennessee’s Northwest Correctional Complex, who appeared at the front door of his unit, called him out then started jumping up and down, saying “have you heard?” It was the Friday before Thanksgiving and the Tennessee Supreme Court had […]
Ex-Sen. Brian Kelsey pleads guilty to two counts of federal campaign finance violations
Nearly a year after proclaiming he was a victim of a political “witch hunt,” former Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating federal campaign finance laws in a scheme to bolster his failed 2016 congressional campaign. Kelsey, 44, entered guilty pleas to two counts of a five-count federal indictment, one for conspiracy to […]
Landmark TN Supreme Court decision finds mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional
In a landmark decision, a majority panel of the Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday struck down as unconstitutional mandatory life sentences for juveniles. “In fulfilling our duty to decide constitutional issues, we hold that an automatic life sentence when imposed on a juvenile homicide offender with no consideration of the juvenile’s age or other circumstances […]
6th Circuit serves victory to Marine Corps veteran agains Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies
A federal appellate court this week served up a legal victory for a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who sued the Hamilton County law enforcers who detained him on the side of the road without cause for nearly an hour in a fruitless search for marijuana. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is refusing to […]
6th Circuit upholds decision to strip Knoxville cop of immunity in shooting
A federal appellate court is upholding a decision to strip a Knoxville Police Department officer of immunity in a wrongful death lawsuit over the officer’s shooting of an unarmed man in the back. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals turned aside an appeal by KPD Officer Dylan Williams, who fatally shot an unarmed Channara […]
Unsealed documents identify man behind arson, shooting at Knoxville Planned Parenthood
Two weeks after traveling to the U.S. Capitol to participate in the Jan. 6 insurrection, a Tennessee man fired into the door of a Planned Parenthood clinic under construction in Knoxville. Less than a year later, he burned the clinic down. Federal court documents unsealed Monday identify Mark Thomas Reno as the man authorities say […]