Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Forensic science plays an integral role in the criminal justice system. Well-trained forensic scientists and medical examiners can be the determining factor in the ability of evidence to adequately represent the facts of a case. Forensic science can be used in almost any criminal case; however, investigations of homicide, rape, and arson are those that benefit the most from forensic science.

Everyone is familiar with the television show “C.S.I.” While this show involves a lot of idealism, and often times skews the reality of forensic science, at its core “C.S.I.” represents the importance that quality forensic science can play in a complicated case. In complicated cases, and even in relatively simple ones, the most minute of details can become paramount to a successful prosecution or defense. Forensic scientists are trained to analyze crime scenes, evidence, and personal testimony to create a visualization of how a crime occurred. An understanding of the circumstances surrounding a crime is pivotal to ensuring that the correct charges are brought against the correct person. The mishandling or misinterpretation of evidence can be devastating to the goals of the criminal justice system and can result in the wrongful conviction of innocent persons and the failure to convict the true perpetrator, which is why you need a skilled criminal defense lawyer in Knoxville if you’ve been convicted of a criminal offense. Conversely, correctly applied forensic science ensures that justice is served and innocent persons remain free.

One person who is often overlooked in the forensic science field is the medical examiner. In homicide cases, medical examiners employ forensic science to determine the cause of death. Sometimes, the determinations of the medical examiner can show that a victim died of natural causes or by something other than a defendant’s hand. This evidence can literally be a lifesaver to a person facing a homicide charge. An example like this makes it easy to see the importance of forensic science.

Being charged with a criminal offense such as the ones mentioned above has serious consequences and can affect the rest of your life. With the help of an experienced criminal defense lawyer in Tennessee, a thorough investigation can be done to determine if forensic evidence was conducted properly or if any mishandling or misinterpretation of evidence was conducted. Call Baker and Associates today for a case evaluation and rest assured that every possible effort will be made to defend and protect your legal rights.

“Miranda Rights” generally refer to a couple of rights subsumed under the general right against self-incrimination. These rights were enforced and highlighted by the United States Supreme Court’s 1966 decision in Miranda v. Arizona. While most anyone can recite the famous lines of a Miranda Warning, perhaps less well known are the actual rights protected by this warning. The two overarching rights are: (1) the right to remain silent, and (2) the right to an attorney.

The Right to Remain Silent: This right is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. Persons who are being interrogated by the authorities have a right against self-incrimination. While often known as “pleading the Fifth” in the courtroom, this right also extends to questioning and interrogation by police immediately after arrest. By invoking this right, a defendant may refuse to answer any questions that may result in the proffering of evidence that could be used against them. This right does not, however, allow a defendant to refuse to provide basic information such as their name.

The Right to An Attorney: This right is also guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. Persons who are placed under arrest have the right to consult with an attorney, and to have their attorney present during all questioning. This is formally referred to as the “right to counsel.” This right seeks to ensure that a person who waives their right to remain silent can still be advised as to the incriminating nature of any testimony they provide thereafter. This right is seen as so fundamental that the United States Supreme Court requires that the government must provide legal counsel to persons who cannot afford it.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about Miranda Rights is that they can be waived. It is up to a defendant and their top criminal defense attorney in Knoxville to ensure that they conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with exercising their rights. Once the right against self-incrimination has been waived, any and all evidence extracted by the authorities after that point will be admissible at trial. This is why it is absolutely imperative that criminal defendants be apprised of their Miranda Rights as soon as possible and understand the consequences of waiving those rights.

Whether you are arrested or charged with a white collar crime, domestic violence or DUI, you have rights and the opportunity to have a skilled Tennessee criminal defense attorney on your side. The law team at Baker Associates can evaluate your case to see if your Miranda Rights have been compromised. Call us today at 866-853-2888 for a consultation.

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-527, sexual battery by an authority figure is considered a violent sexual offense, and is laid out as a separate offense from traditional sexual battery. In order to have a charge for sexual battery by an authority figure, an unlawful sexual contact must occurs, and the proper criteria must be satisfied for both the defendant and victim.

With regards to the victim, one of two criteria must be satisfied in order to have a charge of sexual battery by an authority figure. Either the victim must, at the time of the offense, have been between the ages of 13 and 18, or the victim must, at the time of the offense, have been either mentally defective, incapacitated, or physically helpless. If the victim was deemed mentally or physically incapacitated, their age will be irrelevant.

Once the status of the victim has been determined, it must then be established that the defendant was an authority figure. Under Tennessee, law, there are two ways that the defendant could be considered an authority figure. First, if the defendant was, at the time of the offense, in a position of trust or had supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim, then the defendant may be an authority figure.

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Most people believe that domestic assault involves violence between husbands and wives. However, under Tennessee law, Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-111, domestic assault is much more than that.

Domestic assault in Knoxville follows most of the same guidelines as general assault, found in Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-101. General assault can be broken down into three separate actions: (1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing physical injury to another; (2) intentionally or knowingly causing another to be fearful of physical injury; and (3) intentionally or knowingly causing contact with another that would be considered extremely offensive or provocative.

Domestic assault involves all of these same criteria. The difference between general assault and domestic assault is that under domestic assault the individuals involved have specific relationships to one another. Domestic assault can be between a number of different groups, including: husbands and wives, former spouses, persons who live together, persons who are dating, sexual partners, and blood relatives. If an act that would be classified as assault occurs between individuals with one of these relationships, that offense can then be classified as domestic assault.

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Sexual battery and aggravated sexual battery both involve unlawful sexual contact between a defendant and victim. “Unlawful sexual contact” is defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-501 as the intentional touching of intimate parts, or of the clothing covering the immediate area of a person's intimate parts, for sexual gratification.

Sexual battery (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-505) involves unlawful sexual contact that occurs in one of four situations. First, sexual battery occurs when force or coercion is used to accomplish the contact, with coercion being the threat of kidnapping, extortion, or violence. Second, sexual battery occurs when contact was made without the consent of the victim. Third, sexual battery occurs when the defendant knew or should have known that the victim was mentally incapacitated or physically helpless. Fourth, sexual battery occurs if the contact is accomplished by fraud.

Sexual battery is a Class E felony, punishable by 1 to 6 years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000. In addition, persons convicted of sexual battery must register as sexual offenders.

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Solicitation of a minor in Tennessee is found in Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-528. Under this section, it is a crime for a person over the age of 18 to use oral, written or electronic communication to try to persuade a person that they know, or should know, is under the age of 18, or a law enforcement officer posing as someone under the age of 18, to engage in a sexual act.

In order to be convicted of solicitation, the defendant must have been attempting to solicit some activity that has been made criminal. Under this code section, there is a list of nine different crimes involving minors for which a defendant can be charged with solicitation. Among these crimes are rape, statutory rape, and sexual battery.

One of the catches that comes with solicitation charges is that the solicitation does not have to be successful in order for a defendant to be charged. Therefore, even if the recipient denies the advances, the defendant may still be charged with solicitation.

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Custodial interference occurs when family members take certain other family members in contravention of court orders. This contravention of court orders is the essential difference between custodial interference and kidnapping/ false imprisonment. The elements of custodial interference are set out in Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-306.

Custodial interference applies to the following persons: natural or adoptive parents, step-parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, or nephews. It is a violation of the law for any of these persons to remove a relative under the age of 18 from the state, or to detain that child within the state, in violation of child custody determinations, the rightful custody of the parents, parental visitation rights, or temporary court orders regarding the custody and care of the child. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-306 also makes it illegal for persons to remove an incompetent relative from the state, or to detain that incompetent relative within the state, in violation of a court order regarding the custody or care of the incompetent relative.

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False confessions are an unfortunate byproduct of the criminal investigation process. They are often elicited as a result of the intense interrogation techniques employed by law enforcement. Suspects, under incredible psychological stress, will admit to almost anything in order to get themselves out of an interrogation room.

The coercive and intense nature of the interrogation process can lead many innocent suspects to convince themselves that they had something to do with the crime. After hours of suggestion by well-trained investigators, a number of psychological phenomenon may occur, causing a suspect to become convinced that they committed a crime that they had nothing to do with. Perhaps more frequently, suspects feel they have no other source of relief than to provide the investigator with what they want—a confession. False confessions may also be provided voluntarily. This is often the case when a suspect confesses to a crime in order to protect another person, perhaps a family member or close associate.

False confessions are dangerous in a number of ways. First, confessions are perhaps the most important piece of evidence that is presented to a jury in a Tennessee Criminal Case. Juries place extraordinary weight on a confession, even when the physical evidence provides it no support. Thus, a suspect who provides a false confession faces a serous possibility of conviction. Second, as interrogations are not always taped, it can be very difficult for a suspect to later recant a false confession. There may be little to no evidence of the interrogation methods used by the investigators, making a suspect’s account of the interrogation vulnerable to skepticism. Third, false confessions prevent the true execution of justice. When a false confession leads to a conviction, it means that an innocent person is convicted of the crime while the true perpetrator remains free. As such, the goal of criminal law is never actually achieved.

If you’ve found yourself in the difficult situation of being charged with a crime, a skilled Tennessee criminal defense lawyer at our office in Knoxville or Sevierville can help. Our attorneys have the knowledge and fortitude to effectively represent you. Whether you’ve been charged with a drug offense or a DUI in Knoxville, you can rest assured that every effort will be made to defend and protect your rights.

The Adam Walsh Act, passed by Congress in 2006, is to be implemented for Tennessee sex crime offenders this year. This Act fundamentally changes the rules regarding sex offender registration in the state.

The most important way that the Adam Walsh Act will change sex offender registration in Tennessee is that it changes the system used to determine the length of registration. Under existing Tennessee registration requirements, offenders are required to register based upon the probability that they will recommit a sex crime. After 10 years of registering, an offender may petition to terminate their participation in the registration program. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will review the offender’s file and make a determination as to whether that person is likely to recommit. Upon this determination, they will either grant or deny the petition. If a person has committed more than one sex offense, or has committed a violent sex crime in Tennessee, they may be required to register for life.

The Adam Walsh Act establishes a “tier” system for registrants, which is based upon the severity of their crime. Tier I crimes are deemed to be the least severe, and require registration for 15 years. Tier II crimes are considered more severe, and require registration for 25 years. Tier III crimes are considered to be the most severe, and require registration for life.

The Adam Walsh Act will also change the frequency with which many offenders must update their status. The current Tennessee system requires that all offenders must update their status once per year. Under the Adam Walsh Act, Tier I offenders will still have to update every year, but Tier II offenders will have to update every 6 months. Tier III offenders must update every 3 months, under the Act.

One minor change in the transition to the Adam Walsh Act is the time within which an offender must register. Under the current system, an offender must register within 48 hours of release or arrival in Tennessee. The Adam Walsh Act requires offenders to register within 3 days, giving offenders an extra day than they previously had.

The Benefits of Retrograde Extrapolation in DUI and Vehicular Homicide Cases

Retrograde extrapolation is a process by which law enforcement attempts to estimate the blood alcohol content (BAC) of a person at a certain time. Usually, this is done by taking the BAC as measured at a police station and employing a list of variables to determine the person’s BAC at any time before that.

Retrograde extrapolation is beneficial to law enforcement in that it can provide officers with a reasonable estimation of a person’s BAC at any given time. Thus, if a person refused to take a breathalyzer test when pulled over, officers could use retrograde extrapolation from a later test to determine whether the person would have been legally intoxicated when they were pulled over for a Tennessee DUI. It is also beneficial in cases of vehicular homicide in Tennessee, allowing officers to determine whether a person would have been legally intoxicated at the time of the accident. The determination of whether a driver is intoxicated at the time of an accident is imperative to the person being charged with the correct crime.

Retrograde extrapolation can also be beneficial to defendants. Just as it can be used to estimate that a person was legally intoxicated at a certain time, it can similarly be used to estimate that a person was not legally intoxicated at that time.

Retrograde extrapolation has come under intense scrutiny. Most criticism is focused on the rigidity of the factors employed. In order to develop the system, a number of assumptions about the human body, as well as a number of inflexible variables, had to be made. Thus, factors that do not fall within the standard parameters can often lead to inaccurate results. For example, a person with an abnormal alcohol absorption rate can be unfairly pegged by extrapolation, because the system supposes a standard absorption rate for all persons. This is only one of a number of criticisms of retrograde extrapolation.

The law behind DUI defense in Tennessee has become increasingly complicated in recent years. By investigating issues such as the validity of field sobriety tests and witness credibility, Baker Associates matches Tennessee’s investigative power with our DUI lawyer’s own, often finding flaws and weaknesses in the government’s case.

Tennessee computer sex crimes generally fall within two categories: solicitation and sexual exploitation. Though these crimes existed prior to the popularization of the Internet, their prevalence has skyrocketed since.

T.C.A. § 39-13-528 defines solicitation of a minor as the intentional commanding or inviting of a minor, by means of oral, written or electronic communication, electronic mail or Internet services, to engage in sexual activity with a person over the age of 18. It applies when an adult knows or reasonably should know that the person they are soliciting is under the age of 18. It is not required, however, that the person they are soliciting is actually under the age of 18. This is often the case when an individual attempts to solicit a law enforcement officer who is posing as a minor. Most cases of solicitation are felonies, with the classification being one level below the actual offense solicited. For instance, rape of a child is a Class A felony, so solicitation of that crime would be a Class B felony.

T.C.A. § 39-17-1003 defines sexual exploitation as the knowing possession of material that includes a minor engaging in sexual activity or simulated sexual activity. These materials are what are commonly referred to as child pornography. Sexual exploitation becomes a computer sex crime in Tennessee when the pornographic materials are stored on an individual’s computer. An individual may be charged with a separate count of exploitation for every piece of pornography they possess, including individual images. Though sexual exploitation of a minor is a class D felony, an individual possessing more than 50 individual pieces of pornography will be charged with a Class C felony. If the number of individual pieces exceeds 100, the offense is a Class B felony. Aggravated sexual exploitation, a Class C felony, is charged against those who distribute child pornography. This often includes distribution over the Internet. Especially aggravated sexual exploitation, a Class B felony, is charged against those who are involved in the production of child pornography.

Each Tennessee criminal defense attorney at Baker Associates understands the intense emotions surrounding sex crimes like; statutory rape, sexual battery, sexual assault, and other serious charges. If you have been charged with statutory rape or any other sex crime, contact the Tennessee law offices of Baker Associates for an important consultation.

Drug charges in Tennessee, as in other states, are based upon the severity of the drug. The state legislature, under advisement of the Commissioner of Health, has established a classification system that places a drug within a category, called a “Schedule.” The classification system begins with Schedule I drugs, which are the most severe, and flows down to Class VII drugs, which are considered much less harmful. The severity of a drug is determined by its potential for abuse as well as lack of any societal benefits. Drugs such as opiates and cocaine, for example, are considered the most severe drugs, falling within Schedules I and II. Marijuana, on the other hand, is considered much less severe, falling within Schedule VI.

Felony drug charges in Tennessee stem from the knowing manufacture, delivery, or sale of a controlled substance. Drug charges can also stem from possession with the intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell a controlled substance. In most cases, the severity of the charge is dependent upon which particular schedule the drug is in. For example, offenses relating to Schedule I drugs are Class B felonies, punishable by 8-30 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $100,000. Offenses relating to Schedule VI drugs are Class E felonies, punishable by 1-6 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $5,000.

Misdemeanor drug charges include the simple possession of a controlled substance or the casual exchange of a small amount of drugs. Categorized as Class A misdemeanors, they are punishable by up to 11 months, twenty-nine days in prison, as well as a fine of up to $2,500. Distribution of less than one-half (1/2) ounce of marijuana is also a misdemeanor. Two exceptions exist to misdemeanor drug charges. First, if a casual exchange occurs between an adult and a minor, the charge will be increased to a felony under the schedule system. Second, any person charged with a misdemeanor drug offense, who has at least two existing drug offenses, will be charged with a Class E felony.

Drug and Narcotics Law in Tennessee can be complex and the consequences of a conviction can be far reaching and life-altering. If you or someone you love has been accused of a drug offense contact the Tennessee criminal defense attorneys at Baker Associates today for a free consultation of your drug case. Our attorneys have successfully defended many marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, Oxycontin, hydrocodone, and Xanax charges.