Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Notice is an extremely important concept in American criminal law, the basic premise being that no person should be imprisoned or otherwise punished without at least some sort of warning that something bad is about to befall them. Tennessee’s criminal justice framework places a very high premium on the concept of notice by requiring that it be given in certain situations where the state seeks to enhance a defendant’s sentence. For example, the state must file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in capital murder cases. There are many different situations in which such notice must be filed, and failure to do so will often prevent the state from being able to obtain the enhanced sentence which it was originally seeking.

Continue reading "Lack of Notice gets Life Sentence Overturned" »

22-year-old James Adam Grant of Morristown, Tennessee, who is currently incarcerated on other charges, was charged today with evidence tampering for moving the body of 27 year-old Megan Lynn Ratliff to a vacant house, where it was found Sunday night. It has reportedly been determined that Ratliff died at a different location than where the body was found and investigators have yet to determine a cause of death. According to reports, Grant and Ratliff were very familiar with one another and had a child together. There are no reports at this time suggesting that Grant has been named a suspect in Ratliff’s death although that may happen at a later date.

Continue reading "Morristown Man Charged with Evidence Tampering" »

Andrew Thomas Gallo of California is facing fifty years to life after he ran a red light while driving drunk on April 9, 2009 and killed three people, including Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Nick Adenhart. Gallo was reportedly speeding in a minivan, traveling about 65 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone while under the influence of alcohol when he ran the red light. He was also on probation and driving on a suspended license as a result of a prior arrest for driving under the influence, which resulted in Gallo pleading guilty, acknowledging that he could kill someone if he were to drink or drive again, and agreeing to allow himself to be charged with murder should he kill someone while driving under the influence. Gallo fled the scene of the accident on foot but was later found by authorities. Several hours after the crash he reportedly had a blood-alcohol content of .19 percent.

Continue reading "Drunken Driver Found Guilty of Murder in Death of Baseball Player" »

Many drug-related and other criminal offenses hinge on the fact that a search was conducted of the defendant's home or automobile that revealed the presence of drugs, drug paraphernalia, or some other evidence of criminal activity that was incriminating for the defendant. The discovery of such evidence often leads to the defendant being charged more severely than he or she would have absent the search. For example, such a search can turn a routine traffic stop into a charge of simple possession or can turn a simple possession charge into a charge of possession with the intent to distribute. For this reason, it is essential that the search was conducted in a constitutional manner and was not invasive of the defendant's rights.

Continue reading "Search and Seizure in Tennessee" »

Speeding and other minor traffic violations are much like downloading free music or fudging the numbers on one's income taxes in that those who do it know it's wrong but are hoping that there are so many people doing the same thing, hopefully to a greater degree, that the individual will not get caught. The difference between committing traffic violations and the other two types of illegal behavior, however, is that hundreds of Tennesseans are caught committing traffic violations every day. While being busted for speeding or improper lane change is a minor occurrence in itself, it can be a costly one, especially if the citation goes on the guilty party's driving record.

Continue reading "Tennessee's Driver Points System" »

Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers caught a big break this week when prosecutors dropped charges against Rogers in exchange for Rogers’s agreement to completion of a minimal amount of community service time. Rogers was facing resisting arrest and disorderly conduct charges following a bar brawl in Knoxville that sent an off-duty policeman to the hospital. On Tuesday, prosecutors dropped the resisting arrest charges and agreed to drop the disorderly conduct allegations upon Rogers' completion of 16 hours of community service. Rogers maintains his innocence in connection with the incident but wisely agreed to perform the sixteen hours worth of community service in lieu of facing the charges anyway.

Continue reading "Alternative Sentencing Advantageous for Vols Football Player" »

Fifty-four year-old Mary Shaffer of Greenback, Tennessee is facing thirteen counts of TennCare fraud and fourteen counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and identity theft after authorities say she used a relative’s forged prescriptions to obtain Hydrocodone. Tenncare fraud, fraud, and identity theft are all felony offenses in Tennessee and carry with them the possibility of multi-year prison sentences. In addition, defendants who are facing a large number of charges such as the defendant is here also run the risk of being sentenced to consecutive sentences which would stack the sentences on top of each other so that the defendant serves a much longer sentence than the one mandated for each individual offense.

Continue reading "Greenback Woman Facing Charges for TennCare Fraud" »

Thirty year-old Lynn Tarphagan of Nashville was arrested last Thursday and charged with aggravated animal cruelty after, according to Nashville Metro Police, she used a knife to kill a mixed-breed puppy outside her mobile home by slitting its throat. The puppy was apparently a stray that had followed someone into the mobile home park only to meet its doom at the hands of the apparently puppy-unfriendly Tarphagan. She is currently being held on a $10,000 bond.

Continue reading "Woman Charged for Slitting Puppy's Throat" »

Knoxville police are searching for the person(s) responsible for a burglary at James White Fort at around 1 a.m. on Monday that resulted in only $30 in cash missing but caused hundreds of dollars in property damage to the Fort. Most of the property damage apparently results from the fact that a rock was used to break out a window and a failed attempt to get into a cash register that damaged the register. The thief apparently may have been hoping to find money collected from the recent University of Tennessee football game or Boomsday, but was unsuccessful. If the suspect is apprehended, he or she will likely be facing a burglary charge.

Continue reading "Knoxville Police Investigating Burglary at James White Fort" »

One would imagine that life as a trucker would get pretty boring sometimes. Driving across America alone, day after day, for hours at a time with nothing to do would certainly leave one desiring to find some ways to pass the time. Forty-five year-old Thomas M. Wallace, a truck driver from Ohio, certainly knows how dull life on the road can be, so he decided to spice his journeys up a little bit by watching some pornography on his laptop computer while he drove to his next destination. Unfortunately, someone who is watching pornography probably isn’t watching the road and so Wallace apparently didn’t notice that he had veered off the roadway and into the shoulder. By the time he noticed, it was too late and he crashed into thirty-three year-old Julie Stratton who had pulled into the shoulder, killing her. Wallace recently pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to three to nine years in prison.

Continue reading "Trucker Hits, Kills Woman While Watching Pornography" »

Another Knoxville bar has been closed down under the nuisance law, resulting in the arrest of five patrons on whom police found an assortment of illegal drugs. The following patrons were cited for the following charges:

• Michael Penrod for sale or delivery of schedule II drugs • Michael Brown for sale or delivery of schedule I drugs, possession of schedule II drugs for resale and possession of schedule IV drugs for resale • Dean Koss for possession of schedule II drugs for resale • Wayne Sherrod for possession of schedule II drugs for resale • Jennifer Evans cited for possession of drug paraphernalia

Continue reading "Drug Bust Made at Knoxville Bar" »

Every week, many Tennesseans all across the state are charged with drug or other offenses as a result of evidence uncovered by law enforcement officials pursuant to a routine traffic stop. In many such stops, the defendants feel like they have to allow the officers to search their car upon request, which simply isn’t true. Absent such consent, a search can only be conducted if the stop itself was valid (the officer must have reasonable suspicion to make the stop) and the officer has probable cause to conduct the search during the stop. Where a vehicle search is conducted and evidence of a crime is found, a defendant can face serious charges. The ability to prove that the stop was invalid can lead to suppression of the evidence and possibly result in the charges against the defendant being dropped.

Continue reading "Challenging Vehicle Searches Resulting From Traffic Stops" »