Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

An Oregon couple was convicted of criminally negligent homicide on Tuesday after a jury decided that prayer and anointing oils were not sufficient treatment for the couple’s son, who died from a congenital urinary tract blockage. The couple belongs to a church known as Followers of the Church of Christ and as such adheres to the view that doctors are to be eschewed in favor of faith healing. Stories where parents forego medical treatment in favor of faith healing practices have become increasingly common, and such practices have spawned many criminal trials. In fact, this couple’s own granddaughter had passed away under similar circumstances, but her parents were acquitted of manslaughter. The couple in this case was not so lucky. They reportedly face up to sixteen months in jail for the criminally negligent homicide charge under Oregon law. Criminally negligent homicide is a Class E Felony in Tennessee and carries a penalty of one to six years in jail.

The most obvious issue presented by this case is the conflict between protecting and criminalizing legitimately held religious beliefs. However, that issue is extremely complex and could not be treated in a blog format. Instead this case will just have to suffice for our purposes to illustrate the use of a statutorily recognized mitigating factor found in Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-113(3) which says that where substantial grounds exist tending to excuse or justify the defendant's criminal conduct, though failing to establish a defense, the defendant can use such grounds as a mitigating factor.

Continue reading "Belief in "Faith Healing" Results in Criminal Conviction for Oregon Couple" »

Few things are capable of inflaming the passions of the populace like sports. This is especially true when it comes to college football, which has a more passionate fan base than most. Thus, it is not at all uncommon to see fights and arguments break out during important games or rivalry games, especially when the ending to those games is a controversial one. Last Saturday’s Big 12 Championship Game between the University of Texas and the University of Nebraska (both of which have extremely loyal and passionate fanbases) seemed an exceptionally favorable situation for such disputes, with the game deciding whether or not Texas would play for the BCS Championship. Unfortunately, such a dispute did occur and turned deadly.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this dispute is that it was reportedly between friends, both Marines, who were scuffling around as a result of some smack-talking that took place after the game. The two men apparently got into it a little bit after the game’s controversial finish, and one of the men happened to have a firearm that discharged during the fracas. The shot proved fatal, killing the man’s friend. The gun owner has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
In Tennessee, the man would probably be charged with criminally negligent homicide, which has replaced the crime formerly known as involuntary manslaughter in Tennessee. To be guilty of criminally negligent homicide in Tennessee, a person must be guilty of criminally negligent conduct that causes the death of someone else.

Continue reading "Man Dies in Argument over Football Game" »