TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 4, 2026

The Nashville Banner writes in a recent piece that files unsealed in the case of former Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn show concerns about her final days on the bench. According to the paper, the documents reveal that local attorneys grew increasingly concerned about Blackburn’s ability, at times, to comprehend the most basic legal concepts and to render the most rudimentary decisions in the years after a 2021 stroke. Attorneys who sought to disqualify Blackburn from a 2024 rape trial acknowledged her stature in the legal community and the likely impact of their request. Ultimately, though, they felt that “the gravity of that concern has been weighed and measured against the gravity of the rights of the accused.” The Banner sued to access many of these filings. The Tennessee Supreme Court recently found the records had been improperly sealed. Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton officially unsealed the filings this week.