TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 17, 2020

After a joint resolution passed unanimously in the state Senate to recognize Ashanti Nikole Posey — a basketball player and senior at Hillsboro High School in Nashville who was killed last spring — the measure ran into opposition in the House. After Majority Leader William Lamberth said he could not vote in favor of the measure because police said Posey had been involved in the sale of a small amount of marijuana prior to her death, the measure failed 45 to 1 with 39 members present but not voting, WPLN reports. The vote left a tense situation on the House floor. Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, shouted an expletive, then left the chamber after being threatened to be removed. Minutes after the House defeated the resolution, a group of demonstrators were forcefully removed from the chamber’s gallery.