TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 29, 2022

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ordered 8th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton to turn over audio recordings from the trial of convicted killer Kevin Lee Waggoner to the clerk of the court and to Waggoner, Tennessee Lookout reports. Sexton had been keeping the only copy of the recording locked in his office. The court said that criminal trials are public records under state law and as such, the recordings should be “immediately filed with the criminal court clerk for storage.” Waggoner is seeking the recordings because he believes there are discrepancies between his 2016 trial and the written trial transcript. Sexton, who is retiring at the end of this month, had withheld the recordings, arguing that Waggoner might be able to alter them if he was given access. The appellate decision overturns a ruling from Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, who had sided with Sexton.