Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin M. Taylor has been named the 2025 County Attorney of the Year by the Tennessee County Attorney Association. The award recognizes Taylor’s leadership, dedication to public service and legal contributions to Hamilton County and the state. He has served as the county’s chief legal advisor since 1994, with expertise in government law, ethical governance and litigation. “Rheubin Taylor embodies the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in county government,” TCAA President Andrew E. Mills said. “His legal acumen and unwavering service have made a lasting impact not only in Hamilton County but across Tennessee.” The TCAA supports county attorneys statewide through education, resources and advocacy to promote effective local governance.

The state of Tennessee has executed Oscar Franklin Smith. He was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. Thursday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, the Nashville Banner reports. It was the first execution to be performed in the state since 2020, and was the first use of a single dose of the drug pentobarbital. In a final statement, Smith spoke out against the governor and the justice system. "Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn't work," he said in part, according to a witness. Smith was sentenced to death for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons. The victims' family thanked law enforcement, investigators and the judicial system at a news conference after the execution. The Tennessean has additional photos from the remarks. Earlier this week, Gov. Bill Lee declined to issue a stay of the execution.

Former Davidson County Chancellor Carol L. McCoy has joined Miles Mediation & Arbitration in Nashville. McCoy spent 20 years as a chancery court judge with the 20th Judicial District. Her judicial career also included an appointment by the Tennessee Supreme Court to the Appellate Court Judicial Evaluation Committee, where she was one of five trial judges tasked with evaluating the performance of all Tennessee appellate judges, including the Supreme Court justices. She also served as president of the Judicial Conference from 2009-2010 and as presiding judge of the 20th Judicial District from 1999-2001. McCoy stepped down from the bench in 2016. She can be reached at 615-476-4030 and cmccoy@milesadr.com.

Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general in urging the U.S. Congress to take immediate action to address funding shortfalls that threaten the World Trade Center Health Program. In a letter to congressional leadership, the group calls on lawmakers to ensure the long-term financial stability of the program. The health program funds care for 135,000 first responders, survivors and families impacted by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Read more about the effort or read the letter to leaders.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled this week that the Trump administration erred when it paused the distribution of millions of dollars in grants — including $14 million awarded to Metro Nashville for transit projects — and must distribute the funds immediately. Gergel gave the administration seven days to comply. Nashville had joined with a group of five major cities and nearly a dozen nonprofits to sue over the cuts in March. The funding will be used to upgrade and expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure and help fund a transit connection project, including protected bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. The Tennessean has more on the decision.

The April 28 fire that destroyed the Clayborn Temple was set intentionally, the Memphis Fire Department said this week. Officials are looking for a person of interest in the case, the Daily Memphian reports. The church had served as a base of operations for the 1968 strike of 1,300 city sanitation workers and then, once the protest grew, it became the starting point for daily marches to City Hall. Each year, supporters had gathered at the church on April 4 to mark the anniversary of the strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who had come to Memphis to lend his support to the cause. A nonprofit group, Historic Clayborn Temple, has committed to restoring the church. In a separate article, the paper reports that the Memphis home of the temple’s director caught fire about two weeks before church fire.

The Shelby County government is directing the City of Memphis to move 11 of its offices out of the county criminal justice center by Dec. 31, 2026, The Commercial Appeal reports. The county says increasing operational demands and the need for more space for law enforcement and judicial functions is driving the decision. Offices impacted include city court judges, court clerks, court coordinators, city prosecutors, bailiff holding and city police dispatch. One city office, the Memphis Police Department's property and evidence room, will remain at 201 Poplar.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee has changed its local rules to clarify that attorneys may speak on social media and to news media about their cases without fear, The Tennessean reports. In a filing signed by all four judges, the local rules were revised on May 15 to address concerns over a “gag order” that was placed on attorney Daniel Horwitz during litigation against private prison company CoreCivic. Now, the rule simply states that attorneys are bound by Tennessee’s rules of professional conduct. Institute for Justice attorney Jared McClain, who represented Horwitz in challenging the rule, said, “This is a huge win for the First Amendment in Middle Tennessee. Attorneys have a right to discuss their cases, and the public has a right to know what the government and its contractors are doing wrong.” Horwitz had challenged the order and while his appeal is still pending, the court's action resolves the matter according to the paper.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed the "Take It Down Act," bipartisan legislation that enacts stricter penalties for the distribution of nonconsensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes created by artificial intelligence, according to the Associated Press. The measure, which takes effect immediately, makes it illegal to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, and requires websites and social media platforms to remove such material within 48 hours of receiving notice from a victim. Free speech advocates and digital rights groups argue the bill is too broad and could result in the censorship of legitimate content, including legal pornography.

Tennessee is scheduled to execute Oscar Franklin Smith tomorrow morning as a lawsuit challenging the state’s new lethal injection protocol moves through the court system. According to WPLN, anti-death penalty advocates and Smith’s attorneys spent weeks asking Gov. Bill Lee to halt executions until the court rules on whether the protocol is constitutional. A decision on that could take until at least 2026 the news outlet reports. Smith’s attorneys announced Tuesday that Lee had denied a request for a reprieve. Smith, who was convicted of murdering his wife Judith Smith and her two sons in 1989, will be the first person in Tennessee to be executed using a single lethal dose of pentobarbital. Attorneys for nine death row inmates are challenging that method in Davidson County Chancery Court.