Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award. The award will be presented at the Bench Bar Luncheon set for June 12 as part of the association’s Annual Convention in Franklin. TBA President Ed Lanquist Jr. said the association is honoring Craft for his leadership in judicial education, ethics and professional well-being: “The TBA is pleased to honor Judge Chris Craft for 30 years of service to the Tennessee legal community. Throughout his career, Judge Craft has worked to improve the practice of law, foster excellence among state judges and help colleagues in need. We are grateful for his contributions. Additionally, I particularly enjoyed working with him when he previously served on the TBA Board of Governors when he was president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference.” Craft, who was nominated for the award by a group of fellow judges, has served on the criminal court since 1994. The Drowota Award is presented to a judge or judicial branch official who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice. Read more about Craft's selection in the TBA's press release.

Cody Smith, the former director of the 12th Judicial Drug Task Force, last week pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of meth with intent to sell in Marion County. He received two 10-year sentences, which will be probated after 11 months and 29 days, WCYB reports. This week, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office released an investigative report finding that Smith misappropriated more than $7,000 from the task force between 2017 and 2021. He was fired in May 2021. Writing in the report, Comptroller Jason Mumpower said, “It is critical for law enforcement agencies to maintain clear, thorough documentation and strict oversight of both evidence and financial transactions. Written policies must also be in place for the collection, recording, storage and destruction of evidence.” The office says it sent the findings to the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office but the district attorney says the information “could not be presented to a grand jury before the statute of limitations had run."

The state criminal trial of three former Memphis police officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols got underway Monday in Memphis. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith Jr. are facing charges that include second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Yesterday’s proceedings included not-guilty pleas from all three defendants, opening statements from the prosecution and defense, and testimony from Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells. The jury in the case has been brought to Memphis from Hamilton County. The Commercial Appeal provides a wrap up of the day.

Death row inmate Oscar Smith, who is scheduled to be executed on May 22 after a three-year hiatus in executions, has declined to choose the method of his execution. The Nashville Banner reports that Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry has confirmed that by default, Smith will die by lethal injection rather than electrocution. Smith previously was scheduled to be executed on April 21, 2022, but that was called off a little more than an hour beforehand when problems with the execution procedures were revealed. The state has now shifted from a three-drug cocktail to a one-drug protocol using barbiturate pentobarbital. Read more in a newsletter from the paper.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Monday that the legislature’s attempt to take over the Metro Nashville Airport Authority was unconstitutional because it singled out Nashville and thus violated the state constitution’s Home Rule Amendment. The decision upholds that portion of a ruling from an October 2023 special three-judge panel. According to The Tennessean, however, the appeals court reversed the lower court's ruling that five sections of the law violated equal protection guarantees and remanded the case back the special court “for further proceedings consistent” with the opinion. In 2023, the state legislature passed a law to vacate the mayor-appointed airport board and create a new system by which the governor and Republican legislative leaders would appoint a majority of board members. Metro Nashville sued to block the move at the time the bill was signed into law. The state had argued that the law did not single out Nashville and that because the airport authority is a separate legal entity, Metro Nashville did not have standing to sue.

Police records show that 20 people were shot and killed in Memphis over a two-week span in a surge of gun violence, The Daily Memphian reports. That brings the number of homicides in the city to at least 29 so far this month, according to Memphis Police Department records through April 26. Mayor Paul Young and MPD Chief C.J. Davis addressed the violence during a news conference on Friday afternoon. Young outlined actions his administration and the department are taking to reduce crime, including the city’s violence-reduction strategy, efforts to arrest individuals with active warrants, and the installation of surveillance cameras across Memphis. “We are not going to accept this anymore in our community,” Young said. In related news,the Commercial Appeal reports that the police department has opened a new Downtown Real Time Crime Center with the goal of improving crime rates in the downtown area.

Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill that will change how bail decisions are made in Tennessee. HB854/SB856 allows judges to consider “reliable hearsay” when determining whether a defendant should be granted bail. This could include documents such as police database printouts, rap sheets and probation violation reports, even if no witness is present to testify about them, Fox Chattanooga reports. Supporters say the bill gives judges more context to assess whether a defendant poses a risk to the community and could help prevent repeat offenders from being released too easily. Critics argue the measure could lead to unfair detentions, particularly for defendants without legal representation.

Five Vanderbilt Law School faculty members, including both full-time and adjunct professors, have been honored with Hall-Hartman Awards for Outstanding Teaching from the Vanderbilt Bar Association. The annual awards recognize exceptional instruction in both first-year and upper-level courses. One professor is selected from each of the law school’s three first-year sections, along with two professors who teach upper-level classes. This year’s recipients include Vice Dean Lisa Bressman; Terry Maroney, professor of medicine, health and society; Farhang Heydari, assistant professor of law, for his upper-level criminal procedure class; and Matthew Shaw, assistant professor of law, who was recognized for his education law course. Mark Schein also was honored for his outstanding contributions as an adjunct professor.

The FBI is warning Tennesseans to be on high alert for a wave of fraudulent text messages posing as toll collection agencies like E-ZPass, despite Tennessee having no toll roads. These "smishing" scams, which combine phishing tactics with SMS texting, are convincing enough that even savvy residents — including journalists — have admitted to second-guessing their legitimacy, News Channel 5 reports. Many of the scam messages originate from international numbers and threaten penalties for unpaid tolls. With Tennessee’s Department of Transportation preparing to roll out its first optional toll lanes on I-24, officials emphasize that they do not request payments via text. In 2024, tech scams cost Tennesseans more than $190 million, with seniors accounting for one-third of those losses, according to the FBI. A similar warning was issued by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office on May 5.

An inmate at the Hardeman County Correctional Facility was stabbed 60 times in an open dayroom while guards failed to respond, despite the fatal attack being captured on multiple security cameras, a federal lawsuit filed against CoreCivic claims. The suit alleges the December 2024 attack was carried out by rival gang members for more than 30 minutes before guards intervened. The inmate was dead by the time staff arrived, The Tennessean reports. In a statement, CoreCivic said the "safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care and our dedicated staff is our top priority." The private prison operator faces multiple wrongful death lawsuits and millions of dollars in state fines. The U.S. Department of Justice last year launched a civil rights investigation into the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, CoreCivic’s largest facility in Tennessee.