Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris held a press conference earlier this week to highlight concerns at the county jail, known as 201 Poplar. The Commercial Appeal reports that he also used the event to call on Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner to "come up with a plan for reform in 2026.” According to Harris, Bonner has not provided a thorough plan for reform for the jail. Harris also called out the number of deaths at the jail, saying the issue is that of management and oversight and that there is a "lack of basic humanity in our jail." Ahead of the press conference, Bonner sent a press release to media outlets saying Harris has routinely underfunded the sheriff's office and refused to engage with Bonner about the need for a new jail.

The state of Florida has become the second U.S. state to reduce its reliance on the American Bar Association (ABA) to determine graduates of which law school can become lawyers, Reuters reports. The Supreme Court of Florida said in an order released Jan. 15 that it was replacing the ABA as the “sole accrediting agency” for law schools whose graduates may take the state’s bar exam, a requirement to practice in the state. The Supreme Court of Texas finalized a similar plan earlier this month. The Tennessee Supreme Court is similarly examining whether to "modify, reduce or eliminate its reliance on ABA accreditation" and whether any other practicable alternatives should be considered. Feedback on those questions may be sent to TBA's newly formed Legal Access & Regulatory Reform Task Force at townhall@tnbar.org as well as directly to the court. Visit TBA's Legal Access & Regulatory Reform resource page for more information.

The TBA will be closed Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The office will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m. CST. Visit the TBA.org website for information on CLE or other TBA programs and for staff contact information.

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Thompson Jr., who was killed by a Knoxville police officer in 2021. According to Knox News, Thompson was 17 years old when he was shot and killed by an officer inside an Austin-East Magnet High School bathroom. The lawsuit by his family centered on the claim that officers failed to provide sufficient medical care to the dying teenager. Other claims previously were thrown out by the courts. The settlement ends a lengthy court battle weeks before a scheduled federal trial but still must be approved by a judge.

New data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is raising questions about how DUI arrests are handled across the state after hundreds of drivers arrested for driving under the influence later tested with no alcohol or drugs in their systems. News Channel 5 reports that out of nearly 17,000 blood samples taken in 2024, 419 cases — about 2.5% — came back with zero alcohol or other intoxicants detected. Criminal defense attorney Ben Raybin tells the news channel that a woman he is representing is not “an isolated phenomenon.” We are “seeing hundreds throughout the state.” Compounding the situation is that by the time toxicology results are returned, the consequences of an arrest can already be severe. Raybin says changes are needed in how DUI investigations are conducted in the field.

Knox County Commissioner Larsen Jay has proposed overhauling the structure of the troubled Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center to change its mission and who oversees it. According to Knox News, the proposal would turn the center into a judicial model designed to make teens successful contributors to their communities instead of focusing on incarceration and punishment. The detention center would be overseen by Knox County's juvenile court judge, ending any plans to put it under the sheriff's office. Jay unveiled the plan at a Knox County Juvenile Service Center Board of Directors meeting this week. The paper reports that the board voted unanimously to send the proposal to the Knox County Commission. The proposal is supported by Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin and by Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs.

A U.S. judiciary committee recently held a hearing on what would be the first-ever rule regulating AI evidence at trial. According to Reuters, the U.S. Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules heard public comment on the proposed rule, which received a "lukewarm reception" from those who testified. Corporate lawyers and class-action attorneys called it a well-intended but premature attempt to address an evolving technology. Under the proposal, AI and other machine-generated evidence offered at trial without an accompanying expert witness would be subjected to the same reliability standards as expert witnesses, who are governed by Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

A 24-year old Springfield man is expected to plead guilty Friday to charges related to hacking the U.S. Supreme Court’s electronic filing system, WSMV reports. In a motion filed Tuesday, Nicholas Moore stated he wishes to change his plea. Moore was charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with one count of fraud under allegations that he repeatedly accessed the court’s protected computer systems without authorization during 2023.

Nashville is launching a Community Safety Task Force that will focus on gun violence and other crime, though officials want to go beyond police patrols and arrests to address issues such as mental health resources. Davidson County Juvenile Court Clerk Lonnell Matthews will co-chair the 29-member committee selected by Mayor Freddie O'Connell. According to WSMV, Matthews said the task force will bring Metro agencies and nonprofit leaders together to work towards a common goal of improving safety. “How can we do that in a very strategic, coordinated way to where we don’t have agencies or different groups working in silos,” Matthews asked. Answering his own question, he said, “Make sure that the entire city, the entire county feels like it has the resources, the programs and the individuals necessary to keep those communities safe.” The task force will hold its first meeting Jan. 15, from 4-6 p.m. CST at the Lentz Public Health Center, 2500 Charlotte Ave., Nashville 37209.

The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) officers exclusively carry the the SIG SAUER P320 handgun. Critics of the gun, including plaintiffs’ attorneys and some law enforcement advocates, argue it is inherently defective, citing more than 100 lawsuits nationwide and accounts of alleged unintentional discharges that occurred without the trigger being pulled. They point to the gun’s pre-cocked design, short trigger pull and lack of external safeties on some models, noting that juries have sided with injured users and some police departments have moved away from the weapon. SIG SAUER and the KPD counter that the P320 meets or exceeds all safety standards, has been extensively tested and has performed reliably in KPD’s rollout, with officers firing more than 350,000 rounds without incident. Organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police say they are closely monitoring the gun's use for officer safety. WVLT Channel 8 has the story.