Matt Stowe, district attorney general for the 24th Judicial District and currently running for reelection, fired Assistant District Attorney and Henry County Chief Prosecutor Rebecca Griffey on Wednesday, The Courier reports. Stowe told the paper that the action “had been coming for awhile” because Griffey was not “on board” with his vision for the long run. “We just couldn’t work together any longer,” Stowe said. He also said he had heard complaints about Griffey from victims and coworkers. Pushing back on suggestions that the firing was political, Stowe said, “Who in the world would fire someone like this right before, in the middle of really, an election? If it was politically motivated I would have done it long before or long after.”

Yesterday, Gov. Bill Lee announced that Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey will depart government service on May 31 to enter the private sector. Lee said he would name a successor in the coming weeks. Piercey joined the administration in January 2019. As commissioner, she served as a member of the Governor’s Unified Command Group during the COVID-19 pandemic, spearheaded efforts to innovate public health operations across the state and bolstered the healthcare workforce pipeline. “Lisa led our state’s health response through one of the most challenging crises Tennessee has faced, and I commend her faithful service to Tennesseans,” Lee said in a statement.

Judge Bernice Donald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit will serve as the featured speaker for the University of Tennessee College of Law’s May 2022 commencement ceremonies, the school recently announced. The ceremony will take place May 21 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Thompson Boling Arena. Donald was confirmed to the court in 2011 and has announced her intention to take senior status once a successor is confirmed. She previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the district. She was the first Black female judge to serve on each of those courts.

The University of Memphis School of Law’s Public Action Law Society (PALS) recently hosted the 13th Annual Alternative Spring Break Program. This year, 63 law students participated, working across six specially-designed “tracks” of legal focus: eviction, expungement, fair housing, immigration, name change, and wills and estates. Others participated in the Street Law program, presenting legal topics to high school students, while others observed the work of the Shelby County Mental Health Court and Shelby County Veterans Court. Taken together, the students contributed nearly 2,150 training and project hours and helped hundreds of individuals. Read reports from each track and see photos from the week.

New data from the American Bar Association shows that, of Belmont University College of Law’s 2019 graduating class, 100% of those who took the bar exam sometime within the last two years have passed. The law school is one of only two schools in the country with a 100% bar passage rate over the last two years among 2019 graduates and the only school in the country to have 100% bar passage for both its 2018 and 2019 graduates within two years of graduation. The national average ultimate pass rate was 91 percent. ABA Standards require that at least 75% of a law school’s graduates in a calendar year who sit somewhere for a bar examination administered within two years of graduation must pass. Belmont has more on the story.

A new report from Disability Rights Tennessee and the Youth Law Center claims the Wilder Youth Development Center in Somerville is being run like a “dangerous jail,” in violation of state and federal laws, the Associated Press reports. The report says Wilder has a dearth of rehabilitative and educational services, a disproportionately high number of Black youths and young people with disabilities confined there and a reliance on solitary confinement. It also says the facility has a “pattern and practice of abuse perpetrated by staff at Wilder, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and staff orchestrating attacks on youth.” A spokesperson with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said a full review of the report would be conducted, but expressed confidence that community partners, lawmakers and staff could “work towards a resolution to any concern that may exist.” Read the report here.

Metro Council Member Freddie O’Connell yesterday confirmed that he will run for Nashville mayor in 2023, the Tennessean reports. O’Connell serves Nashville’s District 19, the city's most populous and fastest-growing district. Since being elected to Metro Council in 2015, O’Connell pushed for improved and increased transit and  infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians as well as services aiming to house Nashvillians experiencing homelessness. He said his decision to enter the mayoral race stems in part from a desire for clearer policies and more decisive actions surrounding Nashville's response to homelessness and increasing transit needs as the city grows.

The state attorney general last week asked a Davidson County court to compel Cade Cothren, former top aide to Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, to explain why he refused to obey subpoenas issued in a campaign finance probe earlier this year, the Tennessean reports. Cothren, who left state politics amid a racist and misogynistic texting scandal, was issued two subpoenas during an investigation into the Faith Family Freedom Fund political action committee. Cothren’s attorney, Cynthia Sherwood, called the subpoenas an "abuse of process" and said Cothren would invoke his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Attorney General Herbert Slatery in last week’s court filing argued Cothren had broadly misused that privilege and could not use it as “a blanket shield from testifying or producing requested documents."

Federal public defenders are asking Gov. Bill Lee to issue a moratorium on all executions, one week after the governor delayed the execution of Oscar Franklin Smith due to “technical oversight” in the lethal injection process, the Tennessean reports. Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender's habeas unit, says she wants an immediate independent review of the problem. In a letter to Lee, Henry wrote a review would be “the right thing to do for the residents of this state who deserve to know that the most solemn act of government is approached with the utmost care and professionalism.” Lee issued a temporary reprieve roughly one hour before Smith was scheduled to be executed on April 21, with no explanation. He has said he will release more details Monday.

Three attorneys selected by Gov. Bill Lee to serve on the state’s appeals court and criminal appeals court were yesterday confirmed to the bench by Tennessee lawmakers, the Times Free Press reports. Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz and Knox County Criminal Court Judge Kyle Hixson were both confirmed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Eastern Division. Jeffrey Usman, an associate professor of law at Belmont University College of Law, was confirmed to serve on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Division. In a release announcing their appointments in March, Lee said he was sure the nominees would “serve our state with the highest integrity.” The Nashville Post reported that each appointment would be effective Sept. 1.