The Defendant, Marlikka Jordan, was convicted by a Rutherford County jury of aggravated child abuse, a Class A felony, and aggravated child neglect, a Class A felony, for which she is serving an effective fifteen-year sentence in confinement. See T.C.A. § 39-15-402 (2025) (subsequently amended) (aggravated child abuse and neglect). On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in excluding evidence of the victim’s injuries observed on or about August 1, 2020, and that the evidence is insufficient to support her convictions. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Join the TBA's Tort & Insurance Law Section on Feb. 19 for its annual forum, presented virtually this year. This program will include a session on navigating court approval of minor settlements, a medical malpractice update and a course dedicated to ethical issues in the public adjuster industry. Earn up to two general hours and one dual hour of CLE credit. Reserve your spot today!

A number of events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day are being planned in Memphis. The Memphis Bar Association and Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association will host a brunch on Monday from 11:30-1 p.m. CST. The National Civil Rights Museum will offer a "Community Resource Pavilion" to connect visitors with social service agencies and health and wellness organizations. An arts-and-crafts station, a storytelling station and live music also will be available. Admission to the museum will be free on Monday. In addition, a commemorative march will take place starting at 8 a.m. CST at the corner of Main and A.W. Willis. Finally, service projects are being planned by Volunteer Odyssey, Volunteer Memphis and United Way of the Mid-South, the Wolf River Conservancy and Lead Free South Memphis. Read more about these and other opportunities in the Commercial Appeal.

The latest congressional effort to place disclosure requirements on outside investors' financial stakes in U.S. litigation appears to have faltered after Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed opposition to the bill, Reuters reports. On Tuesday, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee ended debate on the legislation without a vote. The new bill from Darrell Issa, R-California, would require all parties in a lawsuit to disclose to the judge everyone with a "legal right to receive any payment or thing of value" in a settlement or jury verdict, and disclose the details of financial agreements to all parties in the litigation. An earlier bill from Issa was pulled from consideration last fall amid opposition from Democratic lawmakers on the committee and conservative groups.

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.

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The Tennessee Supreme Court on Jan. 12 rejected a request from the Board of Professional Responsibility that Greene County lawyer Edward Lee Kershaw submit to an evaluation and assessment approved by the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP). Kershaw challenged the request, arguing that the board failed to meet the standards under Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 9, section 27.2. The court agreed, finding that the board failed to make the threshold showing.

The 21st Annual TBA Bankruptcy Law Forum will return to Gatlinburg April 24-25. This unique weekend retreat is structured so that attendees have the opportunity to learn the latest in bankruptcy law and have free time to explore the Great Smoky Mountains. The forum will provide up to 10 hours of CLE credit. Also included in the cost is a Friday evening networking reception and dinner. Attendees may bring guests for an additional $100. Reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn should be made by March 24. Learn more on the TBA website.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments from Idaho and West Virginia on decisions by lower courts finding that laws banning transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their preferred gender violate the U.S. Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law. Twenty-five other states, including Tennessee, have similar laws on the books. Reuters reports that the challengers argued that the Idaho and West Virginia measures discriminate based on an individual's sex or status as a transgender person in violation of the Constitution's 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law, as well as Title IX, which bars discrimination in education "on the basis of sex." Defenders of the bans said they are valid regardless of individual circumstances, and that physical advantages remain for trans women athletes despite medical treatments, making their participation in women's sports unfair.