An investiture ceremony and reception for Kyle A. Hixson, who will be the newest justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, will take place July 7 at noon EDT. The ceremony will be held at the Tennessee Theatre, 604 South Gay St., Knoxville 37902. Gov. Bill Lee will administer the oath of office, and a reception will follow. View the invitation. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by June 26 to TSCRSVP@TNcourts.gov. Gov. Bill Lee appointed Hixson to the high court in January. The General Assembly approved the nomination in March. He will replace retiring Justice Holly Kirby when she steps down at the end of June.

Circuit Court Judge Franklin Murchison Sr. died at age 94. Murchison earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University and served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps until 1960, attaining the rank of captain. During his military service, he held positions including defense counsel, prosecuting counsel, chief of appellate review and chief of military justice. After his military service, Murchison returned to Jackson and practiced with the firm Murchison & Murchison alongside his father, Carmack Murchison, focusing on civil and criminal litigation. He later practiced with Spragins & Murchison. In 1985, Murchison was elected judge of the 26th Judicial District Circuit Court, Division III, serving Madison, Henderson and Chester counties. He was admitted to practice before all courts of Tennessee, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), Metro Councilmember Terry Vo and several Tennessee taxpayers filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking to block the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) from participating in joint immigration enforcement operations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the Nashville Banner, the lawsuit alleges THP troopers unlawfully stopped motorists suspected of being noncitizens so ICE agents could investigate immigration status. The group argues the practice violates the Fourth and 14th amendments through warrantless arrests and racial profiling. Plaintiffs also claim the operations divert state resources away from traffic safety enforcement. The suit seeks to bar THP from coordinating with federal immigration agents on such operations and from making traffic stops based on race or ethnicity.

Attorney volunteers are needed for an Essential Documents Clinic at the Sumner County's Sheriff's Department in Gallatin on July 11 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. CDT. The event will take place at 117 W Smith St., Gallatin, TN 37066. For more information or to volunteer contact TBA YLD District Representative Grace Burnett.

TBA Director of Access to Justice and Strategic Initiatives Chelsea Bennett, along with members of the TBA Access to Justice Committee and representatives from Tennessee legal aid organizations, attended the 2026 Equal Justice Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hosted annually by the American Bar Association and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the conference brings together legal services and pro bono advocates from across the country to share developments, strategies and innovations in providing legal services to low-income individuals. Through plenary sessions, workshops, networking opportunities and special programming, the event provided a wide range of learning and sharing experiences for all attendees. See a photo of the TBA group.

The court received a petition for rehearing en banc. The original panel has reviewed the petition for rehearing and concludes that the issues raised in the petition were fully considered upon the original submission and decision. Judge Boggs would grant the petition for panel rehearing for the reasons stated in his dissent to the court’s opinion of February 24, 2026. The petition was also circulated to the full court.* Less than a majority of the judges voted in favor of rehearing en banc. Therefore, the petition is denied.

SUTTON, Chief Judge. After working for 26 years as an engineer at PCC Airfoils, Justin Daugherty accepted an offer to become the director of engineering at one of PCC’s competitors. PCC alleges that Daugherty printed several documents containing trade secrets on his way out the door. It sued and sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Daugherty from disclosing the trade secrets or working on products similar to the ones he worked on while at PCC. The district court denied the request. Relying on existing district court precedents, the court explained that PCC failed to meet each of the preliminary injunction factors with “clear and convincing” evidence. But that approach runs counter to our test for preliminary injunctions. Rather than requiring clear and convincing evidence for each preliminary injunction factor, a court should consider all four factors to determine whether, taken together, they clearly weigh in favor of granting injunctive relief. We reverse and remand.

After pleading guilty in federal court, the Petitioner, Robert Kerry Pickle, pled guilty in 2014 to eight additional offenses in the Coffee County Circuit Court. The circuit court imposed an effective sentence of eight years’ incarceration. Eleven years later, and while still serving his federal sentence, the Petitioner filed a pro se application for a writ of habeas corpus. He asserted that his state sentences had expired and that the trial court lacked authority to impose consecutive sentences. The habeas corpus court summarily dismissed the application, concluding that the Petitioner’s state sentences were aligned consecutively to his federal sentence and therefore had not expired. The Petitioner now appeals. Upon our review, we respectfully affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court.

The Defendant, Kelley Gambill, appeals her Davidson County Criminal Court conviction of aggravated cruelty to animals, for which she received a sentence of two years’ supervised probation. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court misconstrued the statute's “no justifiable purpose” language and challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her conviction. Discerning no error, we affirm.

The Defendant, J.P. Burrow, Jr., appeals his convictions for two counts of rape of a child, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of sexual battery by an authority figure. Specifically, the Defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions because the proof consisted solely of the victims’ testimony with “no other corroborating evidence.” Additionally, as to his conviction for sexual battery by an authority figure, he argues that the evidence failed to show that he qualified as an authority figure, pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-527, at the time the offense took place. After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.