A new Tennessee Inmate Disciplinary Oversight Board is taking shape two years after it was formed in the wake of the abduction and murder of Memphis school teacher Eliza Fletcher. The state legislature created the board in 2022 in response to the murder, alleged to have been committed by Cleotha Abston, who had been released from prison in 2020 after serving 19 years of a 24-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery. The board, modeled after the state's Board of Parole, will review sentence credits for good behavior and determine if credits should be revoked for infractions. Previously, each county reviewed these issues without state oversight. The nine-member board will be chaired by Vanessa Murtaugh, who previously was a prosecutor in the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. According to the Daily Memphian, while some legislators see this as a step towards preventing similar tragedies, others question the board's $2 million annual cost and qualifications of its members.

In a reversal of policy, the Tennessee Department of Health is now allowing public health clinics to provide birth control and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing to unaccompanied teens, citing exceptions to a new state law requiring parental consent for most health care. According to the Tennessee Lookout, the department previously interpreted the law to include sexual health services. However, Tennessee law already allows minors 14 and older to access confidential disease testing and birth control without parental consent. The revised guidance applies only to sexual health services, and all other primary care still requires parental consent. Health advocates welcomed the change but some some lawmakers say there are still concerned about the broader impact and potential unintended consequences of the law, according to the Lookout.

Hemp growers are suing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture over recently enacted emergency rules impacting hemp production and sales. According to WKRN, the growers argue that the department circumvented standard rule-making procedures by implementing the rules without public input. They also claim the rules violate state law and should be declared void. According to the station, the lawsuit highlights the department's failure to meet deadlines for rule-making and inconsistencies in enforcement timelines. The growers are seeking a court order to prevent enforcement of the emergency rules.

Enjoy the first feature of Voices of the YLD: "College Football is Back, but the State of the NCAA's NIL Restrictions on Student Athletes is Still Uncertain." Darius Walker Jr. is an attorney in the Nashville office of Ogletree Deakins. He is a member of the firm's Sports and Entertainment Industry Group and focuses his practice on representing employers in labor and employment matters, including litigation involving unfair competition and trade secrets, discrimination, harassment, class and collective actions, wage and hour issues, and proceedings before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. Walker serves as treasurer of the TBA YLD.

The 2025 TBA BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee health plans include an added benefit of a $15,000 life insurance policy for each employee enrolled in the health plan. The coverage is automatic and costs $3 per subscriber, per month. Also, there’s a voluntary guaranteed issue option to purchase additional coverage for yourself and your dependents. Learn more about these benefits.

Deductible Guard is a hospital indemnity plan that members can add to existing health insurance. This supplemental coverage pays up to $4,000 for inpatient charges for covered members. The plan is guaranteed issue, portable and payroll deducted. Learn more here.

This week, the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated four lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements, including one in 2021 and three in 2023.

The Defendant, James Carter Millinder, appeals the trial court’s decision ordering his agreed-upon nine-year sentence to be served consecutively to an unserved sentence in another county. The Defendant claims that the trial court erred by sentencing him in a manner not contemplated by the agreement between the parties and that this error rendered his guilty plea involuntary. Given the deficiencies in the Defendant’s appellate brief, as well as the absence of transcripts of the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings from the appellate record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

In this consolidated appeal, Shelby County juries convicted the Petitioner, Curtis Keller, of three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of attempted aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated burglary, and one count of evading arrest (No. 10-02756); and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of attempted especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of especially aggravated burglary, three counts of aggravated assault, and one count of employing a firearm during the commission of a “dangerous felony” (No. 10-07532). The Petitioner received effective sentences of 300 years (No. 10-02756) and 210 years (No. 10- 07532). The Petitioner appealed his convictions in both cases. See State v. Keller, No. W2012-01457-CCA-R3-CD, 2013 WL 6021332 (Tenn. Crim. App. Nov. 6, 2013), perm. app. granted, cause remanded (Tenn. Feb. 11, 2014) and State v. Keller, No. W2012- 01457-CCA-R3-CD, 2014 WL 4922627 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 29, 2014), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Jan. 15, 2015). The Petitioner then filed a series of motions and petitions, which this court has addressed on appeal. Keller v. State, No. W2019-01652- CCA-R3- ECN, slip op. at 2 (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 27, 2021), perm. app. denied; Keller v. State, No. W2020-00590-CCA-R3-PC, 2021 WL 2886338 (Tenn. Crim. App. July 9, 2021), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Oct. 15, 2021). In the consolidated matter herein, the Petitioner filed: a petition “new post-conviction” relief and a “supplemental” petition for writ of error coram nobis in No. 10-02756; a petition for DNA post-conviction analysis in Nos. 10- 07532 and 10-02756; and a motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 36.1 in No. 10-07532. The trial court denied the petitions, and the Petitioner filed a notice of appeal. After this appeal was docketed, counsel filed a motion for a late-filed notice of appeal for all five underlying petitions. On review, having determined that all of the Petitioner’s filings in No. 10-02756 and his petition for DNA analysis in No. 10-07532 were untimely, we deny his motion for a late-filed notice of appeal and dismiss the appeal with respect to those filings. The remaining motion, the Petitioner’s motion to correct an illegal sentence in No. 10-07532, was timely filed and, upon review, we conclude the Petitioner has failed to state a colorable claim for Rule 36.1 relief. As such, we affirm the trial court’s judgment denying the petition.

Petitioner, Dewayne Edward Harris, appeals the denial of his post-conviction petition, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in denying his claim that trial counsel was ineffective for failure to investigate, failure to develop a reasonable trial strategy, and failure to object to the use of Petitioner’s nicknames and to testimony regarding statements made by a non-testifying co-defendant. Following our review of the entire record, oral arguments, and the briefs of the parties, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.