Tennessee currently criminalizes a person's refusal to consent to a blood or breath test at the request of law enforcement in most situations. The refusal can carry up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a suspension of their driving rights. In Birchfield vs. North Dakota, the United States Supreme Court found that taking a [...]
We recently gained a dismissal for a client had exited the highway, pulled over to the side of the road, and gone to sleep. While it wasn't completely clear what his exact location was, he was not on the lined roadway, at least partially in the gravel. The issue of when and where you can [...]
The Rutherford County Sheriff has been indicted on numerous charges including bribery and fraud by federal authorities. The charges stem from an e-cigarette company that targets vulnerable men and women, prisoners for whom the Sheriff is responsible. The company was started in Georgia and moved to Tennessee without revealing the Sheriff's authority. The indictment of the Sheriff follows [...]
There are times when settlement of case is in our client’s benefit. Under the new DUI sentencing laws of 2014, treatment programs play a major part in how a client's sentence can be served. Many times the difference between serving 45 days (day for day in jail) and 25 days (with the [...]
We should always carefully examine the consequences of creating laws that prohibit and harshly punish acts we simply don't like, but that aren’t inherently evil actions. In the international world, Reverend Hyan Soo Lim was given a life sentence with hard labor today in North Korea after traveling to the country on [...]
This simple question is actually a multi-layered problem and its answer is subject to several different interpretations and situations. Tennessee is an equitable distribution state which means basically that whatever you bring into the relationship - you leave with; whatever you earn or receive during the marriage is marital property; and marital property (property bought [...]
Twenty-five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the fields to the south of the Mt. Juliet exit at I-40 turning into the major commercial and residential development that is Providence. Back then, Mt. Juliet stopped at the interstate. Highway 109 was practically untraveled and Highway 70 from Mt. Juliet to Lebanon [...]
The above result is particularly timely as domestic violence charges were dropped this week against Nashville businessman David Chase. After spending over a year professing his innocence of the Domestic Violence and Strangulation charges filed against him by his former girlfriend, the Prosecutors in the case asked the Judge to drop the charges [...]
Beginning July 1st, the penalties for driving with insurance in Tennessee are getting much tougher. While "Proof of Financial Responsibility (Insurance)" has been required in Tennessee for a few years now, there were few teeth in the law. The Tennessee Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a new law which will [...]
My clients are often placed on bond with the restriction of being required to use a transdermal monitoring device as a condition of bond if the person has a prior alcohol-related conviction. These devices are not only embarrassing and cumbersome, but are also very expensive, sometimes as high as $125.00 per week. We are able to [...]
