News
September 7, 1999
Violations of state laws spelling out how jury pools must be selected and requiring that jurors in death penalty trials be sequestered have resulted in the Tennessee Supreme Court ordering a new trial for Pat Bondurant, sentenced to death for the 1986 Maury County murder of William Ronnie Gaines.…
September 20, 1999
The Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a post-conviction appeal filed by death row inmate Heck Van Tran who claims his execution would be unconstitutional because he is incompetent. Tran was convicted of three murders committed during the 1987 robbery of a Memphis restaurant.In…
October 8, 1999
More than 750 students from 22 public and private high schools in Shelby County will participate Nov. 17-18 in a program developed by the state Supreme Court to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.The students and their teachers will attend special Supreme Court…
October 11, 1999
The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied an appeal by death row inmate Timothy Morris, whose victim was bludgeoned to death in 1981 during a business trip through the state. Morris, a drifter, was convicted of the murder in Greene County and sentenced to death.In an order filed Monday, the court…
December 27, 1999
The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied an appeal by death row inmate Nicholas Todd Sutton, sentenced to death for the 1985 stabbing death of another prisoner at the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility. Sutton was serving a life sentence for three previous murders when he and a co-defendant…
December 27, 1999
After more than 17 years on the bench, including nearly a decade as a state appellate court judge, and three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John H. Peay of Clarksville is leaving public life effective Dec. 30.In a resignation letter to Gov. Don…
January 3, 2000
The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied an appeal by Richard Hale Austin, sentenced to death in 1977 and again this year for hiring an escaped convict to kill Julian Watkins, an undercover agent with the Memphis Police Department.In 1997, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Austin’s…
February 28, 2000
A post conviction appeal by inmate Donnie Edward Johnson, sentenced to death in Shelby County for the 1984 suffocation murder of his wife, was denied Monday by the Tennessee Supreme Court.Johnson, 49, killed his wife, 30-year-old Connie Johnson, by stuffing a plastic bag in her throat after…
March 6, 2000
An appeal by David Lee McNish, who was sentenced to death in 1984 for the beating death of a 70-year-old woman in Elizabethton, Tennessee, was denied Monday by the state Supreme Court.The court rejected eight issues raised by McNish in his post-conviction appeal, including whether electrocution is…
March 20, 2000
More than 1,000 students from 13 public and private high schools in the 12th Judicial District will participate March 28-29 in a state Supreme Court program designed to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.Students and their teachers from high schools in Franklin,…
April 11, 2000
The death sentence a Shelby County jury imposed upon Roy E. Keough for the murder of his estranged wife was supported by the evidence and was not “arbitrary or disproportionate” when compared to sentences in similar cases, the Tennessee Supreme Court said Monday in a unanimous decision affirming…
April 17, 2000
An appeal by death row inmate Bobby R. Wilcoxson, who was convicted for the 1982 suffocation death of Signal Mountain resident Robert Mosher in a murder-for-hire scheme, was denied Monday by the Tennessee Supreme Court.The unsuccessful post-conviction appeal sought to have Wilcoxson’s 1986 first-…
April 27, 2000
Beginning May 1, Tennessee Supreme Court opinions will be released five days a week – Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. This is a change from the long-established Monday-only releases. An “opinions released” list will be prepared at the end of each week including all opinions and orders on petitions…
April 28, 2000
The number of men convicted in Tennessee last year for committing felony crimes was 14,401, nearly six times greater than the 2,480 felony convictions for women, a new court report shows.Total reported felony convictions statewide rose by 1,809, from 15,072 in 1998 to 16,881 in 1999. Data for the…
July 10, 2000
In a unanimous decision Monday, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the death sentence a Madison County jury imposed on Farris Genner Morris, Jr, who confessed to killing two victims and raping a third neighbor after forcing his way into their home.
Morris was convicted of two counts of first degree…
October 27, 2000
Judicial system administrators from nine southeastern states and officials from the National Center for State Courts will be in Nashville Oct. 30-31 for a conference hosted by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts.Court administrators from Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama,…
October 27, 2000
Nearly 300 students from nine public and private high schools in the 26th Judicial District will participate Nov. 16 in a state Supreme Court program designed to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.Students and their teachers from high schools in Chester, Henderson and…
November 1, 2000
The Tennessee Supreme Court has enacted a rule formalizing the legal process for setting execution dates in capital cases and establishing filing deadlines and other requirements for prosecution and defense lawyers.“Whenever a death-row prisoner has unsuccessfully pursued state post-conviction…
November 28, 2000
Chief Justice Riley Anderson of the Tennessee Supreme Court is part of a Tennessee delegation invited to attend a two-day summit in Chicago to discuss and debate systems used to select judges nationwide. Other Tennesseans attending the conference Dec. 8-9 are state Sen. Joe Haynes, D-…
December 18, 2000
Judges across the state are preparing for the state’s new Parenting Plan requiring divorcing couples with minor children to take part in a program designed to ease the trauma of the family breakup on the youngest members and protect their emotional and financial well-being.Beginning Jan. 1 when the…