Tennessee Supreme Court Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

1 Jul, 2015

Knoxville prepares new blanket ban on releasing dashcam video, waits for TN Supreme Court ruling

By Deborah Fisher|2015-07-01T09:28:44-05:00July 1, 2015|Categories: crime records|Tags: crime records, dashcam video, Knoxville Police Department, Ron Mills, Tennessee Supreme Court, Vanderbilt rape case|1 Comment

The Knoxville Police Department is waiting on a decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court before it puts into place a new blanket ban on release of all dashcam videos, sometimes indefinitely. In a story today by longtime crime and courts reporter Jaime Satterfield in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville's Deputy Law Director Ron Mills says: “You have to protect the integrity of not only your investigation but your prosecution. If there’s a pending appeal or within the possible time frame for a (post-appeal) relief petition, yes, it could be years. In the case of unsolved crimes, it could be indefinite.” The proposed policy would be a marked change for the Knoxville [...]

10 Mar, 2015

Tennessee Supreme Court rules against identifying those involved with lethal injection process

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:54:37-05:00March 10, 2015|Categories: exemptions|Tags: execution drugs, Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins, Tennessee Supreme Court|0 Comments

News release from Administrative Office of the Court: The Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed a trial court ruling ordering the State to disclose the names of those involved in the execution process in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol as unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. The case – a lawsuit filed by death row inmates – comes to the Supreme Court via an interlocutory appeal, an appeal concerning a particular issue while the case is still pending in a lower court. The dispute over the identity disclosures arose during the discovery process, the legal method by which opposing parties in a lawsuit gather information from one another. The plaintiffs [...]

27 Feb, 2015

Reporters Committee, others file amicus brief in Tennessee police records case

By Deborah Fisher|2015-02-27T15:04:33-06:00February 27, 2015|Categories: crime records|Tags: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Robb Harvey, Tennessee Supreme Court, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|0 Comments

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression and the University of Virginia School of Law First Amendment Clinic have file an amicus brief with the Tennessee Supreme Court, arguing that a lower court's ruling went too far in saying law enforcement had the right to keep from public view a broad swath of police records. The case, The Tennessean et al. v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, started after the newspaper requested to see certain police records about a reported sexual assault in a Vanderbilt University dorm room. A trial court ruled that [...]

19 Jan, 2015

Tennessee Supreme Court agrees to hear public records case involving police files

By Deborah Fisher|2015-01-19T10:30:15-06:00January 19, 2015|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: crime records, Lauren Sturm, Nashville, Robb Harvey, Tennessee Supreme Court, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|0 Comments

The Tennessee Supreme Court has granted the application of The Tennessean and other media organizations to appeal a Court of Appeals decision regarding what police records are exempt from the Tennessee Public Records Act. In a Sept. 30 ruling, the Court of Appeals said that Criminal Court Rule 16(a)(2) acts as an exemption to allow police to withhold records relevant to an ongoing investigation. The opinion was written by Judge Richard Dinkins and joined by Judge Frank G. Clement Jr. and reversed a trial court ruling that police must release some records. A dissent was written by Judge Neal McBrayer, who said that the criminal court rule exempted some records, [...]

12 Sep, 2014

Ramsey, Ashe call for more transparency in the Tennessee Attorney General selection

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T08:20:17-05:00September 12, 2014|Categories: Open Courts|Tags: Attorney General, Bob Cooper, Ron Ramsey, Tennessee Supreme Court, Victor Ashe|0 Comments

Tennessee's lieutenant governor and a former mayor of Knoxville have called for more transparency in the Tennessee Supreme Court's selection of the Attorney General. Bob Cooper currently holds the slot, and in a process unlike many states, the state's top court reviews candidates and decides who should take his place (or if he should remain in the job) when the eight-year term expires. In most states, the attorney general is an elected position. Andy Sher with the Chattanooga Times Free Press today reports on criticism of the Tennessee Attorney General selection process by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and former Knoxville mayor Victor Ashe. The Supreme Court will make its choice [...]

Previous 23