66% inmates in jail unconvicted as system ignores ‘guilty mind’ rule for prosecutions
Accountable to voters, Jim Hammond, center, opens a re-election bid for sheriff of Hamilton County as supporters gather at an event Oct. 19 downtown. Next to him is his wife, Jeannie, mother of their three children. (Photo David Tulis) The refusal of the judicial industrial complex in Hamilton County to uphold Tennessee’s guilty intention (“premeditation”) law […]
Prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers ignore TN ‘guilty mind’ law
Prisoners in Hamilton County often have been convicted without the state’s proving criminal intent for their acts, as required by state law. (Photo Wrcbtv.com) A dirty state secret: Ignore “guilty mind.” Culpable intent is required by Tennessee law, but judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys reject it. (Courtesy Noogaradio 92.7) 2 words from judges Poole, Statom could […]
2 words from judges Poole, Statom could solve jail crowding crisis today
Judge Lila Statom deals with defendant Taylor Satterfield in sessions court in a case that was sent to the grand jury. (Photo Dan Kennedy Wrcbtv.com) Criminalization of non-criminal behavior and examples of bad behavior and misjudgement is pushing Hamilton County into a jail funding and jail crowding crisis, the pressure of which is intensifying. The […]
Cops, deputies get refresher: Talk, patience, grace avoid violence, save lives
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies are getting a round of training that will save the lives of people who otherwise might be shot dead, beaten or tazed by them. (Photo David Tulis) Officers around the U.S. get much training in using guns and clubs, but little in peace-oriented negotiating skills, the use of which would […]
Old? Autistic? Deaf? Mentally ill? Don’t call cops
Armed officers are a danger to people who are mentally ill or autistic. Anyone who cares for someone with a developmental disability, as well as for disabled people themselves [lives] every day in fear that their behavior will be misconstrued as suspicious, intoxicated or hostile by law enforcement. —Steve Silberman, The New York Times By […]
Harmer pitches complaints about prisons to both GOP, Dems
Democrats in Nashville, including, from left, Rep. Joanne Favors of Chattanooga, standing next to Rep. John Ray Clemmons, who has received letters of complaint from Tennessee prison inmate Grenda Harmer. (Photo Nashville Public Radio) I received your letter with the enclosures. I’ve not had time to read the enclosures because I did want to get […]
Hammond on jail woes, Miranda warnings, cash bail reform, drones, duty as sheriff
Jail overcrowding besieges Sheriff Hammond. We have questions, too. De-escalation reforms? The problem of militarisation? The right to see a magistrate on arrest? Miranda warnings? Evils of the cash bail system? (Courtesy Noogaradio) Tweet Pin It
Lesser magistrate doctrine helps locals defy evil acts by high officials
This drawing shows the sack of Madgeburg by papal forces in 1550, the city defended under the doctrine of the lesser magistrate. (Photo of drawing by Johann Philipp Abelin, 1646, Wikimedia) This coming Oct. 31 marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. On that day 500 years ago – October 31st, 1517 – Martin Luther nailed […]
THP trooper and boy THP photo Faceboo
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Jets scar morning sky over Chattanooga; but program halved
A car leaves the Waffle House at the bottom of the hill on Highway 153 in Hixson, its driver no doubt dazzled by the demonstration of aerial prowess of a civil authority that runs a military weather program wreathed in secrecy. (Photo David Tulis) Negative emissions by jet aircraft are part of the federal government’s […]