A vehicle search, just like any other search conducted by the government, is subject to the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and may include searches performed without a warrant. However, because vehicles are mobile, unlike homes, and because an individual’s expectation of privacy is less in a vehicle,…
“Four pounds…we’re talking two, three hundred boxes of sinus pills. There ain’t that many smurfs in the world.” –Breaking Bad Tennessee Code Annotated Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 417 makes it a crime to manufacture, deliver or sell methamphetamine, or to possess with the intent to manufacture, sell or deliver. If the amount is .5…
According to a recent Memphis Commercial Appeal article, eleven individuals have been charged this year with taking a firearm into the Memphis International Airport. Many, if not all of them likely were travelers who simply forgot that they left their handgun in their carry-on bag. When these travelers got to the security gate and put…
Diversion is the process of having a criminal charge removed from a client’s permanent record. Where I practice in Tennessee there are two types of diversion: judicial and pre-trial. Pre-trial diversion is also known as Attorney General diversion, because the A.G. (also called the D.A. or the prosecutor) has the sole power to grant it….
Tennessee’s statutory rape law is found in Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 5 of the Tennessee Code Annotated. It is a complex offense that contains numerous elements and criminalizes many different activities, and the penalties can be harsh. There are actually three types of statutory rape in Tennessee: mitigated statutory rape, statutory rape, and aggravated…
