The Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals in State v Brotherton. This case caused great confusion and consternation among officers concerning the tail light law. The Court found reasonable suspicion for a possible tail light violation had merit, when white light glared from the partially repaired light.

The new case is available here: Tennessee v Brotherton

Tennessee traffic fatalities are up this year compared to last by about 20 deaths. The report through August is available in the Resources section or you can access it directly by clicking here.

Certain counties have accounted for the greatest increases.
They are: Sullivan (+8), Monroe (+8) and Sumner (+7).

Other counties have seen great improvement.
They include: Sevier (-9), Rutherford (-9) and Wilson (-8).

With one month left in the federal fiscal year, please support all methods available to save lives on the highways and take every DUI crime seriously.

The Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the vehicular homicide convictions in State v Craft. This Madison County tragedy occurred in June, 2008. Two innocent victims were killed by a driver with multiple prior felony convictions, who had a blood alcohol level of .15. The Trial prosecutor was Anna Cash. The THP expert crash reconstruction officer was Trooper Chris Lee.

The Defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and the admission of a 9-1-1 call as an excited utterance. The defendant did not challenge his 60 year sentence as a Range 3 offender, the credentials of the crash reconstruction expert or the information obtained from the crash data recorder (black box) indicating a speed of 99 mph five seconds prior to the crash. Speed, alcohol and recklessness took the lives of Gayla Hilliard and James Mullins. May they rest in peace.

This is the latest list of Ignition Interlock Providers approved by the Department of Safety. More applications have been recently received and the list will grow before the January 1, 2011 effective date of the ignition interlock and bond laws.

Certified TN Providers as of 4-6-10.pdf

Public Chapters that have been passed this year are now available in the Resources section under 'Passed Legislation' on the website.

Click here to go directly to that folder