Imagine the confusion and consternation of a commercial trucker who drives routinely across Tennessee with a loaded gun inside his or her rig and never encounters a problem with law enforcers, yet can suffer legal peril for that same act once a new state is entered....
Seasoned and Aggressive Legal Representation
Criminal Defense
She made her point: court official’s notable bond decision
"I changed the 1 to a 4 and added a whole bunch of zeroes." Indeed, that is exactly what Claudia Brown did in effecting a bond decision regarding a prisoner that was centrally made to establish a point. Brown's point: Bond amounts imposed on individuals awaiting trial...
Spotlight on discretionary aspect of criminal sentencing
It has long been a maxim of criminal law in Tennessee and nationally that sentencing outcomes should not universally be the same for adult and juvenile offenders, respectively, when they have both committed a closely similar crime. Although that principle is not...
Spotlight clearly on presidential commutation power last week
Like many other states, Tennessee is unfriendly terrain to individuals who are arrested and criminally charged on drug-related offenses. A high percentage of state and federal inmates are serving notably lengthy prison terms for crimes involving drugs One particular...
Judges overturn “grossly disproportionate” sentencing outcome
You've been called to task. Impliedly, that was what a recent judicial ruling from an appellate panel was just as much about as was its actual determination resulting in the reversal of a sentence imposed earlier on a criminal defendant by a trial-court judge. What...
Routinely criticized: irrational federal sentencing outcomes
The implementation of federal sentencing guidelines, which came to the fore nationally decades ago, was prompted by the perceived need to introduce greater rationality and consistency in outcomes across the country for similar criminal offenses. Have the guidelines...
What is an expungement, and who qualifies for one?
Many people in Tennessee and across the country sadly find out that a criminal record can have enduring adverse consequences long after a charge was dismissed or a post-conviction sentence served. Sometimes those negative effects can last for a lifetime. Many...
How bonds and source hearings work in Davidson County
When someone is arrested and charged with a crime, the first thing they want to do is get out of jail while they await trial. This allows the individual to continue to work, be with family and live freely until the court date. However, in order to be released,...
Lifelong advocacy on behalf of criminal law clients
When we note on our website at the Law Offices of Thomas T. Overton in Nashville that our founding attorney has "represented hundreds of clients over 28 years as a criminal defense lawyer," we believe that says something fundamental about caring for people in need. In...