It is not an uncommon scenario for law enforcement to search a home and create a mess or even damage the property. They may create chaos and find nothing that they were looking for, which means that your home was ransacked for nothing. If this has happened to you, you may be feeling angry, stressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed. In fact,…
Law enforcement is a tangled, complicated topic — these days more than ever. Those meant to serve and protect don’t always seem to do so, which is understandably worrying to the citizens around them. When we think of justice, we want to associate that word with fairness. That’s what it should be. Righting wrongs and preventing further harm to the…
Jury selection is, perhaps, the most critical part of any defense trial. If you’ve been charged with an assault, a DUI, possession of drugs, or any other offense, you want jury members who will truly listen to your version of what happened. You want jurors who will not automatically support everything that the prosecution presents. You want jurors who can…
Most of the time, if there’s a warrant out for your arrest, you’ll know it. The police may arrest you at the scene or shortly thereafter. But what if they didn’t? Perhaps you were involved in an altercation or domestic issue. Or you forgot to pay a couple old traffic tickets. Maybe you heard that someone reported you to authorities…
A criminal record will keep you from doing a lot of things. It can keep you from getting a loan, getting a job, carrying a firearm, or finding housing. The one thing it might not do is keep you from parenting your child. Just because a non-custodial parent has a criminal record, it doesn’t mean that he or she can’t…
A surge in COVID-19 cases throughout Tennessee has prompted the Tennessee Supreme Court to suspend all jury trials and in-person hearings. The order was filed by the state’s Supreme Court and applies to all state and local courts. In-person proceedings and jury trials are suspended until at least March 31. The order, which was issued on December 22 and updated…
As the parent of a teenager who sometimes gets into minor trouble from typical teenage antics, you might think back on your own childhood stunts. Your stunts never resulted in life-altering consequences. Your parents probably yelled a little, maybe grounded you and called it a day. Today, even minor incidents can turn into hair-raising events that leave your head spinning…
Almost every year, new legal dramas and comedies on television highlight the types of cases that people have in real life. The shows often focus on criminal cases, but there have been popular shows that highlight other areas of the law. The shows profile the legal system from various viewpoints – criminal and civil defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, plaintiff’s lawyers,…
Let’s say you find yourself on the wrong side of the law. You have never gotten in trouble before, but now, due to a foolish mistake, you find yourself charged with a crime. You are in a panic because you do not know how this will affect your education, your job and your future. If you have been charged with…
Maryville, the count seat of Blount County, is a city with a reputation for enjoying a good quality of life. It’s ranked one of the best places to live, year after year, by a number of different publications and sites. One of the reasons for that is how low the crime rate is compared to the rest of Tennessee and…