Approved bill seeks to fix $250 DUI testing fee found unconstitutional
A bill given final legislative approval last week and awaiting Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature will eliminate direct payment of a $250 fee for drug and alcohol blood tests to the Tennessee Bureau of investigation, a provision of current state law that the state Court of Appeals found unconstitutional last year. The money will now go to the state’s general fund.
TBI crime report for 2017: More murder and rape, less DUI
Press release from TBI
NASHVILLE – Today, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its 2017 ‘Crime in Tennessee’ report, revealing a slight overall increase in reported instances of crime in the most recent reporting year.
Indictment against two TBI agents for alleged illegal search dismissed
Dyer County Circuit Court Judge Roy B. Morgan has dismissed indictments handed down in March against TBI Agents Mark Reynolds and Jeff Jackson with approval of the current local district attorney general and with grumbling from those who made allegations that they conducted an illegal search, reports the Dyersburg State Gazette.
List for appointment as new TBI director narrowed to ten
About 45 people submitted applications to become the next director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after current Director Mark Gwyn retires, reports WTVF. The TBI Nominating Commission cut the list down to ten persons on Wednesday. The ten will all be interviewed at a public meeting by the panel May 15 before it submits three final nominees to Gov. Bill Haslam, who will then appoint one.
Two TBI agents indicted on charges stemming from alleged illegal search
Two Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents have been indicted by a Lake County grand jury on assault and kidnapping charges stemming from an allegedly illegal search of a Ridgely residence in 2015, according to the Dyersburg State Gazette.
The homeowners, Fred Austin Wortman Jr. and his wife, Marilyn, have also filed civil lawsuits over the search by TBI agents Mark Reynolds and Jeff Jackson.
Advancing bill broadens mandate for reporting mental health commitments
Many persons involuntarily committed to mental health institutions currently are not reported to the TBI for inclusion in the database of those ineligible to buy a gun because of a quirk in Tennessee law that would be eliminated by pending legislation, reports the Johnson City Press.
As things stand now, mental health hospitals licensed under Title 33 of Tennessee Code Annotated are mandated to report involuntary commitments. But hospitals licensed under Title 68 – including general acute care hospitals that have a psychiatric wing – are not.
SB2365, introduced as a caption bill, has been amended in committee “to fix this loophole,” the article says. Sponsors are Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) and Rep. Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and the TBI is advocating the measure as amended.
TBI reports campus crime down slightly overall; theft and DUI offenses up
Press release from Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released to the public its annual crime study detailing the volume and nature of crime on the state’s college and university campuses. ‘Crime on Campus 2017’ compiles data submitted to TBI by the state’s colleges, universities, and law enforcement agencies through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS).
Among the report’s findings:
Gummy bear bust goes sour with TBI testing
District Attorney General Jennings Jones is dropping all charges against more than 20 Rutherford County business owners who were arrested and saw their stores padlocked earlier this month in what officials called “Operation Candy Crush,” reports the Murfreesboro Post. Officers thought the businesses were selling gummy bears and other candies coated with marijuana-laced cannabis oil, but Jones says TBI testing of the products was “inconclusive.”
Gwyn stepping down after 14 years as TBI director
Director Mark Gwyn announced on Thursday that he will step down from his leadership of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on June 1. Gwyn had served as head of the TBI for 14 years.
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Appeals court finds $250 DUI fine — used in financing TBI — unconstitutional
An appeals court has ruled unconstitutional a state law that requires every person convicted of DUI through a blood or breath test pay a fee that that helps fund the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, reports the Associated Press.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville says the $250 fee violates due process and calls into question the trustworthiness of test results obtained by the bureau’s forensic scientists. State law requires the money to go to the bureau’s intoxicant testing fund.
