UTM Hosting TN Court of Criminal Appeals Today

Pictured (L to R) is former Appellate Judge Brandon Gibson, Judge Steven Stafford and Circuit Judge Jeff Parham at the 2017 Court of Appeals session held at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

MARTIN (April 20) – The University of Tennessee at Martin is hosting the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, (today) Wednesday, April 20, in the Boling University Center’s Watkins Auditorium. The court will hear oral arguments in three cases beginning at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. Proceedings are open to the public, but entry and exit will be limited between cases.

The state of Tennessee has two intermediate-level appellate courts, the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals, created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1967, hears trial court appeals in felony and misdemeanor cases, as well as post-conviction petitions. The court has 12 members who sit in panels of three and meet monthly in Jackson, Knoxville and Nashville. The court may meet in alternate locations.

Court of Criminal Appeals hearings do not include witnesses, juries or testimonies. Instead, attorneys from both sides present either oral or written arguments. On April 20, participating attorneys in each case will have 20 minutes to present oral arguments, and the remainder of each hour has been allotted to answer questions from UT Martin students.

The panel meeting on the UT Martin campus will include Judge John Everett Williams, Judge Camille R. McMullen and Judge J. Ross Dyer from the Court of Criminal Appeals. Judge Williams is a UT Martin graduate.

For more information on the court’s on-campus session, contact Dr. Justin Martin, associate professor of sociology, at 731-881-7519 or email jmart140@utm.edu.