Hamilton County judge on special panel hearing challenge to Tennessee Sex Offender Registry law [WITH FAC COMMENTS]

Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman has presided over criminal trials in Chattanooga for nearly a quarter century.

But now, after a Tennessee Supreme Court temporary appointment made last week, the former assistant prosecutor [INTERESTING… A FORMER PROSECUTOR]  will serve a stint on one of the state’s new, special three-judge panels created by state lawmakers earlier this year to hear constitutional and other challenges to state laws, rules and executive orders.

Steelman will join Davidson County Chancellor Anne C. Martin and Shelby County Criminal Court Judge J. Robert Carter Jr., also a former assistant prosecutor,[INTERESTING… ANOTHER FORMER PROSECUTOR GOT APPOINTED]  with hearing and deciding one specific case, an appeal filed by a Madison County man who in 1999 pleaded guilty to reduced aggravated rape-related charges.

Martin had previously ruled against the plaintiff, Tarrance Woods, [SO A JUDGE, MARTIN, WHO PREVIOUSLY RULED AGAINST THE PLAINTIFF, WILL BE PRESIDING OVER AN APPEAL TO HER OWN DECISION? WTF? A “SPECIAL APPOINTMENT” FROM THE TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT CONSISTED OF TWO PROSECUTORS AND A JUDGE WHO WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO OVERTURN HER OWN DECISION… WHO WANTS TO BET ON THE OUTCOME OF THIS ONE?] who sued Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch and other state officials because Woods doesn’t like having his name remaining on the state’s Sex Offender Registry.

[SHAME ON TENNESSEE]

19 thoughts on “Hamilton County judge on special panel hearing challenge to Tennessee Sex Offender Registry law [WITH FAC COMMENTS]

  • September 5, 2021

    The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that this is unconstitutional and void. Moran v Dillingham, 174 US 153 (1899).

    Reply
    • August 28, 2021

      Could be that the father noticed CP and destroyed it, but I think it’s more of pops getting back at him for losing the case. Probably meant it more as a “well, you didn’t have to lug all the magazines and tapes when you moved” thing.

      Reply
  • August 27, 2021

    Just two good ol’ boys,
    Never meaning no harm
    Beats all you never saw,
    Been in trouble with the law
    Since the day they were born
    Straightenin’ the curves,
    Flattenin’ the hills
    Someday the mountain might get ’em
    Bur the law never will
    Makin’ their way
    The only way they know how
    That’s just a little bit more than the law will allow
    Makin’ their way
    The only way they know how
    That’s just a little bit more than the law will allow
    I’m a good ol’ boy
    My mama loves me
    But she don’t understand
    They keep showing my face on TVs.

    Sums up the good ole boy system of the South.

    Reply
  • August 26, 2021

    Anything to keep the good ole boys’ system as the status quo. Nothing surprises me anymore, but it would be nice if those in high places would do the right thing, not to line their pockets and keep the corrupt system in place.

    Reply
  • August 26, 2021

    No surprise to me. I met a man in Michigan prison who was there because his appeal failed when his case finally got to the state supreme court and his trial judge had been elevated to a seat on the supreme court. She didn’t recuse herself. In effect, she ruled that her own actions as the trial judge were proper. Of course, she rewrote the law to suit her opinion, adding language that didn’t exist in the law as passed by the Legislature. The traditional practice by judges was to recuse themselves whenever there was even the appearance that they might not be impartial. We can forget about that now in the age of power over integrity.

    Reply
    • August 26, 2021

      Gerald

      That happened to me before I finally won a victory. A few months after my sentencing, I was pulled out of prison to go back before the same judge for a “Re-consideration”. She was having none of it and chewed both me and the lawyer out.

      Sad thing is, I spent 5 months in jail with NO gain time. Then by going back to court, I was sent to a Re-processing center where I sat for another 4 months with NO gain time. Then I lost gain time when I got transferred out during re-classification and lost another 3 months.

      Anyway I did not know there was such thing as judge rotation. Out of the blue my lawyer took me before the new judge who swiftly admonished the prosecutor for being “Hatefully harsh” and canceled my remaining 6 years of probation.
      It has been 30 years since my crime and still being held down by the registry, that did not exist when I committed my crime, nor when arrested, nor when sentenced. The retroactive appliance of such seems evil in nature.

      Reply

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