Tag: tennessee

Human heart found in Tennessee salt pile, authorities say

A human heart was found in a salt pile at a Tennessee Department of Transportation facility, according to authorities.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis, a worker with the Tennessee Department of Transportation discovered the adult male human heart in a salt pile at the facility, which is located off Highway 70 East in Nashville.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation for examination and testing.

“At the request of 23rd Judicial District Attorney General Ray Crouch, TBI special agents are working along with deputies with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office, in investigating the discovery of a human heart in a TDOT salt facility in McEwen Thursday,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation noted in a statement. “An initial examination of the heart determined that it was that of an adult male. Additional DNA testing will be performed to try to determine its origin.”

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Are Game Wardens Watching You? – Part 1: The Case of the Hidden Trail Camera

Imagine you go hunting one morning, on your own land, and you find a cellular trail camera that isn’t yours. Now imagine that the camera was obviously placed in such a way as to be entirely hidden from you—except for a hole cut through the brush so that it could surveil the comings and goings on your property.

You’d probably be creeped out and pull that camera down, right? That’s what Hunter Hollingsworth of Camden, Tennessee, did when he spotted an unknown trail camera pointed toward the gravel road through his family farm.

Then a few months later, he found his home surrounded by armed law-enforcement officers who threatened to kick his door down if he didn’t let them inside to search for the camera. This was just the beginning of a series of events that snowballed into a lawsuit that would eventually put a national spotlight on the near century-old practice of game wardens entering private land without a search warrant. The case would go on to fundamentally change how officers with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are able to do their jobs—and it could set precedents for similar cases in other states, too.

But no matter where you live and hunt, the Hunter Hollingsworth case—and the cases it continues to inspire—could ultimately decide whether you might one day find a camera hidden in your trees, or a game warden on your property without a warrant.

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2nd Dead Democrat Wins Election by Landslide

A second dead Democrat candidate has stormed to victory with a landslide win in their election.

Tennessee state Rep. Barbara Cooper, a Democrat, died on October 25 at the age of 93, two weeks before Election Day.

According to WATN, election officials were unable to remove Cooper’s name from the ballot following her “unexpected” death.

Despite her well-publicized death, Democrat Cooper crushed her opponent, independent Michael Porter, by 7,999 votes to 2,942, according to WHBQ.

Cooper had represented the 86th state House district for 26 years, according to WSMV.

Officials argue that people voted for Copper on Election Day because they were unaware of her passing, despite apparently being her supporters.

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FBI Arrests Tennessee Republican Lawmaker, Former Chief of Staff Over Alleged Bribery and Kickback Conspiracy

The FBI announced the arrest of a Republican Tennessee lawmaker and his former chief of staff. The arrests were made Tuesday morning following indictments charging the two with participating in a bribery and kickback scheme.

Republican State Rep. Glen Casada and Cade Cothren, 35, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Monday. They are accused of coordinating a fake constituent mailing program designed to “enrich themselves,” according to the Justice Department.

According to Fox News, FBI agents arrested Casada and Cothren at their respective homes on Tuesday morning. 

Casada and Cothren will both make their initial appearances before a U.S. magistrate judge within 24 hours.

Fox reports that “the 20-count indictment comes following a monthslong federal corruption investigation and represents the first time a current or former Tennessee speaker of the House has been indicted.”

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Woman Suing Police for Kidnapping, Stripping, and Forcibly ‘Baptizing’ Her During Traffic Stop, Found Dead

Over the years, the Free Thought Project has reported on some utterly bizarre behavior from law enforcement. From judges stealing women’s underwear to police officers offering homeless people sh*t sandwiches, this behavior never ceases to amaze and infuriate. Adding to this long list of “weird sh*t cops do” was a story out of Chattanooga in 2019, in which a police officer stripped to his underwear and forcibly “baptized” a woman he was arresting for having a marijuana roach.

After this story garnered him national attention, an investigation was launched and Hamilton County Deputy Daniel Wilkey who was arrested last year and has been charged with more than 40 counts ranging from rape and sexual battery to oppression and extortion.

As we reported at the time, the case was swarmed in controversy as it would be revealed that during the investigation, the department magically lost months of dashcam footage containing alleged evidence of this extremely bad cop’s crimes.

Now, however, the controversy has become deadly.

This week, Hamilton County deputies found the body of 42-year-old Shandle Marie Riley — the victim of deputy Wilkey — who had brought a lawsuit against the department for what they did to her.

Wednesday night, the Hamilton County sheriff’s department recused themselves from the investigation, given their contentious ties to the case.

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Tennessee Marriage Bill Called ‘Horrifying’ as Law Could See Children Wed

Critics have slammed a proposed new law in Tennessee that would eliminate age requirements for marriage in the state, claiming the bill would potentially allow children to get married.

Social media users harshly criticized the bill, HB 233, which is being sponsored by Republican state Representative Tom Leatherwood. The bill has passed the Tennessee House’s Children and Family Affairs subcommittee and is due before the House Civil Justice Committee on Wednesday.

Human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid tweeted: “Tennessee Republican Tom Leatherwood has passed HB 233 out of committee. Leatherwood acknowledged there’s no minimum age requirement on purpose. This is absolutely horrifying and unacceptable.”

The current minimum age for marrying in Tennessee is 17 and Leatherwood, who has acknowledged that the new bill doesn’t contain an age limit, defended the proposal by making reference to religious beliefs.

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Hemp farmers forced to destroy crops over USDA rules

Hemp farmers across Tennessee are having to destroy their hemp crop that tested over the new federal THC limit.

The USDA made a ruling in 2021 that all hemp must have a total THC level of 0.3%. Before that decision, hemp farmers needed to keep the levels of Delta-9 THC below 0.3%. The new rules apply to numerous other compounds in the plant.

According to the Department of Agriculture, 42% of crops are being found non-compliant with the requirement.

About half the crop at Nashland Farms, a Middle Tennessee hemp operation, was found to be over the limit. The farm grows hemp for its CBD.

Seth Fuller, co-owner of Nashland Farms, said it means many thousands of dollars lost.

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Tennessee Democrat expelled from state Senate over fraud conviction

A Tennessee Democrat was expelled from the state Senate on Wednesday over her conviction on fraud charges. 

State Sen. Katrina Robinson of Memphis was convicted of wire fraud last fall after being accused of stealing $600,000 from a health care school she ran to pay for her wedding and other personal expenses before she was in office. 

On Wednesday, state senators voted 27-5 for her expulsion after a recommendation from the Ethics Committee, FOX 13 of Memphis reported.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally said in a statement Wednesday, “While the expulsion of a Senator for the first time in history was not something any of us wished to see, it was a necessary action. The integrity of the Senate is of paramount importance.”

Robinson called the expulsion a “procedural lynching” and claimed the process was “racist” and “misogynistic” and talked about scandals that have plagued other state senators who have not been expelled.

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Hundreds of Kids as Young as 7, Jailed in Tennessee, Some for Crimes That Don’t Exist

According to a damning report from ProPublica, a county was exposed for illegally locking up children, and in some instances, using lies to justify it. Some of these children who were locked in cages were as young as seven.

Like the instance in Wilkes-Barre, a county juvenile judge, Donna Scott Davenport, played a key role in this horrifying practice — so did the cops.

According to the report, Davenport, a self-described Christian who referred to herself as the “mother of the county,” took an exceedingly harsh stance on children who got in trouble and even ones who didn’t.

Case in point: In 2016, police responded to an alleged fight at Hobgood elementary school in Murfreesboro between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old. Though this was hardly an incident for which police and the court system needed to be involved, for some reason, the school called for them.

When police showed up, the the 5 and 6 year old kids were handcuffed and arrested. But that’s just the beginning. Zacchaeus Crawford also got a call that day from police telling him that his three children, ages 9, 10 and 11 were also arrested at the school, along with an 8-year-old and a 13-year-old.

All seven of these children were handcuffed and brought to jail. For allegedly watching the fight between two kids — not participating in it at all — the other five children were charged with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another”—a crime that does not exist in Tennessee law.

“It makes me want to fight. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t,” Crawford said of his children’s arrests. “How would you feel if it was your child? I’m frustrated.”

A year later, he and his wife sued and won an $86,500 settlement.

“All plaintiff children suffered great mental anguish and emotional trauma as a result of the false arrest and malicious prosecution as instigated and directed by defendants,” the lawsuit filed Feb. 16, 2017 stated.

Despite paying the settlement, the only person involved in the illegal arrest and detention of the children was a single cop, who was suspended for just three days.

Instead of decrying the incident, Judge Davenport issued a statement about children being bad. “We are in a crisis with our children in Rutherford County. I’ve been in officer 17 and a half years and I’ve never seen it this bad,” she told News 4 Nashville at the time.

Indeed, Davenport has a disdain for children like no other. According to the ProPublica report, nearly half of all children who go through her court, 48% — go to jail! That number is nearly ten times higher than the state average which is just 5% of children.

According to a report in Forbes, judge Davenport holds immense power over the local juvenile justice system, appointing all magistrates and approving policies for the detention center, thereby enabling this process even further.

ProPublica points out that Davenport is an apparent braggadocio about her record of jailing kids and keeps a high profile outside of the courtroom. She appears on a monthly segment on a local radio station, in which she has claimed children are behaving far worse now than they have in the past — on multiple occasions over several years.

“It’s worse now than I’ve ever seen it,” she said in 2012. Parents don’t parent: “It’s just the worst I’ve ever seen,” she said in 2017.

Davenport says she believes she’s on “God’s mission” to discipline children in the community, according to ProPublica.

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Muzzle Vaccine Official Claimed Was Mailed to Her as a Threat Revealed to Have Been Purchased on Her Credit Card

After Tennessee vaccine official Dr Michelle Fiscus asserted that someone had mailed her a muzzle in an attempt to intimidate her, it subsequently emerged that the item was purchased with a credit card in Fiscus’ name.

Whoops.

Fiscus, who was fired from her role as Tennessee’s vaccine chief, originally claimed that someone was trying to get her to “stop talking about vaccinating people” and had sent the muzzle as a threat.

This prompted health department official Paul Peterson to alert the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security and a full investigation was launched.

However, according to Axios, evidence clearly suggests that Fiscus purchased the item herself.

“The Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security found through a subpoena that the Amazon package containing the muzzle traced back to a credit card in Fiscus’ name,” states the report.

“When asked by investigators, Fiscus provided information for an Amazon account in her name. It was a different account than the one used to purchase the muzzle.”

“The investigation concluded that “the results of this investigation that purchases from both Amazon accounts were charged to the same American Express credit card in the name of Dr. Michelle D. Fiscus.”

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