A spokesman for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) on Monday provided The Tennessee Star with new details about the constitutional amendment proposed last week in Memphis to allow Tennessee judges to refuse to grant bail to more violent criminals.
Sexton was joined by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and Memphis Mayor Paul Young in a Friday press event with other lawmakers and community leaders to call for the constitutional amendment, which would need to be approved by Tennessee voters in a public referendum.
Citing current limits on bail placed by the Tennessee Constitution, which only allows for judges to deny bail on capital offenses, the amendment sought by Sexton “will expand the judicial branch’s flexibility to hold without bail for violent criminals.”
The amendment would especially focus on withholding particularly heinous crimes that may not result in death, and the spokesman highlighted such crimes as the rape of a child, especially aggravated kidnapping, and 2nd degree murder.
It would also require judges to explain their reasons for denying or allowing bail, which Sexton’s office said will provide added transparency to the state’s judicial system.
Cameron’s office also provided five cases where the ability to deny bail could have kept violent criminals off the streets before they committed additional crimes.
The first case highlighted by Cameron’s office in an email to The Star was Cornel Oliver, who was released on bail in December 2021 for first degree murder charges dating to 2010. After being granted bail, Oliver was arrested again for aggravated domestic assault in January 2022.
Mark Ellis was similarly on bond for 2018 murder charges, explained Sexton’s office, when he was charged with possessing weapons and drugs following a shooting at a Waffle House that left three injured with gunshot wounds.
A third case highlighted by Sexton’s office was that of Joshua Aretz, who was on bond in 2014 for homicide charges when he murdered a Fort Campbell soldier in 2015. He pleaded guilty to both crimes in 2017.
Another man, Timothy Frazier, was similarly free on bail for charges related to a 2018 shooting death when he was arrested again in 2022 and charged with firearms violations and possessing drugs.
The fifth criminal referenced by Sexton’s office was Davion Buford, an associate of Frazier’s, who was out on bail after allegedly shooting three teenagers during a robbery before being arrested again in 2022 and charged with gun and drug crimes.
According to Sexton’s office, all five men could have been kept behind bars with the constitutional amendment proposed last week.
“We are looking forward to working with Majority Leader Johnson and the General Assembly to build safer communities across Tennessee,” Sexton’s spokesman confirmed.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “State House Speaker Cameron Sexton (right) and State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (left)” by Speaker Cameron Sexton.
So it would appear that it was more important for our elected officials to waste taxpayer time and money on thousands of useless pieces of legislation rather than focus on an actual function of government like public safety. Criminals need to remain behind bars while they await adjudication of their latest criminal act. Civil rights are afforded those who behave in a civil society. We have jails so we can maintain a civil society, lets use them.