Tennessee State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis) two bills this week that would tighten Tennessee’s bail laws, requiring judges to consider juvenile records and pretrial reports when considering whether a minor defendant is eligible for release, and changing the standards for bail to automatically preclude those accused of crimes involving firearms, serious injury, or death.
Gillespie filed HB 33 on Wednesday, would change Tennessee law to establish “a presumption that a defendant should not be released” from jail should the circumstances of their charges include, “the use or display of a firearm,” or if their alleged crimes “resulted in the serious bodily injury or death of the victim.”
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