Father Blames Nashville Judge Cheryl Blackburn for Reducing Alleged Killer’s Bond Prior to Daughter’s Murder

Judge Cheryl Blackburn

A Mississippi father traveled to Tennessee on Thursday for a Nashville court hearing, outside which he blamed Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn for creating the circumstances that preceded the murder of Lauren Johansen, his 22-year-old daughter.

Bricen Rivers stands accused of killing Lauren Johansen after he was released from a Nashville jail on a $250,000 bond, which Blackburn had just reduced from $350,000. Rivers was in jail after his December 2023 arrest for the alleged kidnapping and beating of Lauren Johansen that occurred while the two visited Nashville.

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