Tennessee - Houston Stringer

Court upholds conviction of Tennessee nurse practitioner for prescribing opioids to pregnant patient

29Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Tennessee

Court upholds conviction of Tennessee nurse practitioner for prescribing opioids to pregnant patient

MEMPHIS, TN – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the conviction of nurse practitioner Jeffrey W. Young Jr., who was found guilty of illegally prescribing controlled substances to hundreds of patients, including six prescriptions to a pregnant woman. Young owned Preventagenix, a medical clinic in North Jackson, Tennessee, that operated from 2014 to 2017. Although initially marketed as a family medicine practice, the clinic shifted toward pain management and addiction treatment, where approximately 80 percent of patients received controlled substance prescriptions. Prosecutors presented evidence that Young prescribed opioids to a woman during her pregnancy, despite knowing her addiction history and the risks to her unborn child. Expert testimony indicated the ...

Court allows excessive force lawsuit to proceed against one officer in fatal Nashville shooting

18Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee

Court allows excessive force lawsuit to proceed against one officer in fatal Nashville shooting

NASHVILLE, TN, October 17, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that a lawsuit filed by the widow of Landon Eastep may proceed against one Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officer accused of using excessive force, while granting qualified immunity to eight other officers involved in the fatal 2022 highway shooting. The case stems from a 35-minute standoff on Interstate 65, where nine officers from multiple agencies fired approximately 33 rounds at Eastep, striking him 12 times. Video evidence confirmed that Eastep, who had initially displayed a box cutter, was shot after raising an unidentified object that officers mistook for a firearm. According to court documents, the Sixth Circuit found that most officers acted reasonably in using deadly fo...

Court upholds search of Cleveland man’s home in drug and firearms case

18Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee

Court upholds search of Cleveland man’s home in drug and firearms case

CLEVELAND, OH, October 17, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence filed by Devin Long, who pleaded guilty to federal drug and firearms charges after officers recovered narcotics and weapons from his home. According to court records, Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers began investigating a drug trafficking network involving methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine. During multiple controlled buys, investigators observed Long coordinating with other suspects and engaging in what they believed to be drug transactions. Surveillance linked Long to a residence on East 35th Street, which he had registered with the Ohio Adult Parole Authority as his home address. A federal magistrate judge authorized ...

Court upholds dismissal of former Michigan corrections officer’s lawsuit over termination

18Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee

Court upholds dismissal of former Michigan corrections officer’s lawsuit over termination

GRAND RAPIDS, MI, October 17, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by former Michigan Department of Corrections officer Charles Bozzo, who alleged that his firing in 2019 violated his constitutional right to due process. Bozzo sued MDOC Director Heidi Washington and Discipline Coordinator Jennifer Nanasy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the department relied on false allegations and an unfair arbitration process to terminate him following workplace misconduct complaints. The district court dismissed the suit as time-barred and for failure to state a claim. According to the ruling, Bozzo was terminated on July 31, 2019, after a coworker accused him of making harassing remarks. He pursued arbitration through his u...

Court denies Guatemalan man’s appeal to reopen immigration case for voluntary departure

18Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee

Court denies Guatemalan man’s appeal to reopen immigration case for voluntary departure

CINCINNATI, OH, October 17, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has denied a petition from Guatemalan national Juan Carlos Pastor-Hernandez, who sought to reopen his removal proceedings in order to apply for voluntary departure from the United States. According to court records, Pastor-Hernandez entered the country illegally in 2014 and was ordered removed after his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture were denied. He later sought to reopen his case following the Supreme Court’s decision in Niz-Chavez v. Garland, arguing that the ruling allowed him to pursue voluntary departure because his initial notice to appear did not meet statutory requirements. To qualify for voluntary departure, immigrants m...

Sixth Circuit upholds firearms trafficking enhancement in Elias Pagan case involving undercover gun and drug sales

16Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee

Sixth Circuit upholds firearms trafficking enhancement in Elias Pagan case involving undercover gun and drug sales

CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed the firearms trafficking sentencing enhancement imposed on Elias Pagan, who pleaded guilty to multiple drug and firearm offenses after selling crack cocaine and firearms to an undercover agent in Cleveland. Pagan sold five firearms and crack cocaine across multiple transactions in 2023. The undercover agent, posing as a buyer, asked about illegal firearm modifications, used a hidden compartment in his vehicle, and bought drugs—factors the court found sufficient to establish Pagan had “reason to believe” the firearms would be used unlawfully. This met the criteria for the trafficking enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5) (2021). The court rejected Pagan’s argument that the enhancement amounted to impr...

Sixth Circuit denies Amir Beigali’s appeal for sentence reduction tied to stacked firearm convictions

16Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Louisiana, Michigan, Tennessee

Sixth Circuit denies Amir Beigali’s appeal for sentence reduction tied to stacked firearm convictions

CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has denied Amir Karim Beigali’s appeal seeking a sentence reduction based on changes under the First Step Act and amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. Beigali, currently serving a 35-year federal sentence for attempting to possess cocaine and for a second conviction of using a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, argued that recent legal changes—particularly the First Step Act’s revision to the “stacking” provision under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)—should entitle him to a sentence reduction. He also cited Amendments 814 and 821 to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which address unusually long sentences and criminal history scoring. The Sixth Circuit upheld the district court’s decision, finding that Bei...

Sixth Circuit denies asylum to Honduran woman who fled gang threats as child

16Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee

Sixth Circuit denies asylum to Honduran woman who fled gang threats as child

CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied Carmen Odalis Cabrera-Hernandez’s petition for review after the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejected her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Cabrera-Hernandez, a native of Honduras, unlawfully entered the United States in 2014 at the age of 12 after receiving threats from gang members who later kidnapped her friend and allegedly murdered her uncle. She claimed fear of being kidnapped or killed if forced to return to Honduras, citing distrust in local police and lack of family protection. The Immigration Judge (IJ) found her proposed social groups—“Honduran women,” “Honduran females between the ages of 5 and 21,” and “Honduran females betw...

Court rules Michigan school district may prohibit ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sweatshirts under vulgarity policy

14Oct

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, U.S.

Court rules Michigan school district may prohibit ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sweatshirts under vulgarity policy

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a Michigan school district’s decision to prohibit two students from wearing sweatshirts bearing the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon,” ruling that the phrase could be reasonably interpreted as vulgar and thus subject to regulation under the First Amendment’s student speech exceptions. According to Case No. 24-1769 filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan and appealed to the Sixth Circuit, two middle school students in Howard City wore sweatshirts to school in 2022 with the phrase widely understood as a euphemism for “F--- Joe Biden.” School administrators requested they remove the garments, citing the district’s dress code prohibiting vulgar or profane attire. The students’ mother, iden...

Memphis man convicted of possessing homemade knives in detention center

30Sep

By Houston StringerNo Comments

Tennessee

Memphis man convicted of possessing homemade knives in detention center

MEMPHIS, TN (Sept. 30, 2025) - According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, a federal jury in Memphis convicted Mervin Anderson, 40, of one count of possession of contraband in prison for possessing two homemade metal knives, commonly known as shanks. Court records and evidence presented at trial show Anderson was observed on video surveillance inside the detention center wielding two sharpened, handmade metal knives and confronting another inmate while swinging the shanks. A corrections officer responded to the cell block and recovered the weapons. When the shanks were taken from Anderson, he allegedly said, “God is on my side, I was about to kill that boy,” according to court filings. Anderson faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Se...