Governor to Consider Three for New Judgeship in 13th Judicial District

July 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Trial Court Vacancy Commission met Tuesday, July 18, in Crossville to select nominees for a newly created criminal court judge position in the 13th judicial district, which includes Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, and White counties. The new judicial position was created by the Tennessee General Assembly this year and is effective September 1, 2023.

After holding a public hearing and conducting public interviews, the Commission selected the following nominees to forward to Governor Bill Lee for his consideration:

Shawn C. Fry of Cookeville

Brandon Scott Griffin of Sparta

Benjamin Marsee of Cookeville

*Fry, age 54, is an attorney at Fry, Fry, Knight & Looper, Attorneys at Law in Cookeville. Fry was licensed to practice law in 1996.

*Griffin, age 34, is in the private practice of law as owner of Griffin Law Group, PLLC in Sparta. He was licensed to practice law in 2013

*Marsee, age 40, is an assistant public defender for the 13th judicial district and works part time as an adjunct professor of law in the Business Department at Tennessee Tech University. He was licensed to practice law in 2008.

Other applicants for the position were William Nicholas Blaylock of Sparta and Rebecca Brady of Baxter.

The governor will soon appoint one of the applicants to serve as judge and the person so appointed shall serve in that capacity until September 1, 2024, or until the person’s successor is elected and qualified. At the August 2024 general election, the qualified voters of the thirteenth judicial district shall elect, in accordance with § 16-2-505, one (1) person to serve as judge of part III of the circuit court created by this section. The person so elected at the August 2024 election shall hold office until September 1, 2030, or until the person’s successor is elected and qualified. Thereafter, the judge of part III of the circuit court shall be elected for a full eight-year term.

July 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Let’s get together!

In an effort to make a close-knit community even closer, local resident Wanda Redmon is inviting members of the Keltonburg and Jefferson Communities to a “Meet and Greet” Saturday, July 22 from 3-5 p.m. at the Keltonburg Community Center.

Redmon said its an opportunity for new residents of the community and those born and raised there to get to know each other better and for the newcomers to learn more about their neighborhood.

Light refreshments will be served.

If it’s a success, Redmon said more community events may be held on occasion.

Wanda explained how she got this idea.

“It started when the Belk community last year started doing things getting their families together. We used to do that at Keltonburg. We used to have family get together and community events here and that’s what I want us to do again so I rented the Keltonburg Community Center for this Saturday, July 22 for a meet and greet,” said Redmon.

“Several months ago I met some people who had moved here but they knew no one in the community and had no knowledge of services like our fire department. My desire is to encourage people to get together and get involved to strengthen our volunteer community services like the fire department. We have thriving businesses here. Our community is growing from Keltonburg to Jefferson and Pates Ford and Keltonburg is a drive through on the way to Rock Island. We want to make everyone feel welcome at Keltonburg and show others that this community loves serving people.”

“This will be our first meet and greet Saturday but we are planning a date in October for a fall festival. Maybe by then we can have even more people involved to offer a day of fun activities for kids and adults,” said Redmon.

July 18, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A Smithville woman believed to have been responsible for a recent rash of burglaries and thefts from a Nashville Highway storage unit business in DeKalb County was sentenced for the crimes in DeKalb County Criminal Court Tuesday, July 18.

23-year-old Jessie Danielle Murphy of Fisher Avenue, Smithville entered a plea by criminal information to five counts of burglary. She received two years in one count and four years in each of the other counts all to run concurrently with each other to be suspended. She will be on supervised probation. Murphy was ordered to make restitution to the victims in the following amounts: $60, $95, $1,000, $1,450, and $4,430 jointly and severally with a co-defendant. She was given jail credit for 143 days.

Her co-defendant, 24-year-old Nicholas Braedan Booher of Byrdstown entered a plea by criminal information on May 2 to 5 counts of burglary other than a habitation and received a 4-year sentence in each case to run concurrently with each other for a total of 4 years, but he will be on probation. Booher must make restitution to the victims. The sentence is to run consecutively to a Pickett County Criminal Court violation of probation case against him. He was given jail credit of 70 days.

The arrests of Booher and Murphy were made after an investigation by a Sheriff’s Department Detective.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on January 5 and February 17, 2023 Booher and Murphy broke into and stole items from several storage units being rented by a total of five victims.

In each case, Sheriff Ray explained what was stolen as follows:

*January 5, a storage unit was broken into, and items stolen included several tools, a 40-inch Smart television, plates and antique chairs.

*February 17, a storage unit was broken into, and items stolen included a black safe, a wedding band with diamonds, four silver bars, and a golden class ring.

* February 17, a storage unit was broken into, and items stolen included two firearms, assorted currency, jewelry, clothes, and other assorted items.

*February 17, a storage unit was broken into, and items stolen included three Easter baskets with content, a Halloween basket, and a master lock.

*February 17, a storage unit was broken into, and items stolen included a green air compressor and a master lock.

In other cases, 47-year-old Gregory Michael Patton entered a plea to aggravated burglary and theft over $10,000. He received a three-year sentence in the burglary case and five years for the theft to be run consecutively for a total of eight years and concurrently with a Robertson County case against him. He was given jail credit of 497 days. Patton is to serve at least 30% of the term before his release eligibility date on parole and the case is to be furloughed to the 13th Judicial District Recovery Court.

Sheriff Ray said that on Thursday, June 11, 2020 Patton broke into a home on Adcock Cemetery Road and stole $1,000 worth of property and then stole from the residence a 2015 Toyota Corolla valued at $12,000.

20-year-old Triveon Crutcher entered a plea to attempted aggravated assault and received a two-year sentence all suspended to supervised probation and judicial diversion.

39-year-old Dusten Ryan O’Conner entered a plea to reckless aggravated assault and received a two-year TDOC sentence suspended to supervised probation on judicial diversion.

48-year-old Jimmy Page entered a plea to filing a false report and received a sentence of three years all suspended to supervised probation to run concurrently with a general sessions court violation of probation against him.

44-year-old Candace Walker entered a plea to a first offense of driving under the influence and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days all suspended to supervised probation except for seven days to serve. She will lose her driver license for a period of time and she must undergo an alcohol and drug assessment and attend DUI school. Walker was fined $360.

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