February 4, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Should a juvenile charged in a serious crime such as first-degree murder automatically be transferred to the criminal court for prosecution as an adult?
State Representative Michael Hale is sponsoring a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly called “Ed’s Law” that would change the statute in Tennessee to make that happen. Under the bill, the law would require a juvenile accused of certain criminal offenses to be transferred from juvenile court to criminal court to be tried as an adult if the juvenile court finds probable cause that the juvenile committed the act.
The bill is named in memory of Edward Lemons who lost his life in a fire at his DeKalb County home in December, 2021. Lemons’ 15-year-old son Alex was named in a juvenile petition last April charging him with the delinquent act of aggravated arson and first-degree murder in the death of his father. The case was later adjudicated in juvenile court but because of a gag order put down by the judge, the outcome was not made public.
“I named the bill in tribute to Ed,” said Representative Hale. “I just felt as I think the general public has felt based on responses I have had back, that maybe the (Lemons’) case should have been handled differently especially because of the seriousness of it and feeling that a juvenile will basically be free at 21 for the seriousness of a first-degree murder case,” he added.
According to State Representative Hale, the proposed new law would change the role district attorneys play in the process of transferring a juvenile case to criminal court.
“Many times, the DA can decide whether or not a transfer hearing is held and if they decide not to then that case is handled in juvenile court and then the offenders are sentenced as a juvenile regardless of what the offense is or how serious it is. Basically, this would remove these transfer hearings from the DA being able to decide on serious offenses such as first-degree murder. I think in these violent serious crimes, it shouldn’t be in the hands of a local DA to make that decision. The case should be presented in criminal court to decide what the punishment or sentence should be after the defense and prosecution have presented their case,” said Representative Hale.
Although he came up with the idea for Ed’s Law, Hale said the Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton had been thinking along the same lines. “The speaker called me after I had filed the bill and asked me what I was trying to do. He said I have something similar. His remark was this is a serious thing across the state we have to fix so even the Speaker is involved in getting this changed,” said Hale.
The Ed’s Law legislation is being sponsored in the State Senate by Senator Janice Bowling of Tullahoma who also represents DeKalb County.