Category: News

On Thursday February 11th the Tennessee Highway Patrol stooped a vehicle for a traffic violation on Interstate 24 at mile marker 114. Upon making contact with a male subject he could no produce a valid driver’s license. The patrolman ran a check of his driving status and it revealed it to be revoked/suspended. Upon placing the man under arrest he was searched and the trooper allegedly found a small bag of green leafy substance believe to be marijuana on the man’s person and a marijuana blunt in his vehicle.
A criminal check of the subject found him to be wanted out of the state of Indiana.
Caesar Reynolds age 47 of Indianapolis, IN was charged with being a fugitive from justice, simple possession and driving on revoked/suspended. His bond was set at $503,000 and has a court date of March 22.

On Saturday (February 13, 2016) Coffee County deputies responded four times to 290 Shelley Rd near Manchester on calls from a subject against his landlord. As a deputy was trying to access the situation, the man allegedly threatened the landlord. The man, James William Newsom age 33 of Shelly Rd Manchester failed to comply with officer’s request. According to the arrest warrant, when the deputy entered the home and told Newsom he was under arrest and got one handcuff on him he would not comply and started fighting the deputy. Other deputies had arrived on the scene and assisted and to get the man to his feet and against the door and were successful in cuffing the other hand. While in transport to the Coffee County jail, Newsom allegedly threatened to burn all the trailers on Shelley Road. The warrant goes onto to say Newsom threatened that when he gets out of jail, he would do bodily harm to the landlord.
Newsom was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault. His bond was set at $12,500 and a court date of March 14.

President Barack Obama has included an additional $41 million in funding for rape kit testing reform in his 2017 budget.
If it survives the contentious federal budgeting process, the money could help process the more than 9,000 untested rape kits at Tennessee law enforcement agencies, some as many as 30 years old.
Ilse Knecht is a senior adviser for policy and advocacy with the Joyful Hearts Foundation, a group sponsoring an End the Backlog initiative. She says the money would go a long way toward increased justice and community safety.
“Every day, we see stories of rape kits connecting to a known offender and it’s really a testament to how this program can work and is working across the country and this money is so important to communities, like Memphis,” she states.
Other federal funding has already been granted to some cities, including Memphis, where recent testing resulted in the arrest of a man in a second rape case.
Memphis still has an estimated backlog of 7,000 untested rape kits. Last year, Gov. Bill Haslam signed legislation creating protocol for how the kits are collected, with some going to police and others to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for forensic analysis.
Knecht says some of the funding would support programs to help victims who discover their attacker has been caught as a result of rape kit testing.
“Every rape kit represents a sexual assault survivor, and each one of those survivors deserves to be supported through the process of re-engaging with the system, so that we’re not doing more harm when we ask them to come back into the justice system, so many years later,” she stresses.
Knecht says the End the Backlog initiative is using public records requests to pinpoint the number of untested rape kits at the Tennessee Crime Lab.
It’s also working to identify the same information in Nashville, where research so far indicates 4,500 kits, some dating back to 1995, were sent to the state lab for processing in August 2014.

The 2012 first degree murder conviction of Jeffrey Smithson has been upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee.
Smithson was found guilty by a Coffee County Circuit Court Jury of first degree felony murder, theft over $1,000, first degree premeditated murdered and especially aggravated robbery in the murder of his 81-year-old aunt Virginia White in her residence in Manchester Aug. 16, 2011.
The appeals court judges noted that Judge Jackson concluded that “there was no evidence that Smithson’s statement was involuntary or that he did not know what he was doing when he made statements to police” and the judge denied Smithson’s request to suppress those statements.
The appeals court upheld Smithson’s life in prison sentence for the murder. He was also sentenced to 12 years for theft over $1,000 and 25 years for especially aggravated robbery.
He remains in custody of the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

The roof at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza (CCAP) has not been replaced since 1996 so at a recent meeting the Coffee County Capital Outlay Committee says it will seek a $575,000, five-year capital outlay note to replace the roof.
Coffee County accepted a $429,753 bid for the roof replacement. The bid comes with a 25-year labor and materials warranty.
The extra $145,247 built into the loan is meant to cover expected, unknown costs.
The $575,000 capital outlay note requires approval by the Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee before coming up for vote at the full Coffee County Commission meeting on March 8.

Early voting continues until Tuesday, February 23. Early Voting Hours: Manchester: Coffee County Administrative Plaza 1329 McArthur Street, Suite 6, Monday-Friday 8:00AM-4:30PM and Saturday 8:30-12:00 PM. In Tullahoma: C.D. Stamps Community Center 810 South Jackson Street, Monday-Friday 9:00AM-4:30 PM and Saturday 9:00-12:00 PM. Tennesseans must bring valid state or federal photo identification with them to the polls. On the ballot; Presidential preference primary for presidential candidates and the following offices will be on the March County Primary ballot: Public Defender (unexpired six (6) year term), Assessor of Property, Constable – Seat 4 – Dist. 3, 14 & 16 (unexpired two (2) year term), Constable – Seat 7 – Dist. 17, 19 & 20 (unexpired two (2) year term). District Offices are elected by voters living in those areas.
One person qualified Public Defender, John E. Nicoll who is a Republican. For Assessor of Property, Larry McIntosh, Roseanne Carden Riddle and Beverly H. Robertson, all republicans. For Constable – Seat 4 Democrat Danny Davis with no candidate qualified for District 7 Constable. For more information on Coffee County elections call 931-723-5103 or check out their website at www.coffeecountyelectioncommission.com