Brief filed: 04/26/2019
Documents
In re: Petition to Stay Effectiveness of Formal Ethics Opinion 2017-F-163 and Petition to Vacate Formal Ethics Opinion 2017-F-163
Supreme Court of Tennessee; Case No. M2018-01932-SC-BAR-BP
Argument(s)
The plain language of the rule, consistent with the board’s interpretation, requires disclosure of all information that negates guilt, not merely information that may qualify as “material” under Brady. Further, the language requires such disclosure occur in an expeditious manner. Public policy is served by having an ethical rule that does not merely track the constitutional minimum. The board has not engaged in improper rule making but has interpreted a properly-adopted rule.
Author(s)
Henry Martin, Federal Public Defender, M.D. Tn., Nashville, TN; Elizabeth Ford, Federal Community Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Knoxville, TN; Doris Randle-Holt, Western District of Tennessee, Memphis, TN; Jonathan Harwell and Jeff Cherry, TACDL, Nashville, TN; Stephen Ross Johnson, Ritchie, Dillard, Davies & Johnson, Knoxville, TN.
