Matthew Charles was sentenced to a 35-year prison sentence in 1996 for trafficking in crack cocaine.
Shortly after Congress passed and former President Donald Trump signed the First Step Act in December 2018, a judge ordered Charles released.
As someone who spent 22 years in prison, I know first-hand that you are not the same person at sentencing that you are when you are released – and that there is too often not a path to have an excessive sentence reconsidered.
I was the first person released under the federal First Step Act, landmark federal legislation signed by President Trump.
When I started my 35-year prison sentence for selling drugs, I experienced a radical transformation by reading the Bible and becoming a Christian. I took every Bible study and educational class I could, became a tutor and then a law clerk, started serving others in prison, and didn’t receive a single disciplinary infraction.
March 11, 2021
A resolution designed to remove Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle from the bench may have died, but other legislation is pending that could move cases against the state out of Davidson County into more conservative parts of Tennessee.
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Cases against the state of Tennessee are filed in Davidson County courts because the State Capitol is located in Nashville.
But state Sen. Mike Bell, a Riceville Republican from southeast Tennessee, said Wednesday he is planning to introduce legislation that would move cases against the state to different judicial jurisdictions, either surrounding counties or into one of the state s three grand divisions. He also mentioned the possibility of setting up judicial panels to hear those cases.
March 10, 2021
A resolution to remove Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle over her ruling last year to expand absentee voting during the pandemic is dead after the measure failed to clear a necessary House subcommittee.
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Republican lawmakers targeted Lyle over her ruling that fear of COVID-19 was an adequate reason to request an absentee ballot.
The resolution s lead sponsor, state Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, said Lyle attempted to disregard state law and implement her own rules, personal opinions and policies that were in direct contradiction of existing state law.
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The legislation, which would have enabled state Speaker Cameron Sexton to appoint a committee to consider removing Lyle, failed to advance in the House civil justice subcommittee. A companion resolution was filed last week in the Senate by Sen. Frank Niceley.
A Dickson state representative who leads the criminal justice committee that approved the governor’s permitless gun carry bill Wednesday said he understands law enforcement concerns including former Dickson County sheriff Jeff Bledsoe who heads the state sheriff association.
But Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, believes the legislation unburdens law-abiding citizens and “hammers people who actually misbehave with guns.” The governor is going about it in the most reasoned way possible…,” Curcio said. We are basically just removing that penalty from people who are otherwise lawful who just happened to be carrying a gun.”
The legislation would allow for both open and concealed carrying of handguns for people 21 and older without a permit, as well as for military members ages 18 to 20.