Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Whiskey suit, bus stop shooting in Nashville courts, crime – Legal Perspective
Tennessee whiskey brand Uncle Nearest’s CEO Fawn Weaver sued the creditor she’s currently facing in ongoing debt litigation last week, accusing it of knowingly spreading false information about the company’s finances. Weaver, along with husband Keith Weaver and her investment firm Grant Sidney, sued lender Farm Credit Mid-America in New York court on March 13.
That was just one of the legal developments for Weaver, who has been sidelined since a judge appointed a receiver to run Uncle Nearest in August. Weaver hoped filing for bankruptcy would put her back in control of the Tennessee whiskey company she founded, but her plans were blocked by a federal judge.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Suzanne Bauknight said Fawn Weaver violated a receivership order put in place in debt litigation, which limited her work to just marketing and managing Uncle Nearest’s brand. The receiver, Nashville attorney Phillip Young, has asked the district judge in the case to sanction Weaver $75,000.
Arrested journalist released on bond
Nashville Noticias journalist Estefany Rodriguez, arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in a gym parking lot March 4, was granted $10,000 bond on March 17. Rodriguez was released from custody the afternoon of March 19, according to a press release from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Right Coalition.
Rodriguez mounted a swift legal challenge to her detention just hours after her arrest, supported by attorneys Michael Holley and Joel Coxander and others from TIRRC. Procedural and technical issues kept her behind bars after being granted bond.
After her release, her attorneys are still seeking an order prohibiting ICE from arresting or “mistreating her in a similar way in the future,” according to court filings and the news release.
One homicide reported, arrests in another
Nashville Police launched one homicide investigation and arrested two teens in a separate case this week.
Officers were called to a wooded area in North Nashville around Doverside and Oakview Drives March 17 after a passerby reported they’d found a man dead.
Police identified the victim, who’d been shot, as 27-year-old Trevett Cole Rash.
Anyone with information about Rash or his death are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
Nashville Police also arrested two teens, ages 15 and 16, in connection with a February homicide investigation, the department said in a statement March 18.
Domenique Harris, 18, was killed in what police called a targeted shooting at an apartment complex on Highway 70 South Feb. 21. Officers found Harris on the ground in front of a vacant apartment under renovation. He’d been shot multiple times and died at the scene.
Police said the two teens charged “admitted to their involvement” in Harris’ death. The Tennessean is not naming the two teens as they’re charged in juvenile court.
Pedestrian killed in hit and run
Clifford Coleman, 68, was crossing Ewing Drive in the westbound lane of traffic March 16 when he was hit by a pickup truck just after 6 p.m., Metro Nashville Police said in a statement the next morning.
He was rushed from the scene to Skyline Medical Center, where he died overnight, police said.
A witness followed the truck, which fled the scene, to a home on Vista Lane and reported it to police, the department said. The driver of the Dodge Dakota involved in the wreck, 66-year-old Beverly Jackson, admitted to hitting Coleman, police said.
Jackson was initially issued citations for leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident, but the charges will be upgraded considering Coleman’s death, police said.
Shoving match at WeGo bus stop ends in shooting
Nashville police arrested a 66-year-old man after he shot another man at a WeGo bus stop on Murfreesboro Pike March 18, the department said in a statement.
The victim told police he was at the bus stop getting ready to board when he was pushed from behind. The man turned around and pushed the 66-year-old man back. The man then shot the victim once in the chest.
“The bus driver said when she pulled up and opened the doors, two men were fighting over who would board first,” police said in their statement.
When the man pulled a gun, the driver closed the doors and drove a short distance to get out of the line of fire, police said. The suspect then walked away from the scene.
Officers responded to the scene and rendered aid to the victim until he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The suspect was found walking on Plus Park Boulevard. Police detained and disarmed the man, who’d stowed the pistol in his waistband, police said.
The man was booked in the Downtown Detention Center on charges of aggravated assault and felony gun possession with bond set at $75,000.