Courts

Suspect who stabbed sister plans to be his own attorney (04/21/08)
A 33-year-old man accused of repeatedly stabbing his sister intends to represent himself in court. Tony Adams, 412 Anchorage, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with attempted first-degree murder. His sister, Teresa Adams, received nine stab wounds on her back, arm and head...

State seeks to cancel diversion for former Tiptonville firefighters (04/03/08)
Two men who were sentenced in a series of Tiptonville fires could face additional sanctions. Both of the men -- James Blackburn and his grandson, Brandon Blackburn -- were placed on two years of pretrial diversion in September. The district attorney general's office has filed petitions asking that the diversion be terminated...

17-year-old charged with rape (04/02/08)
A 17-year-old was transferred to Dyer County Circuit Court on Tuesday to face rape and aggravated sexual battery charges as an adult. Timothy Andrew Pettie, no address listed, Dyersburg, was transported from Youth Villages in Memphis after a 30-day evaluation ordered in February by Juvenile Court Judge Tony Childress. He was charged with rape of child (less than 13 years of age) and aggravated sexual battery...

Charges dropped against man accused of two murders (03/26/08)
Murder charges against a Dyersburg man were dropped Tuesday, March 25, in Dyer County Circuit Court. District Attorney General Phil Bivens announced that he did not intent to prosecute Aubrey Tremayne Eison on two counts of first-degree murder. Bivens explained that he's waiting for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to complete tests on evidence in the case. The test results were not going to be ready in time for the April 9 trial...

Woman ordered to repay child's transplant fund (03/25/08)
A Dyersburg woman must repay $10,590 missing from her grandson's transplant fund, a circuit court judge declared Monday afternoon. Phyllis D. Vaughn, 57, 711 Wendell Ave., was charged with theft of property in excess of $10,000. She and her husband, Charles Norman Vaughn Sr., were in charge of a fund to benefit their grandson, Odell Terry, a teen-aged cystic fibrosis patient...