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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

 The race for Elizabethton municipal judge in the Nov. 5 election is shaping up to be the third rematch between Municipal Judge Jason Lee Holly and Teresa Murray Smith, who held the post for three months in 2020 and was the city’s first female city judge.

 City Council elected Holly as interim city judge in February 2020, succeeding T.J. Little Jr., who died Dec. 28, 2019, leaving the city without a judge. Little had been in the post since 2007. The following August, Holly failed in a bid to fill Little’s unexpired term, losing to Smith. However, Holly defeated Smith in the November 2020 election.

 Smith announced her renewed candidacy in an email on Monday to The Elizabethton Star, saying she decided to run “after some of our city’s leaders advised me of several embarrassing events that have occurred recently.” While she identified neither the city leaders nor the specifics behind the events that led to her decision, her statements suggest she is referring to an action taken by the Supreme Court of Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which in July issued a notice of noncompliance regarding Municipal Judge Jason Lee Holly and continuing legal education (CLE) requirements.

 In her announcement, Smith paints a scene where court is suspended, creating an “inconvenience and burden to other judges” and “those presenting their voices before the court having to take time off from their personal responsibilities to appear, only to have to reschedule.”

 The scene is like that which occurred over the summer.

 On July 10, AOC General Counsel John Coke notified the city by letter that “previous notices” had been sent to Holly, advising him that he had not complied with state law that requires municipal judges to annually attend three hours of continuing legal education (CLE) provided by the AOC.

 “As stated in those previous notices, judges who are not in compliance at the end of the previous calendar year have a grace period until June 30th of the following year to comply with the CLE requirement,” the letter said, adding that if a municipal judge fails to complete the CLE requirements by that date, “all subsequent judgments shall be null and void, and of no effect, until such a time as the requirements are met.”

 In a July 15 email to City Council members, City Manager Daniel Estes said he had notified City Attorney Roger Day of the judicial notice of noncompliance and requested that “no matters be heard by the court until this issue is resolved.”

 

Holly’s Course of Action

 A city official provided The Star with a copy of the letter and Estes’ email on July 17 and a reporter contacted Holly. The judge said the courses had been completed and on July 18 provided as proof screenshots of emails, including one from Lainey Crawford of the AOC’s Judicial Education Division. The undated screenshot shows Crawford saying, “We have received those hours and will get them processed as soon as we can. You can expect certificates of completion via email sometime today. This takes care of the 3 hours for 2023’s requirement. However, please remember to complete additional hours on the TMJC portion of our website to satisfy 2024’s requirement.”

 In response to a records request, the AOC provided a July 18 email sent to Holly stating the two courses had been completed and provided certificates of completion for those.

 When contacted by email about the AOC’s July 10 letter, Holly responded, saying, “Roger (Day) and I spoke when he received the notice and I immediately took steps to correct. When Roger contacted me was the first time I knew about it.”

 But it was not the first time Holly had received a letter from the AOC regarding continuing education. In response to a July 25 open records request by a reporter, the AOC on Aug. 22 provided copies of past letters sent to Holly with respect to his completing CLE requirements:

 — one on Jan. 25, 2023, stating that at that point, he had not completed CLE training for 2022 and warning that the grace period would end on June 30;

 — one on Jan. 25 of this year, stating that at that point he had not completed CLE training for 2023 and warning that the grace period would end on June 30; and

 — the July 10 letter indicating that he had not completed the 2023 courses as of that date.

 According to the city attorney, Holly’s delay in meeting the CLE requirements and the subsequent action by the AOC did create a bit of a problem in that there were two days when cases could not be heard. “I was here, the clerk was here, we couldn’t hold court, and everybody that showed up, I reset them because there was nothing we could do,” Day said.

 Day also said there were two days when court was held – July 10 and 11 — “not realizing that everything we did was null and void, so we had to go back and undo everything.” The city attorney said Municipal Court Clerk Grace Grindstaff had to contact the Tennessee Department of Safety concerning traffic violation decisions and advise the department to disregard those actions.

 

About the Candidates

 According to the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, Holly has been licensed to practice law in Tennessee since 2005. He is a 1996 graduate of University of Tennessee and a 2000 graduate of Cumberland School of Law of Samford University.

 In her announcement, Smith notes she is a 1971 graduate of Elizabethton High School, a 1975 graduate of East Tennessee State University, and a 1977 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. She passed the Tennessee Bar examination in spring of 1978 and practiced in Elizabethton for a few months before accepting a position as assistant district attorney in Carter County and then assistant district attorney in Sullivan County before retiring in 2008. She later came out of retirement to practice law in Blountville before retiring again.

 “I have kept my law license in good standing but have not maintained a law office,” Smith said. “I do occasionally draft legal documents, such as deeds, powers of attorney and the like for family and friends.”

 According to the Administrative Office of the Courts in Tennessee, municipal courts, sometimes called “city courts,” hear cases involving violations of municipal ordinances, such as traffic violations, leash laws, or other ordinances found in city codes. A municipal court can generally impose a fine of up to $50 plus court costs for violations; however, in some instances, a civil penalty can be as high as $500.

 The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 5 election is Monday, Oct. 7. Early voting runs from Wednesday, Oct. 16, through Thursday, Oct. 31. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 29.