Cut 'Em Loose, Round 'Em Up, Then Do It All Over Again

You may recall the Banner’s recent story about Davidson County’s runaway grand jury that returned 47 no true bills in the first quarter of 2025. Essentially, a "no true bill" means the jury does not think the prosecution has the evidence to proceed with a case. To put it into perspective, over the entire course of 2024, the total number of no true bills was 10.

The news caused a stir, especially since the cases that were dropped included aggravated arson, robbery, and murder. Unless the individuals in custody for the dismissed cases are being held due to another indictment or criminal offense, they’ve been released. 

That said, the district attorney can choose to resubmit any of the no true bill cases, at which point Metro Nashville Police Department will have to round up those individuals once again. Given the anomaly of the grand jury’s conclusions and the severity of some of the cases, it seems likely. If so, the prosecution will have their work cut out for them in the battle of optics and public opinion.

Though it’s not required, if cases are brought back before another grand jury, new, compelling evidence may be presented in hopes of avoiding scrutiny and another dismissal. There is also the matter of the statute of limitations for certain offenses. While serious crimes, like murder, have no statute of limitations in Tennessee, lesser offenses, like misdemeanors, have shorter windows. The District Attorney’s Office has not confirmed if or when it will bring back any of last quarter’s no true bill cases.

It’s worth noting that, aside from the high no true bill count, this grand jury also recommended the probe into MNPD and asked the DA to appoint a special prosecutor to look into last year’s whistleblower complaint about department misconduct.

Nashville attorney and the lawyer who represented the Fraternal Order of Police in their lawsuit opposing a referendum to establish a community board to oversee MNPD, David Raybin, expressed his misgivings about the situation to the Banner. “If these were very low-level shoplifting kind of things, I could understand that,” he said. “They may have imposed a much higher standard on the police department and the prosecutors than are required. There’s no other explanation for this. If you put these two things together, I think that there’s some sort of anti-police bias or something going on here that you do not normally see.” 

Questions have also arisen about the background of the grand jury’s foreman, Theeda Murphy. In a piece published in the Scene, Betsy Philips categorized Murphy as a police abolitionist: “I think I’m fairly typifying her opinion in saying she believes the police do more harm than good, and we have no evidence that MNPD is even remotely willing to or capable of being accountable to the community they serve.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.

🗺️ Let Me Upzone Ya Councilmember Ginny Welsch has a few zoning and overlay bills that are likely to cause a stir during today’s Planning Commission Meeting. The proposed changes would substantially shift large areas of District 16 by rezoning single, two-family, and lower-density, multi-family residential areas to medium and high-density zoning. Welsch has also brought forward legislation that would make adjustments to the Urban Design Overlay in several communities. 

The proposals have been considered aggressive, triggering backlash from the community. Last week, over 100 residents from Southeast Nashville crammed into Coleman Park Community Center during a presentation of the legislation. Welsch seems to be introducing the zoning changes to address the city's need for affordable housing. Her proclivity toward high-density solutions mirrors some of the ideas shared, and rejected, during NEST discussions last year. 

You can watch today’s meeting live starting at 4 p.m. 

📜 Bills That Died During GA Among the many pieces of legislation that never made it out of this year’s General Assembly, there are few that stand out. Perhaps the biggest shocker was the defeat of a bill that would protect pesticide and herbicide manufacturers against certain liability lawsuits. Given that the legislation was initially supported by the majority of Republican committee members, the Tennessee Farm Bureau, and several agricultural associations, the House Judiciary Committee’s decision to place it on next year’s calendar was bold.

Speaking of bold moves, the legislature snubbed the governor by failing to fund his proposed Starter Home Revolving Loans Fund, which would have offered 0 percent interest loans for housing developers. We also saw momentum fizzle on a bill allowing schools to turn away undocumented students, the House Transportation Subcommittee kill legislation requiring English-only driver’s tests, and nothing come of Senator Brent Taylor’s (R-Memphis) resolution to establish a select committee to investigate claims against Memphis District Attorney Steven Mulroy.

DEVELOPMENT

• State preps for $200M lab facility in Northeast Davidson County (Post)
• L.A. developer seeks to sell Midtown properties (Post)
• Downtown structure opened in 1913 sells (Post)

⎋ FUTURE DEPORTEE OF THE DAY AWARD

After a year on the lam, Metro SWAT and the ATF finally scooped up 24-year-old Leonel Vargas Jr.—suspected MS-13 foot soldier and alleged domestic-aggravated-assault specialist—during a pre-dawn sweep Thursday (April 24). He’d been dodging warrants for strangulation-level assault, burglary, theft and a probation bust, but he’s now parked in jail with no bond while the feds sort out the gang-connection details. (More Info)

✹ REVIEW: CONCLAVE (2024)

Back in early March, we thought this Oscar also-ran would be going the way of many of its prestige predecessors after Anora and The Brutalist dominated Hollywood’s biggest night. But in the wake of Pope Francis’s shuffle off the mortal coil as images of JD Vance danced in his head, it’s finally become the movie of the moment. Regardless of one’s opinion on the demise of “The People’s Pope,” a 283% spike in Conclave viewers and dominance of the pop-culture conversation does much to warm the hearts of those who think the movies still matter. 

Though it fell far short of our 2024 best of criteria, there’s much to admire in German director Edward Berger’s follow-up to his 2022 remake of All Quiet on the Western Front. Ralph Fiennes turns in another customarily consummate performance as Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals in charge of shepherding an unruly mass of holier (and holier than thou) Catholic emissaries. In their supporting turns as candidates for the church’s top job, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow each offer up distinct versions of the type of do-gooder progressivism that so irked some about the previous Pope. That the film’s impeccable production design and inventive use of colors avoids all trappings of theatrically is impressive enough, but Berger also manages to execute the whole affair as a fully captivating political thriller that never falters until its final moments.

And it's those penultimate scenes that betray Conclave’s adherence to authenticity and ritual as just mere window dressing on yet another piece of Oscar bait. In a movie with so much potential to grapple with individual faith and the church’s role in the modern world, Berger, in the end, shows fealty to the type of basic-b secular humanism that made Buzzfeed all the rage the last time the world awaited the smoke from that famous chimney. 

Ultimately, the film’s heroes are those who trust the process but gesture that they are above the spiritual, a failing that leads to an ending so inept that the movie had no business winning an Adapted Screenplay Oscar–much less being anywhere near the category. Conclave may provide some insight into the process that awaits the world’s Catholics in the coming weeks, but it says much more about the Obama Era hangover that led to Francis’s divisive reign in the first place, whether it intends to or not.

Conclave is now streaming on Prime.

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 Widespread Panic @ Ascend Amphitheater, 7p, $85+, Info

🎻 Tchaikovsky Celebration @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $29+, Info

🪕 Lonesome River Band @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info

🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info

🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info

🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).