Appeals court hears challenge to 45‑day suspension of Tennessee bondsman

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Jackson on the court’s January docket heard arguments in an appeal by Anne Blankenship challenging a trial judge’s 45‑day suspension of her authority to operate as a professional bondsman.

Appellant counsel David Camp told the three‑judge panel the suspension should be reversed or the case remanded because the trial court did not follow the statutory hearing procedures and relied on material outside the record. “The remedy is that you reverse the court’s decision, that you basically reinstate her reputation from the perspective that she should not have been suspended under these circumstances, or you can remand it back for a hearing that should should have been conducted in conformity with 401125b,” Camp said.

The case turns on whether the Decatur‑area bondswoman violated statutory requirements for a “permanent business office, business telephone, and appropriate…