Cheatham County docket: arraignments, pleas and scheduling for multiple cases
Summary
The morning docket included multiple arraignments, guilty and no‑contest pleas (including Paul Drake Harris and Chauncey Spence), and numerous cases reset for February, March and November dates; the court recessed after managing routine matters before taking up contested motions.
Cheatham County Criminal Court handled a series of arraignments and routine matters before a midmorning recess, then resumed for contested motions.
Several defendants entered pleas: Paul Drake Harris pleaded guilty to an amended harassment charge and received 11 months and 29 days suspended to unsupervised probation with a no‑contact order; Chauncey Spence entered a no‑contest plea to a felony possession‑for‑sale count and was placed on supervised probation under a suspended eight‑year sentence with associated fines and court costs. The court recorded many not‑guilty pleas for arraignments and appointed the public defender for indigent defendants where required.
The bench set multiple status and final plea dates, frequently using March 10 and March 11 as convenient final plea or trial assignment days; other matters were reset for December 16 and November 18 depending on defense requests and counsel availability. Clerks and counsel were instructed to confirm the court’s calendar entries with the clerk’s office, as judges noted travel and term rotations could affect availability.
After the scheduling and pleas, the court took up the more contested motions in State v. Billy Lynn Hollis Jr., described in a separate item.
