A Blind Spot in Tennessee’s Probation Division Supervision Leaves Home Violence Victims at Threat — ProPublica

On Oct. 7, 2019, a 30-year-old beautician named Temptress Peebles referred to as the Nashville probation workplace begging for assist. Days earlier, her ex-boyfriend Brandon Horton had come up behind her, choked her and kicked her within the face, in response to a court docket doc. 

Data present that was simply the latest assault. She had been dwelling in a relentless state of worry, her household stated, since Horton had damaged down her door and pointed a gun at her three months earlier, court docket information present. He had open warrants for his arrest, so she and her 8-year-old daughter, Khloe, had been avoiding the condo, all the time taking completely different roads to get to work or to remain at her household’s home.

Peebles requested the probation supervisor if Horton might be arrested when he got here in for a court docket date the subsequent day. Horton’s probation file exhibits the supervisor stated she would attempt to assist. 

However Horton by no means confirmed as much as court docket, in response to his probation file, and Nashville police didn’t arrest him till it was too late.

Ten days after that decision, probation and police information present, Horton waited for Peebles exterior her condo. Khloe instructed WPLN she remembers seeing Horton pointing a gun at her mother. She remembers throwing her arms round his legs and pleading with him, “no, no, no.” She remembers making an attempt to name 911 whereas her mother, shot in each legs, lay on the street bleeding to demise. 

Horton is now awaiting trial on fees of killing Peebles. He and his lawyer declined to remark for this story. The case file is sealed and the general public defender’s workplace declined to remark additional on whether or not Horton has entered a plea.

All through the interval when Peebles reported he was threatening and hurting her, Horton was launched repeatedly into the neighborhood below the stipulation that probation officers can be actively supervising him. However in Tennessee, a state with one of many highest charges of girls killed by males, WPLN and ProPublica discovered {that a} lethal blind spot within the probation supervision system emerges at a time when consultants say home violence victims are significantly susceptible. 

When an offender below probation supervision violates the principles by being charged with a brand new crime or being discovered with a firearm, for instance, a warrant could also be issued for his or her arrest. When regulation enforcement serves that warrant, the offender can both find yourself behind bars or again out on probation whereas awaiting a court docket date. 

However between the time a probation violation warrant is signed by a decide and when it’s served, probation officers cease conducting any in-person supervision: For a high-risk offender, this implies probation officers are not holding three in-person conferences monthly; additionally they not conduct a month-to-month unannounced residence go to to search for medication and weapons. That interval of suspended face-to-face checks can stretch for months — in a single occasion, for greater than 400 days. 

In Horton’s case, he remained free, armed and harmful for 3 months.

That pause of in-person supervision is spelled out within the Tennessee Division of Correction’s requirements of supervision. Between 2019 and 2022, WPLN and ProPublica discovered at the very least six folks, together with Peebles, had been shot to demise through the hole in oversight. All had been younger Black moms, ages 20 to 31. One sufferer was a cheerleading coach and a mother of two. One other girl was shot whereas her 2-year-old daughter lay on the mattress close by. In a 3rd case, a mom of three was present in a creek days earlier than Christmas with a purple home violence bracelet round her wrist. Their deaths left 12 youngsters with out their moms. 

TDOC declined to make any probation officers accessible for this story. In an emailed assertion, Sarah Gallagher, a division spokesperson, stated that “supervision stays energetic” for offenders who’ve warrants however “the target adjustments.” As a substitute of making certain offenders are abiding by the principles of probation, she stated, officers assist to carry that individual into custody by sharing related case info with regulation enforcement. Gallagher confirmed there isn’t any in-person supervision throughout that point. 

This blind spot is likely one of the ways in which the state didn’t cease offenders from harming home violence victims. WPLN and ProPublica examined a whole bunch of deadly home violence shootings between 2007 and 2023 in Tennessee’s 5 most populous cities. The reporting, which expanded on our earlier investigations into Tennessee’s lax enforcement of gun prohibitions, discovered that amongst these deadly home violence shootings, at the very least 86 folks — about 1 in each 4 — had been allegedly killed by a suspect who was legally prohibited from having a firearm. Sixteen of these suspects had been additionally on probation. 

In a Second Modification-friendly state like Tennessee the place legal guidelines make it straightforward for extra folks to hold firearms in additional locations, little can cease an individual intent on getting a gun, even when they’re legally barred from doing so. One backstop is the state’s probation officers, who’re in shut contact with violent, high-risk offenders and might search properties for prohibited weapons with no warrant if they’ve “cheap suspicion,” TDOC stated. 

Based on the division’s personal paperwork, a probation officer’s mission is to make sure public security. In instances the place there may be an open warrant, the division depends on regulation enforcement to prioritize the arrests of probation violators and on judges to incarcerate repeat violators as an alternative of releasing them again into supervision and the neighborhood. The outcome: Some offenders like Horton return to the road. 

“The system did her unsuitable,” Peebles’ mother, Karen Peebles, stated. “If the police division had did their job, and the probation workplace had did theirs — I believe it may have been prevented.” 

“The Pink Flags”

Peebles’s family and friends referred to as her Chippie as a result of she had a excessive, singsongy voice, like a chipmunk. She was loud, humorous and all the time smiling. Virtually each night time, Peebles talked to her mother on the cellphone, and he or she by no means missed a Sunday dinner.

Her household stated she began relationship Horton round 2018, giving in after he had pursued her for years. She was hesitant, partially due to his legal historical past. Horton had simply began 10 years of supervised probation after he pleaded responsible to facilitation of second-degree homicide in a theft the place a person was shot and killed. 

“Even when she noticed the purple flags, she would simply attempt something in her energy to attempt to make him higher,” her cousin Princess Pinkston stated. “She felt like she may save all people.”

The probation division labeled Horton as a high-risk violent probationer, which meant that each month his probation officer was required to see him face-to-face 3 times, conduct a house go to and verify to ensure he hadn’t been arrested. This sort of supervision is extra intensive and time-consuming than what low-risk offenders get.

In some probation departments throughout the nation, probation officers are assigned both high-, medium- or low-risk offenders. Consultants say this permits specialised groups to give attention to intense monitoring of a smaller caseload of high-risk offenders, whereas lower-risk probationers are left to newer officers. 

“It’s just like the medical career,” stated Susan Rice, former president of the American Probation and Parole Affiliation. “In the event you’re a specialist physician and also you do solely the high-risk coronary heart surgical procedures, you’re not going to have as many consumers as a basic practitioner who sees all people that is available in with a runny nostril.” 

However in Tennessee, officers deal with a mixture of high-, medium- and low-risk offenders. And Tennessee’s probation workplaces would not have specialised home violence groups or coaching. A report from sufferer advocates greater than a decade in the past stated these adjustments may save lives in essentially the most harmful instances. “This report needs to be seen as a information for the place to start altering coverage,” the report reads, “and by doing so, finally scale back the incidence of home violence homicides in Nashville-Davidson County.”

Rice stated it’s common apply nationwide to have blended caseloads in probation departments. In an electronic mail, TDOC stated the identical, including that each one officers are “educated in areas like situational consciousness and de-escalation methods to determine warning indicators and handle battle.” 

A lot of the 16 alleged suspects who WPLN and ProPublica discovered had been each prohibited from having a gun and below supervision by the probation division had been deemed excessive or average dangers by TDOC. 

As well as, all 16 had been below supervision in Memphis or Nashville, the state’s busiest workplaces. In these workplaces, probation officers deal with a median of at the very least 65 instances yearly, in response to TDOC information. 

Horton was assigned to the Nashville workplace, ultimately coming below the supervision of probation officer Derrick Finch, who had been on the job a little bit greater than a yr on the time. Finch instructed WPLN that at one level he had greater than 100 offenders in his caseload. Data present the division fired him in 2024 after seven years on the job for reporting that he performed a house go to with an offender who was in custody at the moment. Finch stated he thought he had performed the go to when he was coming into his case notes on the finish of the month. 

“I received let go as a result of I couldn’t sustain with the caseload anymore,” Finch defined in an interview with WPLN.

By early January of 2019, Horton had been on probation for a couple of yr. His relationship with Peebles was fracturing and he or she was referring to him as her ex in court docket information. She joined her circle of relatives dinners much less regularly, and when she did present up, her mother stated, one thing was all the time off. She would put on long-sleeved shirts, even in the midst of sweltering Tennessee summers. As soon as she arrived on crutches, claiming she had fallen down the steps. One other time she had a black eye, and instructed her household {that a} door had swung again and hit her.

If this man needs to alter, we may help him. But when he doesn’t — which sadly is the case with too lots of them — what do you do?

Probation officer Derrick Finch

A number of research have proven that essentially the most harmful time for a home violence sufferer is when they’re making an attempt to go away their abuser, usually turning to the courts and regulation enforcement for defense. 

However the case notes in Horton’s probation file appear to solely scratch the floor of what her household suspected was occurring behind closed doorways. The case notes present Finch ticking by means of a standardized evaluation of Horton’s progress, noting his physique language, conduct and subsequent steps. 

“Offender reported as directed.” 

“Offender was calm, alert and oriented.” 

“Offender in search of full-time employment presently.”

“Offender advises he’s in strategy of shifting in together with his mom.” 

“Will advise offender subsequent report date.” 

Finch stated the division needs officers to have a rapport with the offenders they’re supervising, “however who’s received time for that? It’s very laborious to do the whole lot they need you to do, as a result of there’s a lot to do.” 

He stated when a “downside little one” arose in his caseload, there was not a lot he may do about it. 

“If this man needs to alter, we may help him,” Finch stated of probationers. “But when he doesn’t — which sadly is the case with too lots of them — what do you do?”

“A Slap on the Wrist” 

In a court docket doc, Peebles alleged that on Jan. 12, 2019, Horton went on Fb Dwell and stated he would kill her earlier than he noticed her with one other man. He referred to as her a number of instances, she wrote, then confirmed up at her home, blocking her automotive together with his. They began arguing. He punched her twice within the head. She ran to her automotive to flee and he chased her, she wrote. He tore the windshield wipers off of her automotive and used them to strike the glass as she cowered contained in the locked automobile. Horton fled when she referred to as police.

What adopted was a string of actions by probation officers, regulation enforcement and the courts that left Horton free and Peebles afraid.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Division filed a home assault cost in opposition to Horton. MNPD arrested Horton and searched his residence for weapons, in response to probation information. He paid a bond to get out of jail whereas awaiting his court docket date. 

Based on TDOC coverage, Horton’s arrest on suspicion of home assault required Finch to file a report and request a warrant for a probation violation. 

That coverage says that warrants for violations posing “a direct and/or imminent menace to public security” needs to be requested “as quickly as doable.” Finch submitted a violation warrant to his supervisor and requested a decide signal it on Jan. 22, 2019, in response to probation information. 

As soon as a decide signed it, the warrant was despatched to police, who arrested Horton two days later. However at a court docket listening to, Peebles failed to seem to testify on the assault cost and the case was dismissed. Her mother stated that Peebles didn’t present up as a result of she was afraid, and that Horton had threatened her if she pursued fees.

“The sufferer, extra regularly than not, is the proof,” Christina Johnson, a home violence prosecutor with the Nashville district lawyer’s workplace, stated. “If the proof isn’t there, now we have no alternative, we are able to’t go ahead.”

Because of this, the Nashville Workplace of Household Security has referred to as for the district lawyer’s workplace to rely extra on proof similar to 911 calls, physique digital camera footage or forensic exams as an alternative of simply sufferer testimony.

As soon as the assault cost in opposition to Horton was dropped, the probation violation that was based mostly on these fees was dismissed. Horton remained locally below Finch’s supervision.

The sufferer, extra regularly than not, is the proof. If the proof isn’t there, now we have no alternative, we are able to’t go ahead.

Christina Johnson, a home violence prosecutor with the Nashville district lawyer’s workplace

And it didn’t take lengthy earlier than the method began yet again. 

On Jan. 28, 2019, Horton was arrested in close by Marshall County. Regulation enforcement officers reported discovering 4 luggage of a white substance believed to be cocaine on him, in addition to a stolen Glock 26 9 mm handgun. 

Being arrested on suspicion of possession of medication with the intent to promote is a probation violation, as is being a felon in possession of firearms. 

So, information present, Finch requested one other probation violation warrant to carry Horton in entrance of a decide. Horton was arrested and launched on bond the subsequent day.

Regardless of Horton’s standing as a high-risk offender, his a number of arrests in a month and his possession of a prohibited firearm, Decide Jennifer Smith returned Horton to probation supervision as an alternative of incarcerating him. In a press release to WPLN, Smith stated she can not touch upon earlier choices.

In at the very least two different home violence gun murder instances in 2021 a probationer was caught with a gun previous to the capturing — though they had been prohibited from having a firearm due to a previous conviction and since they had been on probation. As with Horton, judges didn’t revoke their probation for being discovered with a gun. 

“There are people who find themselves telling us time and again with their actions that they haven’t any need to alter,” stated Becky Bullard, deputy director of packages at Nashville’s Workplace of Household Security, about abusers on probation who proceed to perpetuate hurt. “And when somebody is waving that flag to us to say, ‘Hey, I’m out right here working towards all of those high-risk behaviors with somebody I’m purported to care about,’ that’s somebody elevating their hand and telling us that they’re about to homicide.” 

Shari Bryant was a Nashville probation officer from 2020 to 2025, and he or she stated she left the job to turn out to be an accountant. She stated it was frequent for somebody to constantly violate probation with few penalties. Even in these high-risk, violent instances. 

In one of many case recordsdata TDOC offered in response to WPLN and ProPublica’s file requests, a Memphis offender named Torian Williams was sentenced to probation for aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a lethal weapon. He was labeled as a medium threat and charged whereas on probation for having two weapons. He would go on to shoot and kill his 20-year-old girlfriend Demya Gordon in 2021. For that crime, he took a plea deal for a lesser cost of voluntary manslaughter and was launched to probation once more. Throughout that probation interval, the probation division received a name from an ex-girlfriend and Williams’ mom saying that he was bodily abusing them and threatening their lives. Williams died in 2025. 

“Clearly, they’re not studying their classes, proper? They simply maintain getting a slap on the wrist,” Bryant stated. “They maintain getting out and getting away with it.” 

That revolving door allowed Horton to stay on probation and return to the road once more. 

“He Is Going to Kill Me”

Months earlier than she was killed, Peebles was within the bed room of her condo when she heard a loud growth on the again door. It was a stormy summer season night time, July 13, 2019. 

“I received up walked to the door seen Brandon with a gun,” she wrote in a court docket doc. He pointed the gun at her, and he or she ran out of her condo. A neighbor later instructed the court docket that she was woke up by gunshots that went by means of her roof, her partitions and her mirror. The neighbor, peeking by means of the blinds, noticed Horton operating with a gun in his hand. A number of moments later, she noticed Peebles climbing down a tree.

When police arrived, they may not discover Horton. Metro Nashville Police Division charged him with felon in possession of a weapon, aggravated assault and aggravated housebreaking. And, for the third time in lower than a yr, Finch requested a probation violation warrant for Horton’s arrest.

Then, as is spelled out in TDOC’s requirements of supervision, Finch stopped supervising Horton in individual till police may arrest him. Previously, police served the warrant in a matter of days. This time, it might take three months for the police to meet up with Horton. For these three months, all that was required of Finch was a once-a-month verify for arrests within the laptop system. Police wouldn’t arrest Horton till after he allegedly killed Peebles. He has been behind bars ever since. 

Probation consultants stated this apply of stopping in-person probation supervision as soon as a violation warrant has been issued isn’t unusual. 

“It’s type of a messed-up course of,” stated Rice of the American Probation and Parole Affiliation. “Do we actually need that interval of supervision to cease in the event that they’re not incarcerated throughout that point?” 

Within the six instances of home violence murder that occurred throughout this supervision hole, WPLN and ProPublica discovered the time between when a warrant was issued and when police made an arrest stretched from as few as 9 days to as many as 425 days. In all six instances, the alleged offender was placed on probation for a gun-related offense. 

In some states, probation officers are capable of serve violation warrants and arrest probationers themselves. However in Tennessee, officers should contact regulation enforcement. TDOC stated whereas probation officers can not make arrests themselves, they work with native, state and federal regulation enforcement, sharing info similar to “addresses, pictures, recognized associates, and different leads” to help in finding the offender.

When requested why it took so lengthy to serve warrants in instances like Horton’s, the Metro Nashville Police Division stated that “wished individuals regularly change the place they keep or go away city and they’re usually tough to find.” MNPD stated it really works intently with probation officers to serve offenders in the event that they proceed to return in for workplace visits or after they present up for his or her court docket dates. 

MNPD stated it has one documented try and serve Horton’s violation warrant between the time it was issued in July and Oct. 17, when Peebles was killed. That try was on Oct. 9. Police stated nobody answered the door at Horton’s tackle.

“Detectives spend their days researching folks with excellent warrants to allow them to arrest them,” stated Debra Fessenden, chief coverage adviser with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Workplace, an company that handles warrants for Memphis. “Nobody is ignoring the warrants.” 

She stated that not all intelligence results in a well timed arrest. 

“It’s commonplace — due to assets, coaching and protocol — that regulation enforcement decides, ‘We’ll simply serve this after we pull somebody over’” for a visitors cease, stated Julia Weber, a California-based knowledgeable who trains regulation enforcement and probation departments on harmful home violence instances. 

“What I inform communities is now we have to acknowledge how harmful a call that’s.” 

In her closing days, information present that Peebles was more and more conscious of how a lot hazard she was in.

She had already referred to as the probation division as soon as for assist getting Horton’s warrant served at his Marshall County court docket date. Days later, on Oct. 11, she referred to as once more to say that Horton had failed to seem in court docket “as a result of he spoke to officer finch and was instructed that he can be taken into custody at the moment on his warrant,” the probation file notes. The supervisor wrote that Peebles was upset and that Horton was threatening to harm her. 

In an interview with WPLN, Finch denied warning Horton.

“Every part that would have been accomplished was accomplished from our finish,” Finch stated. “As soon as that warrant is filed, there may be nothing else that we are able to do.” 

Six days after Peebles’ closing name to the probation division, Horton allegedly shot and killed her exterior of her condo whereas her daughter, Khloe, struggled to name for assist. Horton was arrested the subsequent morning, and Smith, the decide who had allowed his launch, later revoked his probation. 

“Chippie needs to be right here along with her little one, along with her mother,” stated Pinkston, Peebles’ cousin. “She had instructed you a lot instances, ‘No, he’s critical. He’s going to kill me.’ … Now it’s too late.”

Khloe is in highschool now. For a very long time after her mother died, Khloe stated, she heard the gunshots in her sleep. She lives in her mother’s childhood bed room to really feel nearer to her. 

She’s beginning to absolutely perceive the methods the system didn’t shield her mother from Horton. However the 14-year-old says she has lived every day since her mother’s demise scuffling with a guilt she can not shake. 

“I all the time felt like her demise was on me,” Khloe stated, remembering how she had forgotten her cellphone within the kitchen that day, so that they returned to the condo to get it. “If we might by no means went again to that home … possibly she would have nonetheless been right here.”