Jodie Bell

Jodie Bell is a founding member of Bell, Tennent & Frogge, PLLC. Licensed to practice law in both California and Tennessee, Ms. Bell is an experienced trial attorney who has handled hundreds of criminal matters at various stages in state and federal court at the trial and appellate levels. She has obtained favorable results from juries in both state and federal court.

In 1994, Ms. Bell graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law with an emphasis in public interest law. While in law school, Ms. Bell interned at the San Francisco Office of the Public Defender, the First District Appellate Project and the Women's Employment Rights Clinic. Following graduation, Ms. Bell practiced law, primarily criminal defense, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ms. Bell moved to Tennessee in 1997 where she secured a clerkship with the late Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Thomas H. Shriver, assisting in researching issues and writing opinions. Following her clerkship, Ms. Bell began service as a Davidson County Assistant Public Defender where she handled thousands of criminal matters. She tried numerous felony jury trials including several complex first-degree murder cases. Prior to founding Bell, Tennent and Frogge, Ms. Bell continued her trial, appellate and post-conviction practice in the State and Federal Courts of Middle Tennessee, handling criminal and related matters. Because she is qualified to handle capital cases, Ms. Bell is frequently asked to handle complex first-degree murder cases where the State is seeking to impose the death penalty.

Ms. Bell is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Nashville Women's Political Caucus and the Lawyer's Association for Women. She currently sits on the CJA Panel Selection Committee for Middle Tennessee. Ms. Bell has also served as a board member for Reconciliation Prison Ministries and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Patrick Frogge

Patrick Frogge is a founding member of Bell, Tennent & Frogge. In 1999, Mr. Frogge graduated in the top 25% of his class from the Fordham University School of Law in New York City where he was a Stein Scholar in public interest law and ethics. During law school, Mr. Frogge worked at the Brooklyn U.S Attorney's Office, the Northern Manhattan Improvement Project, the Georgia Justice Project, and the Tennessee Post-Conviction Defender's Office. He helped to found the Amsterdam Houses Children's Law Project, which teaches critical thinking and legal reasoning to children in a Manhattan housing project, and he served on the board of the Fordham Death Penalty Project.

Before entering private practice in 2005, Mr. Frogge served as an Assistant Public Defender in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Defender's Office. There he handled thousands of criminal cases, including several high-profile jury trials. Prior to that, he served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Judge Jerry Smith of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, where he researched and edited hundreds of judicial opinions.

Mr. Frogge practices law in state and federal courts in Tennessee. He is active in the Nashville Bar Association, where he serves as chair of the Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Committee, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which awarded him the prestigious Robert W. Ritchie Service Award for 2009, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Richard Tennent

Richard Tennent is a Certified Criminal Trial Specialist. He is a founding member of Bell, Tennent & Frogge. He earns his living entirely by defending persons accused of crimes in the federal, state and appellate courts. On rare occasions he also does pro bono environmental and land use law.

Over the past fifteen years, Mr. Tennent has represented persons accused of the most serious offenses under our laws. He has taken eight first-degree murder cases to jury trial, and he won acquittals or verdicts to significantly reduced offenses in six of those. At jury trial, he has also successfully defended clients charged with offenses including rape, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of forty pounds of heroin for resale, sale of cocaine and aggravated burglary. Mr. Tennent has learned over and over that good citizens are wrongfully charged with heinous and terrible offenses for which they are innocent.

Mr. Tennent has successfully handled a number of very challenging criminal appeals, and he has won reversals and new trials on appeals involving such offenses as First Degree Murder, Rape and Aggravated Sexual Battery. One of his most interesting and challenging appeals was done in the case of State v. Ward, 138 S.W.3d 245 (Tenn.Crim.App. 2003), where he successfully challenged the dubious "scientific" theory that three unexplained deaths means murder. Other more recent successes include: State v. Fleschman 2008 WL 5130449, Tenn.Crim.App., December 08, 2008 (sentence reduced from three-years to six-months on solicitation of minor case), and State v. Williams, 2006 WL 3431920 Tenn.Crim.App., November 29, 2006 (rape conviction reversed for prosecutorial misconduct and erroneous use of DNA evidence).

Mr. Tennent also understands that sometimes the best defense is securing mercy, justice and the most lenient sentence possible. In the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, over the last three years, he has had repeated successes in securing sentences significantly below the “guideline recommendation.” He understands the importance of well-crafted sentencing memorandums that help the sentencing judge see his client as full human being, entitled to respect, and possessing human dignity. Mr. Tennent’s clients are not mere numbers, but individuals with unique human stories.

In 1994, Mr. Tennent graduated from the Vanderbilt School of Law, having earned American Jurisprudence Awards for both Criminal Law and Post-Conviction Criminal Procedure. Since law school he has earned a Master of Studies in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School, graduating summa cum laude. He attended Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship, graduating in 1990 with Honors.

Mr. Tennent is a member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Tennessee Bar Association and the Nashville Bar Association. He is licensed to practice in the State of Tennessee, the Middle District of Tennessee and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is very active in the Metro Public Schools where he recently completed a year as Chairman of Parents Advisory Council.

Paul J. Bruno

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2007 edition, Paul J. Bruno is an experienced criminal defense trial and appellate attorney who has been in private practice since 1996. As "Of Counsel" to Bell, Tennent & Frogge, PLLC, Mr. Bruno maintains his own private practice while advising and working with Bell, Tennent & Frogge, PLLC on various criminal defense matters.

Mr. Bruno graduated magna cum laude from Memphis State University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He went on to earn his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Memphis in 1995, and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Memphis in 1995.

Licensed to practice law in the courts of the State of Tennessee, in the Federal Courts for the Western and Middle Districts of Tennessee, in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and in the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Bruno has represented hundreds of people charged with criminal offenses, including murder, drug offenses, driving under the influence, bank robbery, white collar crimes and other serious felony and misdemeanor charges. Mr. Bruno handles complex first-degree murder cases wherein the State of Tennessee is seeking to impose the death penalty at trial and on appeal, and he has earned acquittals in jury trials in both the State and Federal courts.

In 2004, Mr. Bruno received the Middle District of Tennessee Criminal Justice Act Panel Lawyer of the Year Award for his representation of criminal defendants in the Federal Courts. He is a life member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.