Toby Gilley Reprimanded

Toby Gilley, a Rutherford County, Tennessee General Sessions judge, was publicly reprimanded by the state's Board of Judicial Conduct on January 4, 2024, for conducting his own internet research during a trial in which the value of a cut-down tree was the central issue in dispute. Gilley found an online tree-valuation calculator through his own search, then questioned an expert witness about the differences between the calculator's methodology and the witness's own valuation approach.

The Board found this violated the Code of Judicial Conduct's prohibition on judges independently investigating facts or considering information never introduced as evidence by either party. Gilley accepted the public reprimand without disputing it, and the Board noted his cooperation and acknowledgment of the violation as a mitigating factor.