Lesley Tiller

Lesley brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with her to Scott & Tiller PLLC, which she joined after serving both as an Assistant District Attorney in Sullivan County from June 2011 through December 2016 and as an Assistant Public Defender in Sullivan County from June 2018 through January 2022. In both of her prior roles, Lesley earned a reputation as a thorough and aggressive advocate. She has handled over one thousand criminal cases, including murder, vehicular homicide, aggravated robbery, DUI, and sale/delivery/possession with intent to sell controlled substances.

Lesley has significant jury trial experience, as well as extensive experience investigating and building a successful case. Her primary responsibilities as an ADA were prosecuting serious drug cases and vehicular homicides; as such, she gained valuable insight regarding how law enforcement operates and conducts investigations, techniques law enforcement uses, and mechanisms to obtain and preserve evidence. She is also well-versed on the law regarding search warrants and the reliability of confidential informants, as she was one of the primary attorneys on-call 24/7 to review and assist police officers with the drafting of search warrants.

Lesley has much experience investigating and litigating fatal vehicle crashes. She served as the Coordinator for Sullivan County's Fatal Incident Reconstruction Support Team and, in that capacity, reviewed serious and fatal crashes in Sullivan County and advised law enforcement officers regarding steps to take in their investigations. She has received extensive training in the areas of Driving under the Influence and Crash Investigation and has attended multiple Vehicular Homicide Seminars where she was trained by experts in the field of crash reconstruction. She also has attended a three-day seminar regarding drug-impaired driving under the influence cases, where she learned from experts in the field of toxicology, and a two-day seminar regarding understanding the physiology of eye movement and impairment. While she worked at the Sullivan County District Attorney's Office, she prosecuted several high-profile vehicular homicide by intoxication cases, including State v. James Hamm, Jr., State v. Patricia Rhea, and State v. Samuel Huffine.

Lesley also has experience with appellate work, as she served as a judicial clerk to Judge David H. Welles on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Nashville. While she was a judicial clerk, Lesley reviewed trial court transcripts, researched novel legal issues, and drafted appellate opinions. As an Assistant Public Defender, she successfully convinced the Court of Criminal Appeals to reverse unlawful photography convictions in three separate cases and to uphold the suppression of a statement of a defendant with an intellectual disability.

Lesley earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude and concentrated her studies in the area of Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. She also served as a Research Editor for the Tennessee Law Review and a Staff Editor for the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy. For her undergraduate degree, she attended North Park University in Chicago, Illinois and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Government.