Lauren Johansen was a victim of domestic violence that got increasingly more dangerous as time went on.

It came to a head last December when she was brutally assaulted within an inch of her life by her ex-boyfriend, Bricen Rivers. 

Luckily, she was saved then by responding officers and was rushed to hospital. He was arrested and charged in Nashville, Tennessee and was awaiting trial. During his arrest, he attempted to reach for a weapon but was stopped by officers. 

Despite this occurring in December, he still hadn’t been officially sentenced. He was facing life in prison for the acts that he committed against Lauren. 

His bond was sitting at $250,000 for this heinous act of attempted murder and he was rotting in jail awaiting trial until Judge Cheryl Blackburn decided to reduce his bond to only $150,000, the last week of June. 

Thanks to the $100,000 reduction, Rivers’ mother was able to pay the portion of the bond that granted him release. But unfortunately that’s not where incompetence of the Nashville government ends. Upon his release on June 28th, he was instructed to report to a SEPARATE location to receive his GPS monitor bracelet and was ordered to not leave the county. Bricen’s criminal record is lengthy and full of terrible acts. There is not a single competent judge on this planet that would look at all of the context around this case and would reduce the bond of an individual with multiple violent charges. He, obviously, did not report to get his GPS monitoring. He was freed on Friday, but the family was not notified till midday Monday that he had been released.

Rivers’ made his way back to Mississippi where he, after only four days of being out of jail, brutally murdered Lauren Johansen on that following Tuesday.

This could have been easily prevented, but due to the lack of competence by the State of Tennessee, City of Nashville, and ultimately Judge Cheryl Blackburn, Lauren Johansen had to endure a death that could have been avoided.

This should never happen again and the goal of this petition is to get Judge Cheryl Blackburn removed from their position and for Lauren’s Law to be implemented and put into legislation.

This law would prevent those charged with any violent crimes to leave any jail or behavioral facility without being immediately placed under GPS surveillance. This law would also make it mandatory for every institution in the state of Tennessee that houses individuals that are charged with violent crimes to have the ability to place and activate GPS monitoring.

Please share this and get Lauren the justice she deserves. No one deserves to experience this utter failure ever again. Her sacrifice should be enough.

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The Johansen family has a GoFundMe set up and you could also donate to any domestic violence prevention organization. Thank you.