Smith and his wife divorced in 1995; their divorce decree adopted local Rule 17, which states parents will not expose their children to tobacco smoke in enclosed places or allow others to expose them to it. Within days of the final divorce decree, the child’s mother filed a motion for contempt against the father of her child, alleging that he smoked around her child and exposed her to ETS during his visitation. The trial court found him guilty of criminal contempt by exposing his child to cigarette smoke, sentenced him to two days of incarceration and suspended his visitation rights until it said it was convinced that he intended to protect the child from all exposure to tobacco smoke. The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision, ruling that the father’s smoking jeopardized his child’s physical well-being.
No. 03A01-9603-00078, Tenn. App., Western Section at Knoxville (1996).