Are Corrupt Tennessee Judges Being Brought to Account?

JUDGES REPORTED INTOXICATED, “HIGH” ON DRUGS; CITIZENS VICTIMIZED

by Sharon Rondeau

(Apr. 5, 2012) — Some of the decisions presided over by Judge Richard Baumgartner of Knoxville, TN have been discarded because it was found that he was under the influence of drugs while he rendered them.

In 2007, two young people were brutally murdered and the case heard by Baumgartner.  Now, the four defendants must be retried in a painful experience for the two sets of parents whose children were killed in what might have been a racially-motivated act.  One defendant had been given the death penalty.  The Post & Email learned last month that a documentary film is being made about the crime, with 80% of the proceeds to go to the victims’ families.  A memorial website to the two young people is here.

Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood, who presided over a case brought against Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III, is the judge who will be hearing the cases which will be retried.  Blackwood released part of Baumgartner’s file but justified to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation his keeping the remainder sealed.  However, after stating that a grand jury foreman is the same as any other juror, Blackwood allowed indictments against Fitzpatrick and possibly others to stand despite the then-grand jury foreman‘s 27-year service in the position.  Tennessee state law mandates that no  juror can serve again within a 24-month period.

Blackwood was also made aware that another grand juror had served two consecutive terms, but he refused to throw out the indictments issued by the grand jury containing the illegally-serving member, Angela Davis. Blackwood contended that there was “no proof” that it was the same “Angela Davis” who had served during the previous term.

However, documents made available to The Post & Email from Fitzpatrick indicate that although the system for choosing grand jurors is mandated by law to be “automated,” clerks and judges are intimately involved in juror selection, as a considerable amount of personal information is collected before selection is completed.  Therefore, the court could have, and by law, should have checked its records to ascertain if the same “Angela Davis” was serving an illegal consecutive term.

On June 3, 2010, Davis was appointed the foreman of the grand jury issuing indictments against Fitzpatrick despite her two consecutive terms.  Her signature appears on the indictments, which Fitzpatrick challenged, but Blackwood did not order the correction of the deficiency in the grand jury.  Fitzpatrick had said at the time:

The way that the government conducted itself on the third of June is every evidence that this government has been operating out of control and they don’t want to get caught in the act.  So the attack is against the grand jury.  We never get to the merits of this case until we get a legitimate grand jury.  You don’t argue the merits.  We’re not there yet. Of course, if we were to argue the merits, then there is no case, and the government knows that.   A trial at this point is a distraction from the real issue, which is the grand jury.  It’s not about the arrest of Gary Pettway; it’s about the grand jury.

However, Fitzpatrick has continued to be indicted by grand juries which are illegally assembled, including the most recent indictment signed by Faye Tennyson, the acting foreman who was appointed in January 2011 and is acquainted with Fitzpatrick’s case.  If Blackwood’s declaration that a foreman is “the same as any other juror,” then Tennyson should not be serving presently.

The Post & Email has been made aware of another judge who appeared to be drunk while on the bench while rendering decisions.  The House Judiciary Committee of the Tennessee General Assembly had heard testimony from a young mother whose two daughters had been taken away from her in apparent acts of vindictiveness, and Rep. Jim Coley had stated publicly that he would subpoena one of the judges to explain her actions and statements in court.  Caldwell has heard nothing recently from the Judiciary Committee.

Judge Carroll L. Ross has been reported to have “suborned perjury” from a sheriff’s deputy in order to eject a law-abiding citizen from his courtroom last August, and nothing has been done by the Knoxville FBI.  The TBI has appeared unresponsive to corruption in the state’s courts but reportedly “spearheaded” the investigation into Baumgartner’s behavior.

In Tennessee, judges and attorneys swear an oath to the uphold to uphold the constitutions of Tennessee and the United States. However, Fitzpatrick has experienced that neither constitution is respected by the Monroe County judiciary.

Tennessee is the only state in which the attorney general is appointed for an eight-year term by the state Supreme Court rather than elected by the people.

At present, official complaints against judges must go through the Court of the Judiciary, which was created by the General Assembly. Complaints are kept secret, and the COTJ comprises a majority of judges and lawyers.  The judge in the Caldwell case, Christy Little, is a member of the Court of the Judiciary.

Recently discussion in the Assembly to alter the Court of the Judiciary to award more representation to lay people; however, it appears that a compromise bill will create a new entity of members appointed by ” judges, legislative leaders and the governor.”  All members of the Tennessee Senate have been contacted about corruption within the judiciary.

This morning, The Post & Email has contacted state Sen. Mae Beavers, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to obtain an update on the COTJ.  We have previously contacted Rep. Coley, who had promised to take action on the Caldwell case, but received no response.  Fitzpatrick has contended that the grand jury is the entity which should oversee judges and other government employees, and The Post & Email has suggested same to Sen. Beavers.  Another article affirms that the bill to amend the COTJ has passed the Senate, and a similar bill is pending in the House which would change the entity to a 16-member “Board of Judicial Conduct.”

Children in Tennessee have been gravely injured because of decisions made by judges.

Baumgartner is reportedly being investigated at the federal level.  Will the other judges guilty of criminal behavior be scrutinized?

Tennessee has been given a “C” grade in a recent public corruption study of the 50 states.