Judge Carroll Lee Ross to Retire in a Year

“I HOPE I HAVE DONE WELL”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Aug. 26, 2013) — The Cleveland (TN) Daily Banner has reported that Tenth Judicial District Judge Carroll Lee Ross will be retiring in August of next year.

The Banner quotes Ross as having said that “All of the courts in our district are run extremely well.”  The Tenth District includes the counties of Bradley, Polk, McMinn and Monroe.

The Post & Email has reported extensively on Judge Ross and Judge Amy Reedy, with whom Ross has worked closely since he began serving the district in 1996.  Although presiding over criminal court proceedings, both have committed criminal acts themselves by rigging grand juries and trial juries, presiding over kangaroo trials and banning law-abiding citizens from attending hearings which should have been open to the public.

Ross has also allowed a de facto grand jury foreman to serve for 28 consecutive years without questioning his credentials or even swearing him in.

Judges in the Tenth Judicial District have been violating TCA 22-2-214, which states that members of a grand jury must be chosen at random without human intervention.  The Post & Email is in possession of handwritten notes from Chief Court Clerk Martha M. Cook which show clear “human intervention” in choosing grand jury and trial jury members.

In 1984, a set of laws were passed by the legislature instructing the criminal courts to reorganize which were ignored by virtually all of the criminal court judges in the state.  Criminal courts were ordered to combine into regional districts but remained in place at the county level.

Historically, grand juries performed their own investigations without the guidance or participation of a prosecutor or judge.

Ross was responsible for ordering the arrest of Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III (USN, Ret.), who attempted to place Gary Pettway, the illegally-serving de facto grand jury foreman, under citizen’s arrest, which is legal in the state of Tennessee.  Fitzpatrick has related the “criminal syndicate” which serves as a judicial system without constitutional protections.

Ross presided over an arraignment hearing for Fitzpatrick and Darren Huff, who were both charged with “riot” and other transgressions following the citizen’s arrest attempt on April 1, 2010.  Many of Ross’s statements did not appear in the official court transcript, which Fitzpatrick was unable to obtain.  However, several days after the trial, the document appeared on the internet watermarked with “Friends of Politijab,” an Obama support group which eventually melded into The Fogbow.

The Post & Email paid $33.00 for a copy of the transcript, receiving it approximately one month later, and sent a copy to Fitzpatrick, who stated that it was “doctored.”  Others have reported receiving transcripts which did not accurately reflect the contents of the hearing.

In eastern Tennessee, the judges work in concert with corrupt sheriffs’ deputies, court personnel, district attorneys general and the grand jury foremen to frame defendants and incarcerate people without probable cause.   In his statement to the press, Ross complimented the “efficient clerks and competent sheriffs” who “assist us in the court system.”

Fitzpatrick has attempted to bring the lawless behavior to the attention of the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and the federal grand juries in Knoxville and Chattanooga to no avail.  A request to present exculpatory evidence on Huff, who is now a federal prisoner, to one or both of the federal grand juries made by Fitzpatrick nearly two months ago has been ignored by federal Judge Thomas A. Varlan and previously denied by U.S. Attorney William C. Killian, who was responsible for prosecuting Huff on a false affidavit from an FBI agent.

In commenting on his retirement next summer, Ross reportedly said, “I hope I have done well for all of the residents.”