Update: Is the State of Tennessee Prosecuting Another Veteran for Nothing?

REPORT:  DISABLED VETERAN JAILED OVER THANKSGIVING, DENIED PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS

by Sharon Rondeau

(Nov. 30, 2013) — The Post & Email has become aware of a young severely disabled Army veteran who spent Thanksgiving in a Tennessee jail cell for alleged “prescription fraud.”

The organizer of a fundraising campaign for SPC Eric Higgins reports that Higgins’ Tennessee jailers have withheld his prescribed medications for pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the report, a “fugitive warrant” was issued against Higgins on Tuesday after the Army relocated him to “his home of record” in the state of Missouri.

Judge Amy Reedy of the Tenth Judicial District issued a bench warrant for Rex Peak in Florida, although Peak had never been charged with the crime Reedy alleged in the warrant.

The state of Tennessee has proven particularly hostile to military veterans, labeling them in law enforcement training materials as “sovereign citizens” for attempting to expose systemic corruption and professional misconduct on the part of judges and court personnel.  In April 2010, the small town of Madisonville participated in a hoax which purported that Darren Wesley Huff and Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III, both Navy veterans, planned to “take over the courthouse” based on false reports made by Obama supporters with connections to the White House.

Obama’s FBI inflated the “hoax” to the level of calling Fitzpatrick and Huff “militia extremists,” producing a false affidavit which became the basis upon which Huff is now serving a four-year prison term.

Fitzpatrick had never “promised a legion of followers” in the days preceding a brief court hearing following his attempted citizen’s arrest of the acting grand jury foreman, Gary Pettway, on April 1, 2010.  Fitzpatrick was never charged with making threats against public officials.

A brief filed by Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Kyle Hixson in a case in which Fitzpatrick’s attorney, Van Irion, filed an appeal, states unequivocally that grand jury foremen are chosen by an unknown vetting process by the criminal court judge and installed as a state-paid court employee who influences the grand jury and can serve for years and even decades in violation of state statutes.

The current case against Fitzpatrick arose after he observed Judge Reedy hand-picking jurors from a stack of papers containing their names and other personal information on December 7, 2011, in violation of state law.  Irion argued last Wednesday in front of the appeals court that Reedy’s actions called for an action of “necessity” on Fitzpatrick’s part.

By some measures, Tennessee is considered the most corrupt state in the nation. Tennessee Highway Patrolmen have been reported as attempting to intimidate law-abiding citizens on their way to church, and corrupt sheriffs deploy deputies to assault the citizenry in order to plant fear and intimidation in the community.

Sheriff Bill Bivens of Monroe County, TN participated in a scheme to elicit a false confession from an inmate which caused an appeals court to dismiss the new charges against him stemming from the plot.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee William C. Killian has attempted to force acceptance of Islam in the region by threatening citizens with “federal jurisdiction” if they should post derogatory comments about Muslims on social media.

Last year, a former Tennessee judge was convicted of several crimes, including drug abuse, and sentenced to six months in a federal prison.

SPC Higgins is reportedly a resident of Missouri.  The Post & Email is awaiting a response from the organizer of a fundraising campaign intended to raise money for Higgins’ defense.

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Update, December 2, 2013:  The Post & Email received a response to its inquiries about SPC Higgins which clarified that Higgins has been held in a Missouri jail, not in Tennessee.  We have been told that the warrant was issued by the state of Tennessee after SPC Higgins was relocated to Missouri by the Army, which was reportedly considered “flight.”