NO PUBLIC PARKING AVAILABLE NEAR THE COURTHOUSE
by Sharon Rondeau
(Aug. 19, 2014) — As a follow-up to our first story on the Fitzpatrick sentencing hearing on Tuesday morning, a second eyewitness has told The Post & Email that 20-30 McMinn County Sheriff’s Department cars, marked and unmarked, are occupying parking spaces outside of the courthouse normally open to members of the public.
Attendees to the hearing must park at some distance and walk to the courthouse from there. The eyewitness said that he also saw Tennessee Highway Patrol cars in the parking lot.
Last week, Sheriff Joe Guy told a caller that he planned no special security for Tuesday’s hearing. On a private website promoting Guy, it states that “THE SHERIFF ENJOYS HEARING FROM CITIZENS! Please check back often to check out changes and give us feedback with an email or a phone call 423-745-5620.”
On his public website, Guy states, ” As law enforcement officers, our fundamental duty is to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation; the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional right of all persons to liberty, equality and justice.”
However, on March 18, Guy arrested Fitzpatrick on four false charges, incarcerating him for ten days until Fitzpatrick made bond. A show trial was held on June 23 and 24 ending in two felony convictions with no evidence, accuser or victim. Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood will preside over the sentencing.
“Every spot, all the way around…they won’t let anybody even get close to the courthouse,” the eyewitness told us.
He reported that a cameraman from William F. Fain’s filmmaking company was positioned in the parking lot as of 9:45 a.m. EDT. Fain videotaped events on Monday, which included a prayer breakfast and barbecue for Fitzpatrick, who has been exposing government corruption in eastern Tennessee for five years.
In Tennessee, the grand juries, courts and trials are used to punish individuals thought to be disturbing the status quo or who pose opposition to the corruption pervasive throughout the judicial system.