INDICTED, CHARGED, CONVICTED AND SOON TO BE SENTENCED, WITHOUT A VICTIM
by Sharon Rondeau
(Aug. 11, 2014) — The State of Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole has admitted that in the case of Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III, 14-CR-69, in which Fitzpatrick was found guilty of “aggravated perjury” and “extortion,” there was no victim.
In a 12-page report issued on Monday dated August 8, 2014, Investigating Officer Judith Hilton-Coffman stated on page “3” that “There are no victims in the case of 14-CR-69.”
Hilton-Coffman attempted to interview Fitzpatrick after the case was referred to her following the trial, but Fitzpatrick declined on the grounds that he had committed no crime.
Fitzpatrick was arrested on March 18, 2014 after he attempted to present a petition with criminal evidence to the McMinn County grand jury. Judge Amy Reedy, who was voted out of office last Thursday, picked a new grand jury foreman, assigned the case number, and appears to have instructed the grand jury to review “evidence” against Fitzpatrick which was never produced at the trial.
There is no police report or criminal complaint filed with the sheriff’s department or local police as to the charges of stalking, harassment, aggravated perjury and extortion for which the grand jury issued a presentment. The trial jury found Fitzpatrick not guilty of the charge of “harassment,” and Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood dismissed the charge of stalking on June 23.
Defense attorney Van Irion had asked Blackwood to dismiss the case for lack of evidence, but Blackwood had refused.
No member of the jury has been willing to speak with The Post & Email about his or her service on the case.
Fitzpatrick has demonstrated that grand juries and trial juries in eastern Tennessee are routinely rigged. State law says that no juror can serve a consecutive term. Tennessee government has characterized the grand jury foreman as an “administrative” functionary rather than as a juror, but at other times, the grand jury foreman is described as “a juror.”
The evidence presented as an “agency statement” beginning on page 3 of the report is a statement from Tenth Judicial District investigator Calvin Rockholdt as to Fitzpatrick’s several attempts to bring a petition with criminal evidence to the McMinn County grand jury. “This investigation was predicated by an investigation request by District Attorney General R. Steven Bebb,” the report states.
Fitzpatrick is scheduled to be sentenced by Blackwood on August 19…but for what?
Veterans have become angry at Fitzpatrick’s treatment, and many plan to meet on August 18 for a prayer breakfast and barbecue, then to accompany Fitzpatrick to the sentencing hearing the following day. Lt. Col. Field McConnell (Ret.) of Abel Danger, who has organized the assembly, said on Thursday, “The timing is precise because just today a Prayer Breakfast and Abel Danger Bar B Q in Athens Tennessee have been arranged for 1000 Monday, 18 August [ prayer breakfast at Cracker Barrel ] and 1500-2000 for a public BBQ in a city park in Athens. I expect both will be videotaped to show McMinn and Blackwood that God, Himself, is exposing their deeds and revealing them to our nation.”
Fitzpatrick has described the routine and ongoing collusion among judges, sheriffs, grand jurors, trial jurors, and other state employees as “the dictatorship of the judiciary.” Tennessee grand juries are commandeered by judicially-selected foremen. Fitzpatrick first learned of the practice in late 2009 when he found that Monroe County, TN grand jury foreman Gary Pettway had served for 28 consecutive years.
Former McMinn County grand jury foreman Jeffrey Cunningham told the court under oath during a pre-trial hearing and during the trial itself that he was not Fitzpatrick’s accuser. The Tennessee constitution states that a defendant has the right to face his accuser, but none came forward.
Local law enforcement, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI have refused to investigate Fitzpatrick’s numerous reports of crimes committed by judges in the Tenth Judicial District. Over the last six weeks, readers of The Post & Email have called upon the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees to launch a congressional investigation.
The FBI has told Fitzpatrick that it needs “a smoking gun” in order to make arrests of judges, court clerks and others participating in crimes against the citizens they are expected to serve. In the past, Fitzpatrick has presented proof of hand-picked jurors, forged signatures on charging documents and illegally-serving grand jury foremen, but it has not sufficed.
Will the conviction of a victimless crime be enough?
