ATTORNEYS DECLINE WORK IN TENNESSEE COUNTY “BECAUSE IT’S CORRUPT”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Jun. 28, 2015) — On Friday, a hearing involving numerous Tipton County, TN defendants took place which included Mike Parsons, whose case The Post & Email has covered extensively over the last year.
Circuit Court Judge Joe H. Walker, III presided.
An observer of the proceedings told us that many of the defendants appeared “dazed and confused” after entering the courtroom. “They were wearing T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops, and some of them were sleeping as they waited,” he said.
He estimated that Walker “called over 100 people over the docket” of which “the vast majority” were already incarcerated in the county jail or state prison. “Another large contingent of people were actually people who had gone on the lam,” he said. “There were probably 20 or so names that were called and we heard, ‘He’s in South Carolina, and we’re not going to get any help from the reservation’ or “That guy is in Colorado…do we really want to pay to go get him?’”
“Most people who took off are the ones who see it as a sham; it’s a rigged courtroom,” the observer further opined. “They weren’t going to put themselves through it when they would have to take their chances on how it’s going to end. The reality is that you have people getting out on bond and then absconding from the jurisdiction, and they’re not coming back. I sat there and watched half a dozen attorneys say, ‘I’m not in contact with my client; I don’t know where he is.’ The judge was saying, ‘Call the bonds, call the bonds,” but what is the bondsman going to do when these people aren’t there? When you have a person who has a $5,000 bond, what’s the bondsman going to get paid? If he has to travel 1,000 miles to go get somebody where effectively, he’s going to get $500, it’s not worth it. When he can stay local and get people with bonds of $50,000 to $100,000 that he can go arrest, it’s much more lucrative.
“Take, for example, that former musician for Willie Nelson that they murdered…they get paid dead or alive. From what I understand, the bondsman is not being prosecuted. How is it that a person that’s a bounty hunter can go out and effectively murder somebody in his own home and not be prosecuted? They view people as property, and they don’t care…People are disposable, and there’s no accountability within the system,” the eyewitness said.
[Editor’s Note: Here, the court-watcher was referring to 65-year-old Randy Howard, who in 1976 recorded a solo song titled, “God Don’t Live in Tennessee.” Howard’s death has been discussed at length by Rutherford County, TN resident Dennis Schuelke, whose son Spencer is facing several charges which Schuelke says are fabricated so that the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) can count Spencer’s arrest toward a “quota” reportedly imposed on officers.
In media reports of Howard’s killing by the bounty hunter, Howard is referred to as “a fugitive” for failing to appear in court.]
The observer told The Post & Email that when Walker called Parsons to the stand, Parsons asked, “Is this on the record?” to which Walker responded, “Yes.” Parsons then told the judge that he had requested copies of the transcript from his November 2009 trial but “never got them.” Parsons also said that “page 33 was missing.” Walker then said, “You’ll have to order and pay for those yourself,” to which Parsons responded, “No, sir, you declared me indigent at the time of that trial, and I have a right to have those, and I demand those.”
The observer said that to him, Walker then appeared angry.
Difficulties in obtaining official transcripts have been reported in Madison County, Monroe County and McMinn County, TN. Audio-recordings are virtually never released, with court personnel deferring to the judge’s discretion on whether or not to make them available to the public. Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (TAOC) spokeswoman Michele Wojciechowski, JD told The Post & Email that “Court records may not be public at all times while a case is pending” and that the TAOC “is not the custodian of the records” and therefore can take no action in obtaining the release of a typed or audio record of a hearing.
After The Post & Email contacted “freelance” court reporter Amy Mays in Madison County several weeks ago to inquire as to how a transcript might be purchased, Mays said that she “makes her living selling transcripts” and that they are available to the public for a $5.00/page fee, or $2.00/page if they are already prepared. However, after we asked about an audio transcript or purchasing the two together, she broke with us to take a call on another phone and engage in a conversation in which we distinctly heard our name mentioned. When Mays returned, her demeanor was altered, she became very short with us for no reason and within seconds angrily terminated the call.
Mays had also told us that she had received a call from someone earlier that day who had accused her of altering her typewritten transcript from the presumed contents of the audio recording. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I would never do such a thing!” Mays exclaimed, as if insulted at the suggestion.
Before becoming inexplicably angry as we attempted to understand how transcripts are obtained, Mays told us to approach Madison County Circuit Court Judge Roy B. Morgan for an audio-recording with the explanation of “It’s not mine to give.”
Morgan’s administrative assistant, Candi, told us that she does not possess the record in question, and Kathy Blount, Madison County Circuit Court Clerk, refused to return our calls.
At least three defendants in Monroe County have reported that material was either missing from their transcripts, that what was said was altered so as not to reflect poorly on the judge, or that they were unable to obtain them at all.
Friday’s court-watcher then related that Parsons told Walker that the current charges against him are “bogus” and that he had filed a Motion to Dismiss on that premise. “I was never provided a preliminary hearing; the rules require that I be provided one, and my motion says that this must be dismissed,” Parsons reportedly said, to which Walker made no response.
Walker then asked Parsons if he had an attorney or if he needed more time to retain one, to which Parsons responded, “Most of the people I’ve spoken to are on vacation, and the majority of the rest said they wouldn’t go to Tipton County because it’s corrupt. The first week and a half I was home, I didn’t have a phone line.”
Walker said he would allow Parsons an additional 30 days to find an attorney to defend him against the two indictments charging that he was in possession of firearms as a convicted felon on February 11, 2014, when a raid took place on his farm based on the false pretext that he mistreated his farm animals. Parsons was cleared after a veterinarian who accompanied Parsons’ parole officer and other county officials during the unannounced visit admitted that there was no reason for him to be there.
Parsons was first arrested in September 2007 at the order of Judge William A. Peeler following the unprovoked shooting death of one of his wolf hybrids and continued attack from Barry Laxton, an acquaintance of now-Tipton County Executive Jeff Huffman, against whom Parsons ran in 2006. Although armed at the time, Parsons did not respond to Laxton in kind. Rather, Parsons ordered him to drop his weapon and attempted to conduct a citizen’s arrest.
Contrary to that which he was told the day following the election, Parsons believed he won after having viewed early evening televised returns showing him with nearly four times the votes of Huffman.
Parsons filed suit against the county election commission and was then retaliated against, denied constitutional due process rights, accused of several felonies, tried by a tainted jury and sentenced to seven years in prison for convictions on aggravated assault and burglary of a vehicle.
He was imprisoned for two and one-half years, then released on parole in April 2012.
Parsons was sent to prison again in February of last year on an alleged parole violation of possession of firearms as a convicted felon. While in prison, he was denied library privileges and brought to court for an appearance in March on the two new indictments without having had a probable cause hearing.
For both his 2009 and 2015 arrests, Parsons was indicted by a grand jury headed by William Brooks, who has been serving in that capacity for more than 20 years. Twenty-Fifth District chief prosecutor Mike Dunavant has failed to return calls from The Post & Email about either of Parsons’ cases. Dunavant is seeking “enhanced punishment” for Parsons on the two firearms possession indictments.
The Fifth Amendment grand jury was established to protect citizens from an overzealous prosecutor while issuing indictments if they agreed that probable cause existed that a crime was committed.
After granting an initial interview, Circuit Court Clerk Mike Forbess ceased returning our calls and responding to our request for a list of Tipton County grand jurors dating back several years.
The Post & Email has detailed a “prisoners-for-profit” operation involving the Tennessee courts, sheriffs’ offices, parole officers, state-level law enforcement, defense attorneys and prosecutors, and the TAOC by virtue of failing to take action against the corruption.