Well, the big trial is over and I lost - so far... but let me give you The Rundown as to how Decatur County, TN, got these charges to stick: they didn't; they changed the charges yet again when I went into the courtroom this morning!
They came up with some kind of 911 non-emergency call, where I told them that I would be up there in 5 minutes (to fill out a Child Protective Services report on the girl I had originally called on) and was listening to Slayer when I did it. I was listening to the song, Reborn, and I was singing along to it while I spoke, so the DA, Adam Jowers, started hammering home how I was singing about how I was going to "be reborn" and how that wasn't an emergency.
What did I tell you about these little Southern towns and their churchy ways?
The 911 records clearly indicate that I had called previously about child endangerment; the first officer on the stand clearly stated that he had been told that I had called earlier about a child endangerment situation; the DA, Adam Jowers, shot all that down - shot his own witnesses' testimony down! - to focus on this "I will be reborn" line from a Slayer song that I sang into the phone when I called.
I didn't get a chance to drive down to the station to fill out the CPS report because the cops came here and arrested me. Why?
Well, they couldn't say. They didn't have a warrant when they came to the door and now they're claiming they made a mistake by listing the date as the 11th of August (a Saturday - the day they actually picked me up - technically, it was Sunday morning [late Saturday night]) not once, not twice, but three times on the same document. And in the computer when they booked me - but they didn't book me until Monday, the 13th, which is when I received the warrant.
No matter, because come Wednesday, after they had held me for over 72 hours, they came to find out that they had charged me with Public Intoxication in the computer up front - when? On the 11th, the 12th, the 13th? No matter, because the warrant I received, dated the 11th, stated "Disorderly Conduct," so they changed it to Disorderly Conduct. So, on or around the 16th, I was charged with Disorderly Conduct on the 11th, but it was actually the 12th - but nevermind, because they decided to drop all those charges and hit me with a single 911 call I supposedly made noon Sunday!
Go back through the blogs - all of them, if you like: there is only one, single time in the past year and some-odd months that there has been a lull of more than 2-3 days across all of the blogs. That period begins on Saturday, August 11th and lasts until Friday, August the 18th. I was in the Decatur County jailhouse on Sunday the 12th. The 911 operator disputes that, but her "logs" are handwritten and clearly state that I had called earlier about the neighbors.
Now, if you recall, the other DA said that I could have written the e-mail for the continuance myself when I submitted it as evidence in court the last time - the time when I already knew it was continued and so did they, they just didn't realize it until I had sat there for 21/2 hours... the same way they didn't realize that Saturday was the 11th and Sunday was the 12th. The same way they didn't realize that, even though they picked me up at my house - in my house - that my address is not the one they listed on the warrant. Even though, at the top of the warrant, they got my address correct. The same way they didn't know my name when I was taken into custody, even though they knew it well enough to swear out a warrant on the 11th - well, the 12th is what they meant - and it lists my name at the top of the warrant and they picked me up at my house because, as the 911 operator testified, my name came up on their caller ID. And they knew my name well enough to tell the girl whom I called about (suggesting she'd left her 8-month old child in the house alone - that's where all this came from) that I was the one who called on her...
Kind of funny, huh? Assistant DA, Adam Jowers, said in the trial, "We're not trying to pull a fast one here." Really? Really, Mr. Jowers?
Then on what date was I arrested? If it was the 12th, why was the warrant sworn out on the 11th? If it was the 11th, why did they wait until the 12th to pick me up? Why was a warrant even sworn out on the 11th if I didn't make the offending 911 call until the 12th? Why was I held for 7 days - without bond - on a 12-hour charge, at any rate? Originally, it was because I had no ID, so they had to hold me until they "discovered" who I am - but now they admit that they picked me up in my house and the 911 operator admitted that my name came up on the caller ID! Why did my being charged with Disorderly Conduct on one document and Public Intoxication in the computer never raise any red flags until I made a stink about it and the "error" was "discovered"? Why does the warrant say I was at an address that doesn't even exist when they clearly picked me up at my house?
Just an error. And that one was an oversight. And that one was... well, they aren't really certain, but they'll let it go. And the other one... well, they can't admit that they just made the whole thing up, right?
So they decided to drop all of that and change the charges to something about a single 911 phone call I made, while recusing themselves from knowing anything about any of the other calls I'd made, even though they clearly stated on the stand and in their own (handwritten!) documents that they were apprised of the fact that I had called in a child endangerment report earlier, on the 12th or 11th - or maybe the 91st - they're not sure. But it doesn't matter because "I will be reborn" and that's not an emergency.
But they're not pulling a fast one, according to Decatur County, TN Assistant DA, Adam Jowers! Oh noooo. All he had to do was keep repeating about how I had sang about being "reborn" and that did it.
On the plus side, the judge made it so that if I appeal, it's actually cheaper than if I just pay the $50 fine and leave the plea as guilty. I think he saw my point of view and wasn't at all pleased with the DA's case, but his hands were pretty much tied; I had no lawyer and I don't really know legal proceeding well enough to try a case, but what could I do? Had I known to prepare for this charge, I would have made my decision based on that; they knew damned well they were going to have to lie and wriggle their way out of what they'd gotten themselves into, so they waited until today to spring this charge on me. Yet still lied and wriggled around like worms.
In fact, Assistant DA, Adam Jowers, approached me and suggested that I plead guilty, "You're not going to get anymore jail time," he said, "I'll just ask for a $10 fine and costs." I said, "Then I'll plead not guilty." A few minutes later, he came up with this 911 charge.
It makes you wonder, since I told my would-be lawyer over the weekend that I couldn't come up with the whole $500 he wanted by today but I could give him partial payment if he agreed to accept that (he didn't and waited until Wednesday to tell me), if he didn't send the Assistant DA of Decatur County, TN, Adam Jowers, the information I had given him. After all, they're all good-ol' country boys up this way and since he decided he couldn't be my attorney, there was no real attorney-client confidence established - even if he had gotten my case from me under the pretense of being my attorney. Unethical? Sure. But then, this is Decatur County, TN; ethics are for suckers and city-folk, like myself. Of course, I have no proof that any of this happened, it's just funny how they decided to change the charges yet again this afternoon after keeping me in there since 9:00 AM and calling my case last (at nearly 1:00 PM).
So I'm going to have to figure out some damn way of coming up with the money I need to file an appeal. Either way you go, Decatur County, TN is going to make sure you pay them something - I guess that's true of any court and court system, but you really should hear the people talk about Decatur County, TN! None of this is "news" to anyone. "They just do whatever they want to."
Still, now that this much is over, I can get the transcript and pick it apart, piece-by-piece. I don't want to go all Lenny Bruce here, so I'll try to keep it to a minimum - may even do it over to The Wording, come to think of it - but I think it's important to illustrate just how corrupt our system is and how easily, and often, it is manipulated by those in power.
Now, if I get the other 911 calls to prove that there was, in fact, a foundation - a reason that I made the single call they used out of context to convict me - then I wonder if they'll change it to yet another charge? Or maybe a different date? Or say it happened at another address? By this point, you really have to wonder if they even have the right person!
In fact, I could have said that I did not make that call, but I guess that I did and I didn't want to perjure myself... Well, so long as I'm here, you know there's one, single honest person in Decatur County, TN - but only one; I'm the exception which proves the rule. Of course, I can't afford to move - and am not allowed to, now that I am on probation - until all of this is over and done with. I'm scared to go outside my house now; maybe the judge put me on probation just to keep me here so they could screw with me some more and hopefully turn this little misdemeanor charge into a full-blown felony of one kind or another - hell, they'll just make one up on the spot, if they want to! And since they'll lie and manipulate and twist everything around at will and have absolutely no regard or respect for the legal system, I'm scared to death!
Decatur County, TN is a horrible, corrupt place. If you, for any reason, ever have to come here or even go through it, change your plans! I would spend $250 in travel fare to circumvent this county entirely rather than even drive through it! Trust me, in the long run, it will be cheaper!
They came up with some kind of 911 non-emergency call, where I told them that I would be up there in 5 minutes (to fill out a Child Protective Services report on the girl I had originally called on) and was listening to Slayer when I did it. I was listening to the song, Reborn, and I was singing along to it while I spoke, so the DA, Adam Jowers, started hammering home how I was singing about how I was going to "be reborn" and how that wasn't an emergency.
What did I tell you about these little Southern towns and their churchy ways?
The 911 records clearly indicate that I had called previously about child endangerment; the first officer on the stand clearly stated that he had been told that I had called earlier about a child endangerment situation; the DA, Adam Jowers, shot all that down - shot his own witnesses' testimony down! - to focus on this "I will be reborn" line from a Slayer song that I sang into the phone when I called.
I didn't get a chance to drive down to the station to fill out the CPS report because the cops came here and arrested me. Why?
Well, they couldn't say. They didn't have a warrant when they came to the door and now they're claiming they made a mistake by listing the date as the 11th of August (a Saturday - the day they actually picked me up - technically, it was Sunday morning [late Saturday night]) not once, not twice, but three times on the same document. And in the computer when they booked me - but they didn't book me until Monday, the 13th, which is when I received the warrant.
No matter, because come Wednesday, after they had held me for over 72 hours, they came to find out that they had charged me with Public Intoxication in the computer up front - when? On the 11th, the 12th, the 13th? No matter, because the warrant I received, dated the 11th, stated "Disorderly Conduct," so they changed it to Disorderly Conduct. So, on or around the 16th, I was charged with Disorderly Conduct on the 11th, but it was actually the 12th - but nevermind, because they decided to drop all those charges and hit me with a single 911 call I supposedly made noon Sunday!
Go back through the blogs - all of them, if you like: there is only one, single time in the past year and some-odd months that there has been a lull of more than 2-3 days across all of the blogs. That period begins on Saturday, August 11th and lasts until Friday, August the 18th. I was in the Decatur County jailhouse on Sunday the 12th. The 911 operator disputes that, but her "logs" are handwritten and clearly state that I had called earlier about the neighbors.
Now, if you recall, the other DA said that I could have written the e-mail for the continuance myself when I submitted it as evidence in court the last time - the time when I already knew it was continued and so did they, they just didn't realize it until I had sat there for 21/2 hours... the same way they didn't realize that Saturday was the 11th and Sunday was the 12th. The same way they didn't realize that, even though they picked me up at my house - in my house - that my address is not the one they listed on the warrant. Even though, at the top of the warrant, they got my address correct. The same way they didn't know my name when I was taken into custody, even though they knew it well enough to swear out a warrant on the 11th - well, the 12th is what they meant - and it lists my name at the top of the warrant and they picked me up at my house because, as the 911 operator testified, my name came up on their caller ID. And they knew my name well enough to tell the girl whom I called about (suggesting she'd left her 8-month old child in the house alone - that's where all this came from) that I was the one who called on her...
Kind of funny, huh? Assistant DA, Adam Jowers, said in the trial, "We're not trying to pull a fast one here." Really? Really, Mr. Jowers?
Then on what date was I arrested? If it was the 12th, why was the warrant sworn out on the 11th? If it was the 11th, why did they wait until the 12th to pick me up? Why was a warrant even sworn out on the 11th if I didn't make the offending 911 call until the 12th? Why was I held for 7 days - without bond - on a 12-hour charge, at any rate? Originally, it was because I had no ID, so they had to hold me until they "discovered" who I am - but now they admit that they picked me up in my house and the 911 operator admitted that my name came up on the caller ID! Why did my being charged with Disorderly Conduct on one document and Public Intoxication in the computer never raise any red flags until I made a stink about it and the "error" was "discovered"? Why does the warrant say I was at an address that doesn't even exist when they clearly picked me up at my house?
Just an error. And that one was an oversight. And that one was... well, they aren't really certain, but they'll let it go. And the other one... well, they can't admit that they just made the whole thing up, right?
So they decided to drop all of that and change the charges to something about a single 911 phone call I made, while recusing themselves from knowing anything about any of the other calls I'd made, even though they clearly stated on the stand and in their own (handwritten!) documents that they were apprised of the fact that I had called in a child endangerment report earlier, on the 12th or 11th - or maybe the 91st - they're not sure. But it doesn't matter because "I will be reborn" and that's not an emergency.
But they're not pulling a fast one, according to Decatur County, TN Assistant DA, Adam Jowers! Oh noooo. All he had to do was keep repeating about how I had sang about being "reborn" and that did it.
On the plus side, the judge made it so that if I appeal, it's actually cheaper than if I just pay the $50 fine and leave the plea as guilty. I think he saw my point of view and wasn't at all pleased with the DA's case, but his hands were pretty much tied; I had no lawyer and I don't really know legal proceeding well enough to try a case, but what could I do? Had I known to prepare for this charge, I would have made my decision based on that; they knew damned well they were going to have to lie and wriggle their way out of what they'd gotten themselves into, so they waited until today to spring this charge on me. Yet still lied and wriggled around like worms.
In fact, Assistant DA, Adam Jowers, approached me and suggested that I plead guilty, "You're not going to get anymore jail time," he said, "I'll just ask for a $10 fine and costs." I said, "Then I'll plead not guilty." A few minutes later, he came up with this 911 charge.
It makes you wonder, since I told my would-be lawyer over the weekend that I couldn't come up with the whole $500 he wanted by today but I could give him partial payment if he agreed to accept that (he didn't and waited until Wednesday to tell me), if he didn't send the Assistant DA of Decatur County, TN, Adam Jowers, the information I had given him. After all, they're all good-ol' country boys up this way and since he decided he couldn't be my attorney, there was no real attorney-client confidence established - even if he had gotten my case from me under the pretense of being my attorney. Unethical? Sure. But then, this is Decatur County, TN; ethics are for suckers and city-folk, like myself. Of course, I have no proof that any of this happened, it's just funny how they decided to change the charges yet again this afternoon after keeping me in there since 9:00 AM and calling my case last (at nearly 1:00 PM).
So I'm going to have to figure out some damn way of coming up with the money I need to file an appeal. Either way you go, Decatur County, TN is going to make sure you pay them something - I guess that's true of any court and court system, but you really should hear the people talk about Decatur County, TN! None of this is "news" to anyone. "They just do whatever they want to."
Still, now that this much is over, I can get the transcript and pick it apart, piece-by-piece. I don't want to go all Lenny Bruce here, so I'll try to keep it to a minimum - may even do it over to The Wording, come to think of it - but I think it's important to illustrate just how corrupt our system is and how easily, and often, it is manipulated by those in power.
Now, if I get the other 911 calls to prove that there was, in fact, a foundation - a reason that I made the single call they used out of context to convict me - then I wonder if they'll change it to yet another charge? Or maybe a different date? Or say it happened at another address? By this point, you really have to wonder if they even have the right person!
In fact, I could have said that I did not make that call, but I guess that I did and I didn't want to perjure myself... Well, so long as I'm here, you know there's one, single honest person in Decatur County, TN - but only one; I'm the exception which proves the rule. Of course, I can't afford to move - and am not allowed to, now that I am on probation - until all of this is over and done with. I'm scared to go outside my house now; maybe the judge put me on probation just to keep me here so they could screw with me some more and hopefully turn this little misdemeanor charge into a full-blown felony of one kind or another - hell, they'll just make one up on the spot, if they want to! And since they'll lie and manipulate and twist everything around at will and have absolutely no regard or respect for the legal system, I'm scared to death!
Decatur County, TN is a horrible, corrupt place. If you, for any reason, ever have to come here or even go through it, change your plans! I would spend $250 in travel fare to circumvent this county entirely rather than even drive through it! Trust me, in the long run, it will be cheaper!
4 comments:
I forgot to mention: the judge put me on probation! Seriously! He put me on probation for singing into the phone at 911 - even though I had already called 911 previously and been cursed-out by the operator (they didn't admit those calls into evidence and, for some reason, I couldn't ask them to!), even though the operator hung up on me, even though I have no prior arrest record because I have never been arrested anywhere for anything before, ever!
I am telling everyone this everywhere because at 4:10 this afternoon, there was a cop car in the parking space of the girl on whom I originally called 911 for child endangerment! Were they there to continue the constant harassment or were they there to get her to perjure herself and say this all happened on Sunday afternoon (even though it really happened Saturday night), or were they just trying to shake her down and tell her to "play ball" against me... or what?
I have a bad feeling the judge put me on probation specifically so these people can try to get something bigger on me. And given the way they lied and manipulated everything today, there's no telling what they will try, but I wouldn't put anything past them!
They have absolutely no scruples and no ethics and I really don't know who to call to look into this - a Senator? A state representative? Anyone? I don't know that there's anyone to call, honestly.
I've already heard how people who stand up to them "end up floating in the river." One of them told me, while in jail, "Don't start something you can't finish!"
If nothing else, I really want everyone in the free world to know just how dirty and corrupt this county is and how everyone lives in fear of them.
It isn't worth dying over or going to prison for, but should either of those things happen, I want to make sure that everyone knows that I said these people might try something like that before it ever happens!
I am going to try to get the transcript of the hearing tomorrow and then I am going to post it on the website. Maybe not the smartest thing to do while I can't leave the county, but they are obviously trying to ensure that I can't go far for some reason and I'm not taking any chances this time.
Greetings from Knoxville.. Even in the bigger city scene, cops seem to be doing a lot of the same. I am OUTRAGED!!!
I was recently slapped with a misdemeanor citation for "non emergency call to 911". I wasn't arrested, but I do have to get booked and may face possible probation.
Basically, I was staying with some people in a rather shady apartment complex. I was kind of down and out with no where to go so I was willing to ride out some BS just to have a place to stay. The lady I was staying with was a bit of a drunk, and just a tad unstable if you know what I mean. Her cat ran away, and somehow in the process I got blamed. LoL
The old lady caught me outside and locked me out saying I wasn't allowed back in, nor was I allowed to get my things until I hunted down her precious "baby kitty". (which didn't show back up until 5 hours later)
The neighbors 2 apartments down were around my age and we had become just acquainted enough that they were willing to take me in. Apparently, the gal had a reputation for being drunken and nuts. They had the police called on her a few times before in which she was arrested twice (on PI charges). They calmed me down and insisted that it was for the better since she was a psycho cunt and I could stay with them until I could find another place.
The girl of the couple I was now staying with decided that we needed to call the police in order to force the psycho cunt to let me get to get my belongings. I could hear the 911 operator's response toward her and you could just tell that the girl calling was a familiar voice with the local emergency number. (the classic "I can't hear you... your phone is cutting out, what?) It was obvious that she was an abuser of the system.
The cops took nearly and hour to respond. I got the feeling that they were ignoring the call due to the frequency of the calls coming from the apartment complex. This girl and her thuggy boyfriend called like 3 times in the hour before they showed. They even made me call once since they thought it was better that I call them myself due to the circumstance.
Well, to make a long story short.. I got my things. Later that night, the couple was down at yet another apt in the complex hanging out with another neighbor. I was in the apartment alone, and the apt was so ghetto that the door locks did not work. Her damned cat had still not shown up at that point. She was even drunker than in the previous incident. The lady shouted at me through the screen of an open window while cursing obsenities and pelted me with physical threats. She then noticed the door lock was all but useless and came inside!
I, atleast up until that point, had a clean criminal record and feared assault charges. I know defense is defense, but there were no other witnesses. She walked in the door and continued to threaten me. I should have just beaten her ass, but I'm weird like that. Instead, I used a deactived cell phone to call 911 stating that she had entered the apartment and was harrasing me.
When the cops came out, instead of arresting her ass or charging her with PI, breaking and entering, what have you.. they gave me a misdemeanor citation for the charge that was aforementioned. Since no one saw her come in they felt I was just making shit up on the basis that the couple living in the apartment had made so many calls about the woman already. (In the process of getting my things, she acted beligerent and both the couple and the other neighbors had already had the cops out there a total of 2 times.. so a total of 3x the same day) They apparently assumed I was the girl in the couple.
A woman comes into the place where I'm living threatening me, and *I* get in trouble??? Their best advice was that I should have just shut the window. Well, hello?? SHE CAME INSIDE THE APARTMENT!!! I feel that she would have assaulted me given the chance, even though I don't feel she would have been a threat to my life.. But what else was I to do? The girlfriend said to me after the cops left that she was told if I had whooped her I would have been covered. How so? If they felt the call was so frivolous as to issue a citation they must have not believed that she entered the apartment, so there would be two charges at once- non emergency call and assault! I do not believe in violence for the most part. Couldn't they atleast respect the fact that I was trying to end the situation peacefully and without incident??
Thanks for writing and letting us all know just how alive and well bigotry is here in The Dirty, Dirty Sowf.
I never, ever thought I would say this, but I kind of miss Murmphis! Not that I miss anything about it really, just that at least they didn't screw with "different" people so much because down there, really everyone is "different." Memphis, TN is still an awful place, though. Don't misinterpret me.
I am going to pull something in order to pay this whopping $500 fine off ASAP and get the eff out of Dodge, and since I dropped the appeal earlier today, I will post the entire series of events in some form or another somewhere so that a copy of it exists in the public domain. That is, unless they decide to hit me with even more charges on down the road and I end up in prison or something...
It sounds like I'm making more of this than I should, but given the way they handled this whole debacle and their awful reputation, you can trust me when I assure I am not. If you are over 17 in Decatur County, TN, you should literally expect to go to jail at least once. Even if you just drive through the county, you better keep it in mind!
I mean, I lived in one of the most dangerous cities in the nation for 31 years and never once had so much as a warrant for like a traffic ticket or something, and I come up here for less than 2 years and wind-up Public Enemy #1! Regardless of what they do, short of putting me on the FBI's Most Wanted List (do not underestimate their level of corruption!), I should theoretically be able to make it another 30+ years without any legal problems, so whatever they do short of making me a wanted felon, I shouldn't have anymore problems out of them so long as I pay this outrageous extortion in the time allotted.
(He prayed.)
Still, it's very important we make as many people as possible aware of these stories so that we can hopefully limit their abuse and harassment and give others who face similar problems whatever information and help we can from our own experiences.
I can tell you that you could face up to 30 days in jail on this charge and up to a $50 fine, plus probation.
Make sure to stay in touch and let us know how everything turns out and we'll do whatever we can to help you out!
If you were in the courtroom on October 1st, 2007, I REALLY need to speak with you face to face. My client was also in that courtroom that day. I am her PI and the way you have described things is IDENTICAL to her situation on that morning. I know all these "players" of losing files and their attempts to get you plead guilty to trumphed up charges. I have been reading this over the phone to my client and she wanted me to attempt to reach you. Please allow us the opportunity to meet with you (once we positively ID that you are who you say you are) to put these rotten dogs where they need to be - behind their own condemned jailhouse bars!! These "so-called" religious ostriches better realize that they, too will have to answer to God for their acceptance of their "Deliverance" attitudes in Decatur County. They are a bunch of cowards hiding behind those illustrious badges. Their code of color resembles vomit to me. Please contact me.
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