TN – P&E questioning job performance county officials

In a somewhat strange posting, the P&E is wondering if county officials in TN are performing their jobs satisfactorily.

A McMinn County Sheriff Corporal apparently informed Sharon that Walt is going to prison. Which is exactly what is to be expected to happen to someone who has been found guilty and sentenced to 3 years. Since the P&E, in the past, has complained about conditions in county jails, Sharon should be happy to hear that this time Walt is going to a State correctional facility.

Speaking of job performance, I wonder if Sharon has taken the time to familiarize herself with the laws, statutes and case law related to the appointment of a foreperson of the Grand Jury in TN. Contrary to her claims, which mirror Walt’s, the history of the TN Grand Jury and the laws passed, show that it is indeed the Judge who appoints a foreperson from amongst the population at large and that said Judge can re-appoint the foreperson for multiple, consecutive 2 year appointments. The recent statute which limits jury duty to once every two years, does not apply to the foreperson since he is not summoned but rather appointed.

Before one makes accusations of corruption etc, it is helpful to first outline the facts and study them. So far, the facts do not appear to support most of the ‘charges’ against the TN judiciary, the Sheriff’s office or the attorneys general. This does not mean that there is no corruption, just that the evidence has failed to point to any thus far.

For those interested, Walt’s status in the McMinn County jail can be checked here

Walt and Sharon finally getting it?

At the P&E, Sharon Rondeau writes:

In an indictment issued against both Huff and Fitzpatrick stemming from the citizen’s arrest, the foreman was identified as a “juror.” However, in a court brief filed in defense of the government’s conviction of Fitzpatrick in a case arising in December 2011, the state of Tennessee now claims that the foreman of any grand jury in Tennessee is not a juror, but rather, a court employee appointed by the judge by an unknown vetting process.

The foreman is part of the jury but is not a juror in the sense that unlike the jurors, he is selected by the judge and appointed to manage the grand jury business. He is ‘the thirteenth juror’ but as the rules, history and legal precedent show, he is not summoned after having been selected randomly from a pool of eligible candidates.

Rule 6 TN Rules of Criminal Procedures (In Tennessee the legislature approves the rules of the court)

The foreperson and the twelve qualified jurors whose names are first drawn constitute the grand jury for the term and shall attend the court until dismissed by the judge or until the next term.

Anyone who is willing to do a little research would have come to realize these simple facts. For example, there are several bills in the legislature which address the Grand Jury, one of them is trying to change the selection of the foreperson from the present day situation to one where he is also randomly selected. It is unlikely that such a proposal will be successful as the role of the thirteenth juror is administrative.