Memphis, Memphis Corruption, Memphis Elections, Memphis Police, Police Political Intelligence Collection

Thurston Smith: Liar, Bully and Worse.

Readers of our City Council Election blog may have noticed that, instead of writing about Thurston Smith, I inserted a legal disclaimer. Now I can reveal the full story.

On the fifth of July I was served with a temporary Order of Protection (PDF) filed by Thurston Smith. The order is a tissue of lies, but my attorney advised me not to post anything, and I don’t keep a dog and bark myself. The protection order was lifted (PDF) and expunged (JPG) yesterday (July 29th 2019) and now I am free to post without the threat of jail time.

The provisions of the order were savage, with confiscation of weapons, compulsory anger management courses, payment of court costs and more.

SLAPP Suit

Updated 8/4/2019. I received an email from a friendly lawyer.

Wasn’t obtaining the Order of Protection the equivalent of a SLAPP suit?

A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

Wasn’t it also an abuse of process?

Lies

The first lie on the form is my height. Smith peggged me at 5′ 7″. The tallest I’ve ever been is 5′ 5 1/2″ and advancing age has reduced me to under 5′ 3″.

OoP_text

The big lie here was that the February 24th event was private. In fact, his announcement of candidacy for District 7 was clearly a public event.

My_event_invite_Feb

The Facebook event, which was posted on the public page MRYE: Memphis Raise your Expectations!!!, was marked “Public” and was widely circulated. I replied “Going” as above, turned up at the door, signed in and was admitted.

Other lies: “Petitioner stated that Fergus Nolan then located him through social media”. In fact, Thurston located me through social media, sent a friend request and contacted me through Facebook Personal Messengerin December 2018. I still have records of this conversation.

He later called me, which is how I got his number. I did not call him until June 28th.

Made Flyers. Untrue. I have not made a flyer since 2016. If I want to make a flyer, I do one page with QR codes to reduce litter and paper wastage, and let people scan the QR with their phones.

I did not say “police hag”. It would have been “Pighag” which is a movie starring Anna T. Schlegel.

“Began peeping through windows”. Untrue. I did not cross the zero lot line which is about 12 feet from the windows.

Pacing back and forth. Not true. I am mobility impaired and am economical with my movements.

Left after 20 minutes. Not true. I arrived at 4:40 PM, made a phone call at 4:45 and left at 4:47. Seven minutes, confirmed by the timestamps on the photos I took.

“Petitioner is in fear for his life”. At the announcement event, there were over 40 of his friends present, and I was unarmed and alone. At his house, he was safely inside and I was again unarmed and alone. He is not in fear for his life. He is in fear of being exposed. Smith knows that his police buddies like to make this claim to violate people’s fourth amendment rights against search and seizure.

The June 28th Visit to Thurston’s House

On June 27th, I noticed that, although Smith owns a nice house he bought for $200,000 in Arlington, from the address on his Appointment of Campaign Treasurer, he appeared to be living in a dilapidated house bought from a bank in 2009, for less than $25,000, by his campaign Communications Director, Lloyd Brown. The documents are here (PDF). This piqued my interest enough for a reconnaissance.

Peeling paint and rotten woodwork (blight) on an upper-story window at Thurston’s official District 7 residence

After an abortive visit on the 27th, where I did not find the right house, I hung my media ID around my neck and drove to his house on Friday June 28th with the aid of a GPS. I noticed a white Cadillac with a VA parking decal parked outside and later posted that he seemed to be present. I also took several photos of the exterior of the residence, with peeling paint and rotted woodwork and window jambs. I thought this was interesting in case Smith later talked about blight. In order to allay any worries about who was at the door, I called him and he did not pick up.

If Thurston Smith had done the same at my house, or called me, this would have been canvassing. I think of this as reverse canvassing.

Why did Smith take out an Order of Protection?

It is interesting that Thurston’s first thought, when challenged by a voter in his district, is to resort to lying and intimidation. On Sunday June 30th, Detective Raymond Jones called me saying that Smith and Lloyd Brown had complained that I had been stalking and harassing them. I have not heard more. Presumably MPD would have just as hard a time proving these allegations as Smith had in court. Hopefully Detective Jones had permission from Director Rallings to undertake an “investigation” that had obvious potential for revealing political information.

Broadcaster Thadeus Matthews claimed, in this broadcast (at hour 1 minute 20) from July 1st, and again on the 15th, that Thurston Smith had been forced to retire early from his job at the VA. According to Matthews, this was allegedly related to alleged claims that Smith had allegedly sexually harassed another employee. Matthews said he would have the victim as a guest on his broadcast. We will not reveal the name of this employee, who is still at the VA, because it is our policy not to expose the names or particulars of alleged victims of alleged sexual crime. We also can’t name our informants at the VA because the case of Sean Higgins proves that whistle blowers are savagely treated at the VA. We would also point out that Mathews is also saying that Smith does not live in the district, which we don’t believe. Matthews was shaking Smith down for “advertising” money at the time.

Asking Smith questions about the circumstances of his departure from the VA prompted him to reach out to me via Personal Message, by phone and caused him to be visibly angry at his campaign announcement event. He attempted intimidation via law enforcement and the Temporary Protection Order.

Smith clearly has no regard for constitutional values, truth or transparency. Without the material in the protection order, I would not have had much to write. How he imagined that his dubious maneuver would silence me is unclear. His lack of judgement alone disqualifies him from office.

Thurston Smith and the Police.

This is Thurston Smith’s Community Outreach Program ID. He shamelessly posted it on his Facebook page.

COP is an organization of police sympathizers and snitches. They attend special training at Memphis Police Academy, where they are trained to spy on citizens and spread police propaganda. We obtained emails to COP members around the time of the April 3rd, 2018 Rolling Block Party police riot, where police brass asked COP members to try to prevent their congregations from joining the protest, in which Manuel Duran and others were arrested by paramilitary Organized Crime Unit (OCU) police thugs.

At a time when candidates like Tami Sawyer and John Marek are calling for the firing of Mike Rallings and his replacement by a Director who understands community policing, Smith holds the view that MPD is fine as is and should be supported in their campaign of mass incarceration. Evidence to the contrary includes: The ACLU “Kendrick” court victory and court monitor, Darrius Stewart’s murder and cover-up, the attempted murder, cover-up and incarceration of Martavious Banks, the police riot after the killing of Brandon Webber, turning off of body- and dash- cams, the Graceland discrimination case, the FightFor$15 case, numerous letters from CLERB which were stonewalled by Mike Rallings, spying by police at an actual Court Monitor public meeting, Authorization of Agency and other incidents of police malpractice and brutality too numerous to mention.

Thurston Smith is a pro-police dinosaur at a time when District 7 and the entire city is crying out for police reform.

Incidentally, Smith’s posture strengthens the Caissa Dog Whistle, which supports white control of the City.

I consider it an honor to be singled out for retribution by Thurston Smith.

— concluded —

A-list, Civil Rights, Federal Lawsuit, Memphis, Memphis Activism, Memphis Corruption, Memphis Police, MPD AoA, MPD Authorization of Agency, Police Misconduct, Police Political Intelligence Collection

Dan Rosson placed on AoA by City

We have another Authorization of Agency case to share, this time that of Dan Rosson, against whom Memphis Animal Services, in collaboration with City Chief Operating Officer Doug McEwen, have created an AoA. Once again, the City has used AoA to silence a political opponent.

AoA and the City Blacklist.

Authorization of Agency first came to public attention when the City’s Blacklist was published on half a dozen AoA forms. Placement on Jim Strickland’s AoA was purportedly in retaliation for a December 19th Die-In action at Strickland’s, but it contained over forty activists’ names, far more than the ten or so protesters at that action. The list was correctly interpreted as a City action against a list of activists which MPD was managing in contravention of the 1978 Kendrick Consent Decree. The ACLU took the City and MPD to court and won.

AoA used against Zoo critics.

hunter_being_cuffed — Hunter Demster being cuffed by Officer Dan Adams at the Zoo

We publish some research on Authorization of Agency, compiling almost 1,700 AoA records obtained from MPD via Open Records Request. While 84.9% of the AoA victims were African Americans victims of police racism, a few, featuring Hunter Demster, Maureen Spain and myself were clearly in retaliation by the Zoo and MPD for harmless political speech. In my case, I was on two AoAs, one issued days after my 2016 arrest at the Zoo, which was judged by the courts to be a wrongful arrest, dismissed and expunged. My second Zoo AoA was illegally created by forging my name to an existing, pre-signed AoA with Hunter Demster, after we uneventfully visited the Zoo. Again, this was an act of political retaliation, supported by MPD files collected in violation of Kendrick.

MPD working for private employer with AoA.

Last week, we wrote about Rodney Fisher’s AoA at DHL/Nike. In this case, Mr. Fisher’s employer used MPD to inform him that he had been fired, in retaliation for political speech at his place of employment. The MPD Lieutentant Colonel who ordered the patrolman to inform Mr. Fisher was quoted as saying he had been targeted for non-existent “threats” made via social media, indicating that Mr. Fisher’s first amendment speech on political subjects had been investigated, and that a social media search had been performed by MPD.

New: Dan Rosson’s AoA

Now, we have a new AoA of concern, against animal activist and dog rescue volunteer, Dan Rosson. In this case, city employees at Memphis Animal Shelter and City Chief Operating Officer, Doug McGowan, were behind the retaliatory use of AoA.

AOA

Dan Rosson was a long-time volunteer at Memphis Animal Services. He was a dog foster, caring for shelter dogs at his home, and performing various tasks at the shelter. He photographed dogs and helped document their temperaments among other valuable services that saved money for the City and the lives of many dogs scheduled for euthanasia.

Mr Rosson recounts an incident at a Collierville vet, when a dog, which had been secretly labeled as potentially vicious by MAS. attacked another dog. Rosson subsequently, at an April 2018 MAS advisory board meeting, called for volunteers to be warned about dogs labeled as problematic. Mr Rosson, in the following months, also shared a long list of administrative issues at MAS that he wanted addressed.

On February 13th 2019 Mr Rosson posted on Facebook about some critically ill pups who needed urgent veterinary treatment. He had been banned from transporting animals and no-one else was available to drive the pups to the vet.

Mr Rosson, as a proponent of the humane treatment of animals, was upset at the unnecessary suffering caused by the delay in the treatment of the canines.

On February 14th, Mr Rosson circulated a petition to volunteers and others, and engaged in first amendment protected speech critical of the City administration of MAS. The petition asked the City to promote due process and prevent First Amendment abuse by MAS officials, naming MAS director Alexis Pugh.

On February 18th, Mr Rosson posted that City Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowan had allegedly called Rosson’s former employer, University of Tennessee. Mr Rosson is retired from UT but had availed of the customary policy of allowing retirees to continue using their UT email. UT canceled Mr Rosson’s email account with resultant chilling effect on his ability to engage in free speech on this issue.

On the 20th, Mr Rosson received some Open Records Requests information from the City attempting to clarify the MAS policies on administering volunteers and asking for records on his own case, and the petition was delivered to the Mayor and City Council. That was the day the AoA was signed by Alexis Pugh.

On February 21st Mr Rosson was informed that he would be arrested if he set foot at MAS and was informed of other charges made by Pugh against him. These additional charges might constitute illegal acts but were not recorded (as sometimes happens) as marginal notes on the AoA. This suggests that MPD was maintaining other documents relating to Mr Rosson. This implies the existence of an investigation, which, being likely to uncover political information relating to Mr Rosson’s communications with the City and MAS, should have been approved by Police Director Rallings pursuant to the Kendrick Consent Decree, which had been well aired in Federal court by this time.

Some cute rescue puppies. We could not leave you with those administrator photos.

The accusations made by MAS management, if they could be substantiated, should have resulted in a police investigation. Mr Rosson has not been charged with any offense relating to alleged incidents at MAS.

We believe that Mr Rosson’s case is an clear example of AoA being used by MPD to harass political opponents of the City, which is a pattern we have been seeing lot of.

Note on Authorization of Agency.

If you are told, by MPD or property management, that you will be arrested if you set foot on a given property, ask if you are on an AoA.

If you are on an AoA, you can get the document for free via the City Open Records portal. You need to specify a date range, which should be a few days before and after the date you are informed. You need the address of the premised, and also the MPD precinct and ward in which it is located, which you can look up in the link.

Sometimes AoAs are placed without informing the victim. In this case you find out about it at some later point, when you visit the premises. In that case, figure out when the AoA was placed and straddle that date in your open records request.

Share your AoA adventures with us. If you feel that the AoA is the result of an MPD investigation not approved by the Director, or if its deficient due process is being used to threaten or intimidate you, or to impede your constitutional rights, contact the MPD Court Monitor. Read our AoA information. If you are arrested for trespass on an unposted location without being given notice to depart, share this information with your attorney.

— concluded —

A-list, Amy Weirich, Civil Rights, Memphis Activism, Memphis Corruption, Memphis Police, MPD AoA, MPD Authorization of Agency, Police Misconduct, Police Political Intelligence Collection

Rodney Fisher fired by MPD via AoA

Rodney Fisher made video of a visit from an unidentified MPD officer on the evening of July 25th, around 10 PM. Fisher is admin of the Memphis (Real News) facebook page.

We transcribed the conversation.

Police Officer: (talking on phone outside front door): AoAs, all right. Yes, sir. (Hangs up cellphone).

Police Officer: (talking to Rodney Fisher): Mr Fisher, I guess the lieutenant colonel wanted me to call you regarding the Nike incident or something. You worked at Nike, correct?

Continue reading “Rodney Fisher fired by MPD via AoA” →

Caissa Public Strategy, Memphis Activism, Memphis Elections

2019 Council Candidates Scored

caissa_group_shot — Paige Walkup, Gene Bryan, Mae Bennett (formerly Yearwood), Brian Stephens and Mary Joseph (formerly Tanner). Bennett has since left the company.

We reported on the behind-the-scenes manipulations of Caissa Public Strategy back in 2017.

Our identification of the Caissa Seven at the time had predictive value, although we overestimated Kemp Conrad’s Caissa spend at a time when some documents were unavailable at the Election Commission.
We also missed a year-end 2014 contribution of $500 by Caissa Public Strategy to Edmund Ford Jr. We are sorry we missed that, as it would have pointed to his antics around the 2018 referendum. Essentially Ford was another Caissa paeon, voting with the Caissa whip almost all the time especially on public safety issues.

Continue reading “2019 Council Candidates Scored” →

A-list, Amy Weirich, Civil Rights, Greensward, Memphis, Memphis Activism, Memphis Corruption, Memphis Police, MPD AoA, MPD Authorization of Agency, Police Misconduct, Police Political Intelligence Collection, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Shelby Co. TN DA, Tennessee Law Enforcement

The slaying of Brandon Webber

Last week we had the tragedy of Brandon Webber, who was killed on June 12th by US Marshals in the driveway of his family’s Frayser home. His bereaved parents spoke out in a June 14th vigil at the site of the killing, attended by over 600 mourners. We are saddened by this violence. Continue reading “The slaying of Brandon Webber” →

201 Poplar, Amy Weirich, Evidence Tampering, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Shelby Co. Jail, Tennessee Department of Corrections

Earley Story’s Case Dismissed

June 21st 2019: Shelby County District Court Division VIII, Memphis.

Judge Chris Craft, recent recipient of our Hammer Award, called Earley Story to the microphone at 09:55. Mr Story had filed a writ of Error Coram Nobis in an attempt to clear his 1998 conviction.

Tony Carruthers had been subpoenaed to attend as a witness. He is in State prison and was not transported to the courtroom to testify. Carruthers’ attorney was in the courtroom.

Carruthers is the death row prisoner who sent Earley Story the Confidential Informant ledger which showed no payments for the day he is supposed to have spent $850 to buy weed from Earley Story. Ths is evidence that was withheld from Mr Story in his original trial, in an apparent Brady violation.

tony_carruthers_tennessee — Tony Carruthers

Judge: If you want Tony Carruthers to attend, you need to let me know to create an order to direct TDOC to bring him.

Earley Story: I can’t proceed without Tony Carruthers.

Judge: Have you other witnesses? He rambled on in an anecdote about missing witnesses.

Judge: You need to put on whichever witness is available.

Earley Story: I am not prepared to proceed without Tony Carruthers.

Judge: This happens all the time. You can use Rule 106 to authenticate a witness later. We need to have the hearing.

At 11:10 Mr Story is called to the mic again.

Judge: Mr Carruthers is not here because he is in prison. You can call him at a later date.

Mr Story goes through the gate and sits down at the defense table.

An unidentified prosecutor stands up. At first she alleged that the State does not know when Mr Story discovered this information concerning Alfredo Shaw.

Earley Story describes how Mr Carruthers sent him the informaton in 2018 and he filed his writ timely.

The prosecutor said that this new information fails to meet the test for a court hearing. Testimony said that Sheriff Department Agent Butler made the buy, not Alfredo Shaw, and that Shaw did not testify to buying the weed.

Alfredo-Shaw-mugshot-36147747.400x800 — Alfredo Shaw

According to the prosecutor, there is no way Alfredo Shaw’s CI ledger made an impact on the trial. Mr Story was charged with three sales. He was acquitted on two of the sales via alibi but he had no alibi for the third date. Agent Butler was the purchaser, not Confidential Informant Shaw.

Judge: We are not talking about Tony Carruthers’ evidence. Shaw is not the one who made the buy. The State is saying that Agent Butler made the buy, not Shaw. Carruthers’ evidence would not make a difference to your trial. We will hear the State’s motion to dismiss.

Mr Story: Shaw said that he gave me the $850 at the trial. Shaw was threatened. You can look on Youtube and see… Mr Story trails away as Judge Craft interrupts.

Judge: I can’t look on Youtube. Your argument is absurd. You are wasting the court’s time. Stick to the facts. Respond to the State’s argument.

Mr Story: This is a hostile setting.

Judge: Respond to the State’s motion (to dismiss).

Mr. Story: I can’t respond.

Judge: I find for the State motion to dismiss. The person who testified was not Alfredo Shaw. I am granting the State’s motion to dismiss.

The Prosecutor’s Testimony

Today’s prosecutor was not testifying as a witness to the 1997 trial, so presumably she was referring to a transcript of the original trial. Mr Story has made numerous requests to the DA’s office, during the course of his appeals, for a copy of the court transcript, which has never been produced.

The prosecutor was referring to facts not in evidence, as the transcript was not produced during this hearing. There’s one or more Brady violations here.

Aldredo Shaw did testify at Mr Early’s original trial. We blogged in February where Shaw was forced to testify, after recanting his initial statement to the Grand Jury. The judge actually made him a material witness and issued a warrant for his arrest, which Shaw resisted and was eventually sentenced to 364 days for resisting. The warrants and dockets are cited in the blog.

This prosecutor was lying.

One more thing

Judge Craft, before the prosecutor spoke, seemed pretty certain that he would not need to call Tony Carruthers. How could Judge Craft have predicted the specific lies the prosecutor later told the court, given that it would have been unethical for him to discuss the case with the prosecutor outside the courtroom?

Of course, Judge Craft, Hammer Award Winner, would never do anything unethical.

— concluded —

201 Poplar, Amy Weirich, April Malone, Celitria Watson, Civil Rights, Evidence Tampering, Federal Lawsuit, Jason WHite, Judicial Misconduct, Kendrick Watson, Memphis, Memphis Corruption, Police Misconduct, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Shelby Co. Jail, Shelby Co. TN DA, State Prisoner Rendition, Tennessee Law Enforcement

Hammer Award: Judge Chris Craft

The DA’s office, long before Amy Weirich’s regime, has owned the Hammer Award. We’ll be awarding our Hammer Award to judges as well as prosecutors.

hammeraward Our June award winner is Judge Chris Craft, Shelby Criminal Court Division VIII. We outline his bio towards the end of this piece, but right now we’re going to jump into why Craft gets the Hammer Award.

Craft’s Crowning Achievement: Nuora Jackson

Chris Craft played a leading role in the false imprisonment of Nuora Jackson. Emily Bazelon, in her book “Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration” spends six chapters examining Jackson’s agonizing journey through the legal system. Amy Weirich was the prosecutor in her 2009 trial, and hid exculpatory evidence in a Brady violation

During her closing argument, Weirich said “Just tell us where you were, that’s all we are asking, Nuora”. This was a reference to an unexplained hour in the timeline of the night of the murder, and the fact that Nuora had not taken the stand during the trial. Jackson’s attorney, Valerie Corder, objected on the basis that the prosecution is not allowed to use a defendant’s constitutional right not to testify as a sign of guilt.

Judge Chris Craft refused a mistrial. In Nuora’s 2013 Supreme Court appeal, Corder played a five second video of Weirich charging across the courtroom at Jackson with her demand for testimony, and the supreme court justices wanted to see it again. This, and a note which was “disappeared” from the evidence, formed the basis for Jackson’s eventual retrial. Chris Craft bent over backwards to allow Weirich’s obvious malpractice. Weirich eventually received a “private reprimand” from the Board for Professional Responsibility for her malpractice in this case.

In the Tennessee Supreme Court’s judgement, “Given that the impropriety of any comment upon a defendant’s exercise of the Fifth Amendment right not to testify is so well settled as to require little discussion, it is not at all clear why any prosecutor would venture into this forbidden territory”.

It is also not clear why any judge would allow it.

The Earley Story case.

Earley Story is a former Shelby County Deputy Sergeant jailer who was framed for the sale of marijuana on the basis of evidence by a paid confidential informant, in reprisal for blowing the whistle on conditions at the 201 Poplar jail. After his 1998 conviction, Story, though he served no time, has constantly tried to assert his innocence.

Earley Story has a motion for a writ of “Error Coram Nobis” currently in Chris Craft’s Division VIII. He filed a motion for Judge Craft to recuse himself. The Post and Email blog details Story’s grounds for recusal. “In February, Story was granted a hearing in Division VIII, where Judge Chris Craft presides. In 2004, Craft denied Story’s post-conviction appeal; he also sentenced Story to ten days in jail after finding him in “contempt of court” for allegedly interrupting him in the courtroom. Story has questioned not only Craft’s neutrality, but also why his recent request for a case review was not assigned to Division III, in accordance with Tennessee law, rather than in Division VIII.

Given Craft’s previous involvement, including his misrepresentation of Story as having accepted a guilty plea at a hearing of the private parole board to which Story’s case was sent. Story has also sued Craft for alleged improprieties in the handling of his probation.

We were in court for Story’s February 11th, 2019 appearance in Craft’s court. This was their first interaction, from my notes:

Judge Chris Craft: Do you have an attorney?
Earley Story: No
Judge Chris Craft: No What?
Earley Story: No Sir
Judge Chris Craft: No What?
Earley Story: No Sir Your Honor.
Judge Chris Craft: No What? Are you answering “is it raining”.
Earley Story: You asked if I have an attorney.
Judge Chris Craft: Sit down. (mumbles something) I’ll find you in contempt of court.

Considering that Judge Craft had sentenced Earley Story to ten days for contempt in 2004, we are inclined to take this threat at face value.

Michael Rimmer

Michael Rimmer was sentenced to death three times for an alleged 1998 murder. Chris Craft presided over the 2016 retrial. and third death sentence.

He was granted a new trial in December 2013 because Thomas Henderson, a high-placed, veteran attorney in the Shelby County District Attorney’s office, did not give relevant evidence to Rimmer’s defense attorneys, a Brady violation. The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Office of Professional Responsibility ordered a public censure of Henderson.

This case was documented in the 2017 Fair Punishment Project report.

Kendrick Watson

We saw the story of Kendrick Watson when we wrote about Celitria Watson, his sister, and April Malone, his significant other. They were co-defendants in one of his cases. A wiretap report, obtained under a warrant for Kendrick’s phone, was falsified by police and prosecutors. This resulted in April and Celitria’s cases being severed from Kendricks, and dismissed. Nonetheless, reports from this wiretap were used against Kendrick, and April and Celitria’s proof of evidence fabrication was not allowed in court.

Kendrick Watson had other issues with the legitimacy of the wiretap warrants, including a warrantless search of the phones of his associates following a traffic stop and some questions relating to a bank report used to obtain the warrant.

Perhaps this is a natural consequence of judges policing each other in a cozy manner, but Chris Craft, as the presiding judge of the Court of the Judiciary, rejected Kendrick Watson’s complaint against Judge Lee Coffee, despite Coffee’s acceptance of tainted evidence.

Charles Thompson

Thompson was a shot-caller for the Traveling Vice Lords who was accused of ordering the killing of Deputy Deadrick Taylor in April 1996. This appears to be part of a spike of deputy killings that happened around the time that a massive Jobs for Cash conspiracy was being revealed by an FBI inquiry and subsequent Federal trial of two of the conspirators. Thompson was being held on a separate charge in 201 Poplar at the time he is supposed to have ordered the murder of the deputy.

Judge Chris Craft presided over Thompson’s conviction on docket 96 11968-96621546.

Thompson was mysteriously transferred under the Interstate Prisoner Transfer Compact and he is now believed to be in a Federal institution in Arkansas. Charles Thompson had a close association with Jason White, his deputy in a prison gang. White, while still in prison under a previous sentence, was framed on a planted meth bust, given an additional 60 year sentence, and, a few weeks ago, spirited away on another interstate prisoner transfer to a distant state.

Just City Court Watch Blog describes Craft interaction.

An extract from the Just City Court Watch Blog.

201_poplar “April 10th, 2019 – An attorney believed to be representing the defendant pointed his finger at her and said, “Keep quiet!” as she was attempting to speak to Judge Craft and request a new attorney. When it came time for her case, the defendant wanted to be heard. After her attorney painted her as mentally incompetent, Judge Craft let her speak. She explained that there had been no communication between her and her attorney, and that she’s being ignored. As you can imagine, this is her only opportunity to advocate for herself — particularly since her attorney wasn’t. She had a difficult time staying quiet, but was never disrespectful in my opinion. After Judge Craft heard her out, there was more she wanted to say. However Judge Craft appeared annoyed at this point and said, “I’ll give you 10 days in jail for every word you say”. The defendant was quiet.”

Earley Story describes Craft intimidation

We previously saw a description of Judge Craft’s interrogation of Earley Story. In conversation with Mr. Story, he described an interaction with Craft during the case when Craft sentenced Story to ten days for contempt.

Judge Craft would say something, then pause. If Mr Story waited for the judge to continue, he was chided for being non-responsive. If Mr Story spoke during the pause, Judge Craft would continue and accuse Mr Story of interrupting.

This is an excellent way of intimidating pro-se defendants, whether or not this effect is intended.

Biographical Details

Edited from noethics.net with additional details from the Daily News.

Chris Craft received his law license from the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1978 after graduating from Memphis State University. From 1980 to 1982 he did graduate work at Memphis Theological Seminary in Law and Religion.

From 1978 to 1982 he practiced as a defense lawyer in the family firm.

Beginning in 1982 through 1994, Craft was employed as an assistant prosecutor in the Shelby County DA’s office. In 1994 he was appointed as a judge.

Chris Craft was appointed to Judge of Division VIII of the Shelby County Criminal Court in 1994 and was elected to that position in 1996. He has been re-elected for eight year terms ever since, most recently in 2014, when he was unopposed. He is next up for election in 2022.

In August 2011, Judge Craft was elected as the presiding judge of the Court of the Judiciary. In a lame attempt at levity in responding to Sen. Beavers’ legislation, Judge Craft said, “It’s kind of hard for laypersons to understand the code of judicial conduct.”

This hyperbolic comment doesn’t pass the involuntary laugh test. Anyone could easily understand the mandates of the code of conduct.

Chris Craft is an elder and Sunday school teacher at Second Presbyterian Church and frequently extols the virtues of faith-based organizations.

The Hammer Award.

Judge Chris Craft, as a former prosecutor, is one of a number of judges who are former prosecutors. We believe that exposure to the corrupt culture of the Shelby County DA’s office is a red flag. We are following several other judges in that category.

Updates: Chris Craft dismisses Earley Story’s writ of error coram nobis.

Chris Craft named in article on class action suit against probation business.

— concluded —

Uncategorized

Jason White files Writ of Habeas Corpus

Last week, we saw how Jason White had been sprited to a state prison more than 1,000 miles away using the Interstate Prisoner Transfer Compact, an obscure contractual framework for prisoner rendition. Continue reading “Jason White files Writ of Habeas Corpus” →

201 Poplar, Amy Weirich, April Malone, Celitria Watson, Civil Rights, Evidence Tampering, Jason WHite, Judicial Misconduct, Memphis, Memphis Corruption, Prosecutorial Misconduct, State Prisoner Rendition, Tennessee Department of Corrections, Tennessee Law Enforcement, Uncategorized

Tennessee Prisoner Rendition: Jason White

In April 2019, we wrote about Jason White, who was framed for a pound of meth by Bartlett detectives and ADA Chris Scruggs, recipient of our first Hammer Award for over-zealous prosecution. White was, until recently, serving 60 years at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Lauderdale County.

White was spirited out of state Monday May 20th in a carefully planned operation.

Continue reading “Tennessee Prisoner Rendition: Jason White” →

Amy Weirich, Civil Rights, Judicial Misconduct, Memphis Corruption, MPD Authorization of Agency, Police Misconduct, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Shelby Co. TN DA, Tennessee Law Enforcement

Draft DA Candidate Questionnaire

Jumping ahead a little, it seems clear that Shelby County is ready for a brand new DA in 2022, one that is committed to dismantling Amy Weirich’s system of mass incarceration. Let’s suppose there might be an ad-hoc host committee formed to find the best possible candidate and provide her with the most and best campaign resources we can find.

weirich_testifies Continue reading “Draft DA Candidate Questionnaire” →