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”
Jason White was sentenced to 21 years in 1999 for a burglary when he was 18 years old, and, in 2017, was serving the last year of his sentence.
Jason Lamar White was indicted in April, 2016, by the Shelby County grand jury for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine along with his girlfriend, Kristina Cole. Another Riverbend inmate, Montez Mullins, was added to the indictment a year later.
The case was discussed by The Post and Email, on 10/11/2017, 10/17/2017 and 11/16/2017. These posts include case documentation, an interview with Jason’s mother, Kimberly White and extensive phone follow-up by the Post and Email’s Sharon Rondeau.
In Februry 2016, Montez Mullins admitted to Cole’s first attorney, Mark McDaniel, that he had arranged for the shipment of the contraband package.
Fox 13 News reported: “According to the DA’s Office, Mullins said Cole and White knew nothing about the drug delivery. He claimed a Hispanic man he met in prison gave him an address as a good place to deliver drugs in the Memphis area.
Mullins also said he told Cole that the FedEx package contained jewelry intended for his mother, according to investigators”.
Kristina Cole is a mother of three who was 43 at the time of her arrest in February 2016. Her previous record was pristine. She is Jason White’s girlfriend.
The package in this case contained about a pound of crystal methamphetamine and some baby clothes. It was presented to FedEx as shipment number 808857073374 at a FedEx retail outlet in Visalia, California. FedEx opened the package and called Detective Collins, who took custody of the package.
The original FedEx label was given in evidence, and the address, on the label is 2552 Linwood Road, Bartlett, TN 38134. It is marked for “Standard Overnight” service, which is FedEx’s next afternoon service. The label is in the customary format produced by FedEx’s shipping software.
Detective Collins picked up the package, contacted the Bartlett police, overpacked it in a UPS box and sent it to Bartlett Police Department. There, Detective Mark Gaia obtained a search warrant for a different address than was on the original FedEx label. He used 2552 Jenwood Street, Kristina Cole’s address.
Bartlett detectives then relabeled the package with Cole’s address.
This is confirmed in White’s appeal.
Detective Collins did not testify and so could not be questioned on the origination of the package.
The package was left on Cole’s porch and the search warrant served after Cole took it in. The package was found unopened inside the front door and a number of electronic items confiscated in the search, including Kristina Cole’s phones and laptop.
The prosecution later asserted that Kristina Cole sent Jason White a text message confirming the arrival of the shipment. The text messages on her phone were created during the time she was in custody at the Bartlett police station.
From the Post and Email documents, the record of arrest on page 8 shows an arrest time of 3:30 PM. On page 11, the phone text log shows the “incriminating” text messages going out between 3:38 PM and 4:26 PM. By that time Kristin Cole and her phones were in custody.
Detective Gaia admitted on the stand, under cross examination by Cole’s attorney, Kortney Simmons, at trial, that he had sent at least some of those text messages.
In addition, the destination of the text messages, (615) 917-3749 was never proven to be a contraband cell phone in the possession of Jason White. Currently (on 4/15/2019) the number gives an “unavailable” signal. “A TDOC officer claimed that he saw (Jason) flush a phone in prison, but he showed no evidence during the trial to connect Jason White to the number”. This is confirmed in White’s appeal.
The TDOC officer in question was later fired for bringing contraband phones into the prison.
Chris Scruggs, the prosecutor, lied during the trial, alleging that he had not heard of Montez Mullins’ involvement in the case until “this year” (2017), even though Cole’s then attorney, Mark McDaniels, who had talked to Chris Scruggs and told him about Montez Mullins at the discovery point after she was arrested in February 2016.
Scruggs is one of the problem ADAs we have encountered. He is one of the defendants in April Malone and Celitria Watson’s federal suit alleging that Scruggs participated in the alteration of wiretap evidence and in hiding exculpatory evidence from the defense. He also recused himself from Thorne Peters’ case after fictional evidence of weed found in the cruiser which transported was added to the case documents more than four months after the arrest.
Scruggs is second only to Amy Weirich herself on MemphisTruth.org’s list of problem prosecutors.
Judge Robert Carter presided over the trial.
The defendants had issues with their counsel.
Attorney Claiborne Ferguson, White’s attorney complained that Jason White assaulted him at 201 Poplar on 7/10/2017. The incident report is in the Post and Email documents, on pages 2 through 14. The reporting officer said that no-one saw White choking Ferguson, as he had alleged, his clothing was undisturbed and there were not marks of violence. Deputies concluded that no assault had taken place. White had just informed Ferguson that he was firing him as attorney. This is confirmed in White’s appeal.
White attempted to have Ferguson removed as counsel, and act pro-se but the judge would not allow it. The constitutional right of a defendant to defend himself was violated. White eventually fired Ferguson at sentencing time. White’s previous attorneys were Blake Ballon, and Jeff Mueller.
Kristina Cole hired first Mark McDaniel and then Michael Scholls, fired them both and reported them to the Board of Professional Responsibility. She went to court with Kortney Simmons, hired from Jackson because she could not find a local attorney to take the case.
Prosecutors are not allowed to make derogatory remarks or epithets about defendants at trial. During Cole’s trial, Chris Scruggs said that Kristina looked like “a pig for the Junk Yard Dog”. This was a reference to the prison gang, the Junk Yard Dogs, of which Jason White was a leading member in Riverbend prison.
The prison gang was led by Charles Thompson who appeared in our Jobs for Cash story.
Scruggs also referred to Kristina and White as “Bonnie and Clyde” during the trial.
Kristina Cole was found guilty and given 13 ½ years.
Jason White was found guilty and given a 60 year additional sentence. He will be over 90 if he is released.
Montez Mullins was found guilty and given 40 years.
Jason White’s appeal was turned down in February 2019.
Kristina Cole and Montez Mullins’ appeal was turned down in November 2018.
— concluded —
In July 2017, the Fair Punishment Project published a report entitled “The Recidivists: New Report on Rates of Prosecutorial Misconduct“. Amy Weirich, the District 30 DA in Shelby County, was one of the District Attorneys singled out for detailed attention. Continue reading “Amy Weirich: Recidivist”
Thorne Peters is an advocate of repealing marijuana prohibition. In a nation where 58% of voters say pot use should be legal, advocates of legalization are well on the way to the level of consciousness raising that rewarded the efforts of the women’s movement and same-sex marriage activists. Continue reading “Thorne Peters: Weed messiah”
We now enter a truly bizarre world of cover-ups, conspiracy and corruption. In our “Prosecutor!!!” series, we picked up on the first Sheriff Dept. cover-up, where Earley Story’s evidence of jail conditions, as provided to the FBI, is discredited by a bogus prosecution. The evidence in his case was created by confidential informant #2282, Alfredo Shaw at the behest of deputies and prosecutors. Twenty years later, convicted death row inmate Tony Carruthers gets evidence about Shaw in discovery and sends it to Mr. Story, who, decades after his conviction, is still fighting to prove his innocence. We looked into Shaw and found that he has apparently given testimony in up to fourteen other cases.
We looked for the other cases where Shaw might have helped fabricate evidence for prosecutors. We found two jailer deputies, Bernard Kimmons and Victor Campbell, who were arrested with Earley Story on January 31st 1997. They were prosecuted by the same team of deputies, prosecutors, judges, undercover officer and confidential informant Alfredo Shaw. We found at least four alleged weed buys by Shaw that were not documented in the CI ledger which Carruthers provided. So we looked into this and talked to dozens of witnesses. Bernard Kimmons would not comment, and we have not found Victor Campbell yet.
We examined the evidence provided at the trial of Roderick Cobb and found that it had been fabricated. Evidence had been planted, including a pair of handcuffs of the wrong type, and the gun that did the killing. The since-discredited Deputy Medical Examiner OC Smith, the one who gagged himself with barbed wire, hung a bomb around his neck, lied to the FBI and was convicted and fired, created testimony. He moved a bullet wound and concocted a bizarre story of how Cobb was supposed to have drawn a twice-searched-for gun, while handcuffed in the rear, and shot the deputy. In addition, the GSR (gunshot residue) tests had a focused concentration at the driver’s seat, while, to comply with Smith’s proposed evidence, it should have been around the passenger seat and rear of the car, in the inverse of the actual pattern.
We were struck by the fact that people connected to the case had had their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, threatened to remain quiet, and no-one would go on the record. So, from the hard evidence of the Alfredo Shaw cover-up and the many discrepancies in the official case against
Roderick Cobb, we concurred with the general opinion of our sources that Cobb had been convicted to cover up the fact that a deputy did the killing. The Kimmons and Campbell framing, in conjunction with the Earley Story cover-up proves they were also being silenced and covered up. The planted evidence could only have been laid by someone who is part of the investigation. So we wrote it up as a triple cover-up. We concluded that Kimmons and Campbell had been targeted in cover up #2 because they had connected the dots in the cover-up of the Goodman murder while they were Cobb’s custodians.
We did not know why Deputy Goodman has been assassinated, but soon our informants started talking about why. Goodman was linked to yet another FBI inquiry, the one into the jobs for cash scandal. She was said to be a cooperating witness. At this point our story takes a bizarre leap into the territory of fact being stranger than fiction.
Another unknown in our previous installment was why the cover-up of Goodman’s murder mattered to the crew who engineered the framing of the three deputies. We know they were working for the same top level of SCSO management, because of Earlie Story’s involvement. What connected Goodman’s assassination with top SCSO management?
People connected with the deputies’ cases and the Goodman case, and their families, are still being threatened with reprisals for talking, more than twenty years after the events. The statute of limitations has expired for every possible offense, except murder.
Normally we don’t publish anything that is not provable by documentary or on-the-record witness statements. We have publishing guidelines. In this case, because of the evident threats to witnesses and their families, which are very credible, and because of an effort to conceal official records and court documents, we are making a departure from these guidelines.
We are scientists by training and we will use the scientific method of documenting a theory to proceed
This happened over twenty years ago and many won’t remember the details. Phil Campbell of the Flyer gave a cogent account in September 1998. The story starts in 1991, with a conspiracy in the Sheriff’s department, for which Alton Ray Mills and Stephen Toarmina were convicted years later. Applicants paid amounts up to $3,930 as bribes to obtain jobs in the Sheriff’s Dept. There were unindicted co-conspirators, including Cliff Avent and unidentified victims including Robert Wilson together with six identified victims, including Derick Feathers who were named in the case, but not identified in the case documents .
From February 1991 until he was fired, Alton Ray Mills served as Chief Deputy Sheriff of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department in Memphis, Tennessee. By all accounts, Sheriff AC Gilless gave Mills free rein in day-to-day operations.
Stephen Toarmina is a North Memphis grocer, whose convenience store is at 1486 Chelsea. At that time he was a political crony of Sheriff AC Gilless and was appointed as a special advisor in the Sheriff’s office. Toarmina liked to play cops and robbers, rolling around the county in a department cruiser, wearing a deputy’s uniform with a sidearm. He would harass members of the public while impersonating an officer. Toarmina got loans for bribes through his business for five named victims and processed a credit card payment for the sixth, laundering the proceeds through the store accounts.
From the Flyer: “Between working for the FBI and for the Germantown police, Hays had been (appointed) Sheriff Gilless’ internal-affairs director in 1994. It took only six months for him to get fired. Hays had to report to Mills about his investigations, but after a short while he started getting reports about Mills himself. Hays took advantage of an out-of-town trip by the chief deputy to bring his findings to Gilless. Hays and the sheriff’s legal advisers then presented his evidence to
then-DA John Pierotti. The next day, Mills came back into town and had Hays fired. Gilless approved…”.
Hays had reported the case to the FBI in early 1995, which started an inquiry. The Federal indictment of Mills and Toarmina came down on April 18, 1996.
We know the first cover-up, that of Earley Story, was a matter of concern to the top levels of management at SCSO.
The second cover-up was related to the Early Story cover-up, as it was carried out by the same team at the same time. As the cover-up of the Goodman murder might just be an operational matter carried out by a member of the investigational team, we need to explain why covering up Goodman’s murder was of concern to the individuals who framed Story, Kimmons and Campbell, unless the murderer had infiltrated the first two cover-ups. Top management, namely Gilless and his immediate reports, surely knew about both matters being covered up.
We are looking for a root cause, that is of concern to the Chief Deputy management level at SCSO.
This SCSO fallen officers memorial page lists nine officers who were murdered, all by gunfire, between 1900 and 1999. We left out Deputy Cranford’s 1946 killing as it was a car crash. Deputies Mitchell and McDermott (1904), Goad (1907), Nelson (1917), Reeves and Applebury (1920) and Stelling (1945) all died in the first half of the century. Then there’s a gap of over 53 years between Stelling and the killing of Deadrick Taylor on April 19th, 1996. This is the day after Mills and Toarmina were indicted. 98 days later, Deputy Sherry Hopper was murdered. The gap between Stelling’s killing and Taylor’s was about 200 times the interval between Taylor’s and Goodman’s. You can’t do statistics with numbers this small, but we can say that Goodman’s and Taylor’s killings formed an outlier cluster.
We can calculate some probabilities. The probability of a deputy being killed in any given year, P(A) is 9/100 or 0.9. The probability of a second murder, P(B|A) in a given year is 8/100, because one of the murders is already counted. The probability of two deputy murders in the same year, by Bayes theorem, is (0.9 * 8/100)/(9/100) = 0.0072, less than one in a hundred. Bayes theorem only works if the events are independent, or unrelated to each other, so this result means that two murders happening in the same year are almost certain to be causally related.
We could also say that the probability of being a deputy and getting murdered between 1950 and 1999 are zero, unless you are Deputy Taylor or Deputy Goodman.
We also note a high incidence of deputy deaths by other violent causes around the time, including four reported suicides. The US national rate of suicide was 11 per 100,000 in 2006, and, given 1506 deputies and four suicides, the rate in the Sheriff’s Dept. was 266 per 100,000 – about 24 times the national rate. The most likely occupational group to commit suicide, marine engineers, is said to be 1.89 times the national average, and police and jail workers don’t even make the top 19 occupational groups for suicide risk. 266 suicides per 100K is literally off the scale.
Without having distributions among smaller populations, we can say with certainty that the suicide rate among deputies was well more than ten standard deviations from the normal rate and therefore the probability of this cluster is significantly less than 0.01%. Combining probabilities, we can also say that the probability of four deputy suicides in a year where there were also two deputy murders must be tiny, well less than one per million.
Another witness was murdered, the juvenile Etienne Harmon, who was arrested with the three deputy jailers in 1997 and was killed in November 1998. We are now very curious about the Deputy Taylor and Harmon killings. Could there have been up to seven murders to cover up the Jobs for Cash scheme?
We note that Goodman was a four-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Dept, so she was recruited after the Jobs for Cash scheme started in 1991. We don’t know if she was a victim of the jobs scheme. We know that the indictment came in April 1996 so the FBI investigation at the Sheriff’s Department was creating lots of reasons for damage control by the conspirators who were operating at a high level in the department. Combine this cover-up with the jobs for cash scheme, involving AC Gilless’ second in command and his political appointee, Toarmina, the Goodman murder cover-up and we have a fourth conspiracy with the same people in it, and this conspiracy includes a cover-up that silenced Taylor and Goodman.
We have been told by two sources in the system that Deputy Sherry Goodman was cooperating with investigators of the Jobs for Cash scheme and may have been scheduled to testify in the Federal trial, which was heard in August 1998.
Campbell writes: The next day, Mills came back into town and had Hays fired. Gilless approved; the sheriff says that Hays was fired because, the day before he would sit down with Gilless, Hays refused to disclose the exact nature of the meeting he requested. This obviously trumped-up trivial excuse for firing Harold Hays suggests that Gilless was part of the cover-up.
Additional coverage from Police One. (The Commercial Appeal is quoted).
The federal documents on the PACER system are very deficient, which is unusual for Federal court documents except where they have been ordered sealed. There’s no discovery, witness depositions, grand jury indictments and most of the judgments are missing. There’s also no motion to seal these documents.
Here are the documents we found in the case. All documents are in PDF format. The PACER case designation is 2:96-cr-20080-BBD USA v. Mills, et al. A logon is required to access PACER but is automatically granted.
In Toarmina sentence appeal , he falls out with his co-conspirator and drops the names of unindicted co-conspirator Cliff Avent and unnamed victim, Robert Wilson.
Appeal ruling 1998.
The Shelby DA at the time, Bill Gibbons, as a Republican, was a political ally of AC Gilless, the Sheriff, who stood for re-election in August 1998, just days before his deputy and political advisor were tried in Federal court on 8/10/1998. Gilless narrowly won amid the swirling news of the Jobs for Cash scandal.
In Phil Campbell’s Memphis Flyer story, (Federal Judge Jerome) ‘Turner, in fact, stated from the bench that “it’s disappointing” that District Attorney Bill Gibbons hasn’t done anything yet. Gibbons may still act, but so far his lackluster “no comments” suggest that the district attorney is in no hurry to prosecute the former allies and employees of Gilless, a professional colleague and a fellow Republican. There are political as well as legal considerations for Gibbons. If he doesn’t prosecute within the statute of limitations, and if Turner’s ruling survives a federal court appeal, then the DA’s tough-guy “No Deals” reputation could be tarnished’.
Bill Gibbons was Amy Weirich’s mentor at the DA’s office and is now the president of Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, after an unsuccessful stint as State Commissioner for Public Safety.
Sheriff Gilless announced that the deputies who paid for their jobs in the scheme would not face disciplinary action, consistent with a desire to suppress information about the scheme.
Campbell figures twice in our long series on the cover-ups at SCSO. He was remarkably well-informed on the Mills / Toarmina trial, and he also made a tape recording at the Flyer, of CI #2282 Alfredo Shaw withdrawing his allegations against Earley Story. Phil Campbell left the Flyer and Memphis soon after these events and is now in Broolyn, NY, far out of reach of Shelby Co. deputies and prosecutors.
The fourth cover-up in our series is part of a known conspiracy in the Sheriff’s Department, the Jobs for Cash scheme, which extended to Gilless’ political advisor and second-in-command. It includes at least one, and possibly as many as seven murders, of people related to the jobs scheme or the subsequent cover-ups. The murderer or murderers have not be found, and, more than twenty years later, people with knowledge of the case, and their families, are being threatened and intimidated. It explains why the Kimmons and Campbell frame-ups were done by the high-level team that perpetrated them.
We are continuing to look into the Deadrick Taylor murder.
— To be continued
On Friday July 26th 1996, a Shelby sheriff’s deputy was shot at Thomas and Weakly in North Memphis. Continue reading “Three cover-ups at Shelby Sheriff Dept.”
We received additional material on Alfredo Shaw’s TV retraction of his Crimestoppers snitch. We have a video from a local TV channel and a sworn statement made to Federal court by Alfredo Shaw outlining how he was coerced into giving false witness in Tony Carruthers death penalty case. We have also had several phone interviews with death row inmate Tony Carruthers.
We also got two more documents in the provenance of the CI ledger which Earley Story is using in his case. Additional documents from Tony Carruthers attorney requesting the documents, the DA’s denial and a court order demanding the ledger be produced add extra detail. We also have a better image of the CI ledger document. Earley Story had another appearance in Division 8 before Judge Chris Craft and we provide notes of this hearing. The Post and Email blog reports on Mr Story’s case and we have an account of his most recent court appearance last Monday.
We had an interview last week from a confidential source whose story matches the Alfredo Shaw modus operandi, generally confirming Earley Story and Tony Carruthers’ narratives. We can’t print any more about this at present.
First up, the Alfredo Shaw confessions.
This document was filed on April 21st 2011 in Western District of the Federal Court. Shaw swears that Assistant DA Jerry Harris and MPD officers Wilkinson and Roleson briefed him, on or before March 27th 1994, on the Tony Carruthers murder case, showing him the case documents. Other than media coverage, he had no other information concerning the case and had not, as he later claimed, spoken to Carruthers about the February 1994 case. Shaw made a false statement to police on March 17th and provided the same witness statement to the Grand Jury soon after.
Around February 28th 1996, Shaw gave this interview to Channel 13. He described how he contacted MPD Homicide, was approached by prosecutor Jerry Harris and offered $2000 and dismissal of charges to testify as instructed. He talks about police and ADAs coaching him with “bits and pieces” for his Grand Jury testimony. A prosecutor talks about Shaw’s other crimes, how he lied on this case and others and how Carruthers and other defendants should be protected from Shaw. The fact that Shaw’s testimony was used again on Earley Story in his 1997 – 1999 case, and upwards of ten other defendants, tends to deflate this argument.
Shaw was visited and threatened in the jail by Harris, Wilkinson and Roleson just after the Channel 13 report aired, who threatened and intimidated him and said they’d go after him if he did not revert to the original, concocted story. Later, Harris said that they would not call him as a trial witness for the prosecution, but Carruthers called him as a defense witness. Harris told Shaw before his appearance that he would prosecute Shaw for perjury unless he want back to the agreed testimony. He did so, recounting conversations with Carruthers which never occurred. Subsequently Harris’ promises of time served on a number of felonies were carried out. Shaw still feared retaliation from the prosecutor’s office at the time he gave this statement.
We saw Earley Story as he started his attempt to clear his record. Earley Story was also framed with the help of testimony from Alfredo Shaw, who withdrew his testimony in an interview with Phil Campbell of the Memphis Flyer, and was forced by prosecutors to revert to his original bogus story at court.
Here’s our notes from March 4th, Shelby Co. Criminal Court Division 8, Judge Chris Craft. I am not a shorthander so the quotes only are literal.
09:42 AM. Earley Story requests records from the previous hearings to be added to the file.
Judge Craft: Are you going to call witnesses?
Earley Story: No
Judge Craft: Do you know which prosecutor is handling the case?
An unidentified prosecutor stands up. He does not know who is handling the case. The case records were destroyed.
The judge told Mr Story to sit down.
12:50 PM. Earley Story says that the prosecutor’s office filed a response denying all charges.
About 3:00 PM
Earley Story is called to the mic and says he would like a default judgment per his motion.
Earley Story: On October 29th, when I received this information concerning my innocence, I filed on time and I received no information until January 15th 2019 when I receieved a letter.
Judge Craft: From me. Where did you get thirty days to respond?
Earley Story: Tennessee law.
Judge Craft: There is no such limit.
Earley Story: I believe my motion should have been heard more timely.
Judge Craft: We have not heard a motion yet. We need to stay focused on the topic of this motion for default judgment. Do you understand the process? I am asking what law says thirty days. When I ask a question I require an answer.
Earley Story: 55.01 Tennessee Rules for Civil Procedure. When a party fails to respond within thirty days judgment is by default. Does that mean you are denying a hearing?
Unidentified Prosecutor: That rule does not apply in criminal court. The state denies all allegations. We supplied Earley Story a copy. This is hearsay about Alfredo Shaw. Today we are asking for the motion for default judgment to be dismissed.
Earley Storey mentions his motion for Judge Craft to recuse himself.
Judge Craft: We don’t change the subject. We are not supposed to help (pro se litigants). The state says they filed a response.
Earley Storey: The response was not timely. 29th October to March is not timely.
Judge Craft: I am ruling that the writ is defective because there is no certificate of service. I wrote Earley Storey to come to court February 11th to set the attorney. Mr Story said he would represent himself pro-se. I am denying the motion. Any other motion?
Earley Storey: Motion for the judge to recuse himself.
Judge Craft: The motion to recuse is not in the jacket. (Clerk hands him a document). We can fix that today.
Earley Storey: I want a response to the motion I filed in the clerk’s office.
Judge Craft: I want to make sure your rights are preserved. I can’t set a date for a hearing until a motion is in the jacket.
Earley Storey: I filed a motion for Judge Craft to be disqualified. Maybe it is in the wrong jacket.
Judge Craft: I am setting a date of March 21st for report because a motion is not filed.
—-
Earley aka Earlie Story, the subject of our February 15th, 2019 blog, continues to litigate to prove his innocence from his 1999 conviction. He is next in court on March 4th 2019 in Division VIII, Judge Chris Craft’s court. Sharon Rondeau of The Post and Email updates on Mr Story’s current case. Continue reading “Death Row Snitch Jails 14”
Earley Story AKA Earlie Story is a soft-spoken gentleman in his mid sixties with a narrative straight out of a mid-20th century crime drama.
He is a former Sheriff’s Department sergeant and jailer at 201 Poplar, who blew the whistle on abuses at the jail. He reported a murder and a rape to the NAACP and the FBI, and the job turned on him.
Today, January 30th 2019, April Malone and Celitria Watson made an appearance in Federal court in Magistrate Judge Tu M Pham.
As we saw in our previous post, Ms Malone and Ms Watson are the falsely-arrested women who faced manufactured wiretap data, where MPD Organized Crime Unit detectives used a Stingray device to alter texts between Ms Watson and her incarcerated brother, Kendrick Watson. She had an automated cloud backup of all her phone activity and was able to produce the original backup of her texts to prove the police alteration of the evidence. Their cases were dismissed and expunged, but Kendrick Watson was convicted on evidence from those same cops.
Today’s hearing was a scheduling conference where the due dates for the various activities leading up to a December 2019 jury trial. From the docket (PDF) “Pro-Se Plaintiffs April Malone and Celitria Watson present. John M. Jones and Emmett L. Whitwell appearing for defendant Shelby County. Darius Walker, Jr. appearing for the City of Memphis. Betsy McKinney making a limited appearance on behalf of defendants Thurmond Richardson, Jonathan Overly and William Acred. The parties submitted a proposed scheduling order. The court discussed the dates and deadlines with the parties. Plaintiffs made an oral motion to waive the mediator fees pursuant to the Mediation Plan for pro se civil cases with parties granted IFP status. The court granted plaintiffs oral motion and waived the fees. Mediator will be selected by the court.
A motion or several motions for dismissal are expected from the defendants.
Here is the scheduling order that Judge Pham made today. Disclosures will be done in the next two weeks, where the plaintiffs have to provide copies of the documentation they have and a list of damages and time off work. The defendants also have to produce their documents and details of any expert witnesses. The next step will be the appointment of a mediator.
Any attorney who would like to jump in here would be most welcome. Ms Watson and Ms Malone need to know what will happen in the mediation.
Also in court today, Mr Earley Story, who also has a pro-se Federal civil rights case coming up in February. We will be following Mr Story’s very interesting case here on MemphisTruth.com.
See the short video here. (2:30).
More information here.
(2/3/2019) April Malone and Celitria Watson have started a gofundme to fund their legal representation.
To be continued.
Me
Memphis Truth Commission 
