Wartburg News

Giles maintains his innocence, attorney says By TAVIA D. GREEN * The Leaf-Chronicle * July 7, 2009 A judge decided Monday to reduce bond for a former youth minister accused of sexually abusing teenage girls, and he sent the case to the grand jury.

A federal grand jury indicted 14 people on a 34-count indictment in connection with an alleged methcathinone ring in Morgan County, according to U.S. Attorney James R. Deadrick.

Morgan County Sheriff Dennis Ledbetter said, “This group is responsible for putting a lot of dope into Morgan County. We want to make sure they get locked up for as long as possible.”

The Indicted, alphabetically by last name:

- Eddie E. Aslinger, 51, of Lansing, Tennessee

- Michael Carroll, a/k/a Mickey Carroll, Michael Herrell, Bo-bo, 41, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- David Chamblee, a/k/a David James Chamblee, Jr., 23, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- Tiffany Crass, 21, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee

- Brandon Martin, a/k/a Brandon Scoot Martin, 29, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- Danny Lee Monday, 44, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- Lisa Orme, a/k/a Lisa Dudas, 38, of Coalfield, Tennessee

-Deborah Phillips, a/k/a Debbie, Deborah Braden, Deborah Crabtree, Deborah C. Daugherty, 53, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- Frances Richardson, a/k/a Frances M. Phillips, 40, of Coalfield, Tennessee

- Natasha Richardson, a/k/a Tasha, 22, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee

- Mary Roberts, a/k/a Mary Carroll 33, of Sunbright, Tennessee

- Nerisa Rogers, a/k/a Nerisa Jane Aslinger, Nerisa Phillips, 30, of Briceville, Tennessee

- Elizabeth Scisco, 24, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee

- Deadrea Wilson, a/k/a Dee-dee, Deadra Candice Martin, 28, of Harriman, Tennessee.

According to the arrest warrant: A Morgan County 911 dispatcher listened as a gunshot rang out over the phone. The mortally wounded Memford Lynn Hamby then told the dispatch employee that Heather Young had just shot him again. Two more gunshots are then heard on the 911 tape, followed by silence.

The warrant further states that Heather Young confessed to shooting Hamby.

Earlier in the 10-minute phone call, Hamby told the dispatcher he'd wrestled the gun from his assailant and hit her on her head with it, and that she had left to go get another weapon.

A Sunbright man who was fatally shot managed to call 911 as he lay dying. He said that he had snatched the weapon away from his assailant but she'd gone to get another gun.

Memford Lynn Hamby, 60, was found dead inside his Sunbright residence on Thursday. He had been shot at least once in the front torso.

A woman who lives nearby was taken into custody and is being questioned by TBI.

========June 26 Update================

32-year-old Heather Young, in custody in the Morgan County Jail in Wartburg, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Memford Lynn Hamby.

A Morgan County jury deliberated just 20 minutes Thursday before convicting a man of the aggravated rape of a 90-year-old woman.

Harold L. Morris, 49, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison for his conviction of aggravated rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.

Morris, a Deer Lodge resident, forced his way into the elderly woman's house in Lancing on April 8, 2007 and bit her on her breast during the sexual assault. After the attack, Morgan ripped jewelry and a watch off the woman's fingers and hand, further injuring her.

Morris was arrested several hours later in Crossville. Items found in Morris's possession linked him to the incident.

Knoxville News-Sentinel editorial, June 26, 2009:

Justice was not served when prosecutors in the Ninth Judicial District agreed to five years' probation for a Lenoir City man who shot his girlfriend to death.

John Kenneth Harvey, 26, was originally charged with second-degree murder in the February 2008 death of Savannah Cass McMahan, 21.

Harvey admits he was arguing with McMahan when he picked up a loaded .22 from a nearby table. The two argued often, according to McMahan's father, who said Harvey bullied his daughter, and "she said she was going to leave him several times before the shooting."

The gun was a single-action revolver, and the detective in the case said it had to be cocked before it could be fired. The powder burns he found showed McMahan was shot at close range.......

If prosecutors could not do better than a no-jail-time deal in that case, they should have gone to trial and let 12 citizens decide who had the best ballistics expert.

This plea bargain simply undermines faith in the judicial process.

(The full editorial is longer than Topix allows on the news board. To read it in its entirety, visit the accompanying link. The Ninth Judicial District includes Loudon, Roane, Morgan, and Meigs counties.)

The parents of a Lenoir City woman shot and killed by her boyfriend are speaking out against a plea bargain that sentenced their daughter's killer to five years on probation.

The plea-deal was granted by the office of Russell Johnson, District Attorney General for Roane, Loudon, Meigs, and Morgan counties.

"I want justice for my daughter," said Sarah Berry, mother of Savannah Cass McMahan, 21, who was shot by John Kenneth Harvey, 26, in February 2008.

Harvey was originally charged with second-degree murder, and admits he shot the woman during an argument but claims it was an accident. The charge was reduced to reckless homicide.

The victim’s mother, Sarah Berry, said she met several times with the district attorney general's office. She says the office wanted to avoid a trial from the beginning,

The victim's father, John McMahan, said he witnessed the couple's frequent arguments and what he called "bullying" by Harvey. McMahan says his daughter was going to leave Harvey. He says:

I know that's why he shot her, because she said she was going to leave"

Assistant Attorney General Bill Reedy says one critical factor in not pursuing a murder charge was a "dying declaration" made by the victim that the shooting was accidental. The witness was said to be Nathan Lane, who called the ambulance that night.

Lane says that he never heard a dying declaration and never agreed to testify to hearing such a thing:

By the time I saw her she was already going into convulsions. She didn't say a thing to me."

For more details, see the full story.

A Lenoir City man who admitted shooting and killing his girlfriend during an argument last year will receive five years' probation for the crime.

John Kenneth Harvey, 26, was arrested in February 2008 and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Savannah Kathy McMahan, 21.

Prosecutors said they reduced the charge to reckless homicide and agreed to five years' supervised probation after reviewing the evidence in the case.

Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex Warden Jim Worthington points to the back corner of the prison where James Earl Ray, convicted killer of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and five other inmates escaped for four days in 1977.

A Morgan County commissioner says he will withdraw his proposal urging the state to consider moving terrorism suspects from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay to a recently closed state prison.

Commissioner Nick Bishop released a statement today saying he lacked public support and will remove his proposal.

PETROS, Tenn. a ' The historic Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex no longer holds any inmates.

Motorists stopped for traffic violations in Tennessee could be fingerprinted if state lawmakers approve a bill pending in the legislature.

Currently, when drivers are cited during traffic stops police officers ask for the driver's signature on the ticket But the proposed bill would allow police departments to eliminate signatures and collect fingerprints.

Supporters say collecting fingerprints would save money and help police determine whether the driver is wanted for a criminal offense, but opponents worry that it allows the government to tread on individual privacy rights.

"The way I see it, if they take your fingerprint, they have access to your history and that's an invasion of privacy," said Martha Simms, 27, a mother of two who recently got a speeding ticket in Davidson County.

State Sen. Joe Haynes and State Rep. Mike Stewart co-sponsored the bill, which gives police departments the choice of collecting a signature or a fingerprint, or collecting a signature and a fingerprint. The bill has been approved by the state House of Representatives, and senators will vote on the measure Wednesday. The bill, if passed, will take effect on July 1. At that time, any police department within the state could require fingerprinting as a means of identification, said Haynes, a Goodlettsville Democrat. "It's their discretion," he said.

Running east-west through rural Morgan County, Highway 62 isn't exactly an interstate.

Authorities have captured an inmate Tuesday about 24 hours after he walked away from a work crew in Morgan County.

KNOXVILLE a ' The University of Tennessee on Friday delayed plans for oil and gas drilling in a forested tract in the Cumberland Mountains.

Edd Diden, director of Cannon County Schools since July 2004, has resigned effective June 30 this year to become the new director of Morgan County Schools in Wartburg.

George Hyatte, who in March entered a guilty plea for the 2005 courthouse shooting death of corrections officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, now wants to take that plea back.

A spokesperson for 9th Judicial District Attorney Russell Johnson confirmed George Hyatte has filed a motion to rescind his guilty plea.

Hyatte was sentenced to life in prison without a chance for parole, the same sentence being served by his wife Jennifer Hyatte.

Hyatte's motion to rescind his guilty plea was filed in Roane County court last week. The court has not yet set a date to hear the motion.

Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tenn., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League Music City Division tournament on Center Hill Lake Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces.

Siegel pounded out 10 hits to beat Wartburg 11-1 in five innings Saturday at Siegel.

The University of Tennessee is asking for approval of a lease that would allow a contractor to drill for oil and gas in a forested tract in the Cumberland Mountains.

The Tennessean reported the State Building Commission is set to consider the plan on April 20. The commission must approve leases on state-owned land.

UT wants to let Pittsburgh-based CNX Gas drill on 8,600 acres of rugged land the university owns near Wartburg. The company was the sole bidder.

While UT spokesman Hank Dye said the lease could bring the school $300,000 a year and perhaps more, some environmental activists oppose it.