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1 STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WALTER FITZPATRICK

2 UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF HEARING

3 HELD NOVEMBER 9, 2010

6 THE COURT: All right. The case is going to

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7 be the State of Tennessee versus Walter Fitzpatrick.

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8 Everyone who believes they're going to testify at this

9 preliminary hearing, stand and hold up your right hand,

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10 please.

11 You duly swear to tell the truth, the whole

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12 truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
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13 CAPTAIN MORGAN: I do.
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14 MR. FITZPATRICK: I do.

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15 THE COURT: Have a seat. Call your first

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16 witness.
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17 MR. PROSECUTOR: Captain Morgan.

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18 THE COURT: Proceed.

19 CAPTAIN MICHAEL MORGAN

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20 Having been first duly sworn under oath,

21 was questioned and testified as follows:

22 DIRECT EXAMINATION

23 BY MR. PROSECUTOR:

24 Q. Please state your name for the record.

25 A. Captain Michael Morgan.

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1 Q. And how are you employed?

2 A. With Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

3 Q. You were so employed on October 27th, 2010?

4 A. Yes, sir.

5 Q. On that date, did you have reason to be in

6 contact with an individual known to you as Walter

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7 Fitzpatrick?

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8 A. Yes, sir.

9 Q. And is the individual you came in contact with on

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10 that day present in the courtroom today?

11 A. He is.
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12 Q. Could you point to him, please.
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13 MR. PROSECUTOR: The record will reflect
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14 identification of the defendant.

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15 THE COURT: So noted.

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16 Q. And you subsequently to that contact caused to be

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17 taken out two warrants on Mr. Fitzpatrick; is that

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18 correct?

19 A. Yes, sir.
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20 Q. The events you described in that warrant or those

21 affidavits for the two warrants, did they occur in

22 Monroe County, Tennessee?

23 A. Yes, sir.

24 Q. All right. If you could, explain to the Court

25 how you came to be in contact with Mr. Fitzpatrick that

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1 day.

2 A. Okay. On the 27th, me -- myself, Chief Trent

3 Prock and Captain Pat Wilson, we went to the Fitzpatrick

4 residence on May Street in Sweetwater. The -- the

5 reason for being there, we knew he had warrants, we were

6 gonna observe the house. We did not want to try to get

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7 Mr. Fitzpatrick in the house because he's made several

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8 comments on the Internet to the point where he wasn't

9 going to step foot in a courthouse again and he was

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10 going to resist arrest.

11 Q. Let me ask you this: You were there because he

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12 has warrants. This was not the warrant that you
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13 subsequently took out that is here today; is that
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14 correct?
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15 A. No, sir.
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16 Q. What kind of process did you have at that time?

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17 A. Failure to appear at a criminal court.

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18 Q. All right. Go ahead.

19 A. Mr. Fitzpatrick -- while sitting in the parking

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20 lot just above his residence, we observed Mr.

21 Fitzpatrick walk out of his door, he looked around and

22 he started walking towards the rear of his house.

23 We exited our vehicle. We approached his

24 residence. He saw us. We announced, "Sheriff's

25 Department. Show us your hands." He immediately fled

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1 back into his residence. At that point we entered his

2 residence directly behind him.

3 When -- when we get through the door, he takes up

4 a fighting stance. We start to wrestle. He strikes me

5 in the ribs with an elbow. We placed him on the floor

6 where he still refused to produce his hands, had them

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7 tucked under him. Several pressure points were applied

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8 by Captain Wilson, but he still refused to give his

9 hands.

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10 We placed his hands behind his back, cuffed him.

11 We stand him up. He refused to get up, to use his legs

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12 to stand up. We had to carry him out of the residence.
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13 Placed him on the -- in the front yard. At that point,
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14 Sweetwater City arrived for backup where -- and one of

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15 our officers, Officer Chase Nipper, arrived.

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16 We tried to get Mr. Fitzpatrick up to transport

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17 him to jail; he once again refused to walk. Once -- he

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18 refused to -- to use his legs to get up. At that point

19 we had to carry him to the vehicle.

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20 At that point we placed him in the vehicle. He

21 refused to bring his legs into the vehicle. At that

22 point he was -- he was tazed. He brought his legs into

23 the vehicle but refused to sit up. We would not leave

24 him in the -- well, we wouldn't let him lay down in the

25 back of the vehicle, due to the aspiration -- whatever,

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1 suffocation. So, he was exhausted from resisting us.

2 He was tazed again, and then he did -- he did sit up and

3 was transported to Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

4 Q. And the individual who struck you in the ribs,

5 was that Mr. Fitzpatrick?

6 A. Yes.

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7 Q. And did it require you to seek medical attention?

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8 A. Yes.

9 Q. And when you made contact with Mr. Fitzpatrick

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10 outside of his residence in his yard, did you advise him

11 why you were there?

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12 A. In the yard, no. We announced -- we announced
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13 ourselves as, "Sheriff's Department." At that point he
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14 ran into the -- into the house. We told him to halt; he

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15 didn't stop. Kept going.

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16 MR. PROSECUTOR: That's all.

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17 THE COURT: Mr. Fitzpatrick, I realize

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18 you're not appearing with counsel. Even so, you have

19 the opportunity if you want to exercise it to ask

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20 questions if you want to.

21 Do you want to ask any questions of the

22 witness?

23 MR. FITZPATRICK: I believe, at this point,

24 all I intend to do is to make a statement to the Court

25 to create a record.
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1 THE COURT: Very good.

2 MR. FITZPATRICK: I will say this: Captain

3 Morgan is lying.

4 THE COURT: Okay. That's not an appropriate

5 remark at this time. What you can do at this time is to

6 make a -- you can ask him a question or you can decline

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7 to ask questions.

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8 MR. FITZPATRICK: I don't have any questions

9 for Captain Morgan at this time.

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10 THE COURT: Why don't you step down, please.

11 CAPTAIN MORGAN: Thank you.

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12 MR. PROSECUTOR: For the purposes of the
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13 preliminary hearing, the State will rest.
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14 THE COURT: State rests.

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15 Mr. Fitzpatrick, do you intend to testify in

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16 this matter?
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17 MR. FITZPATRICK: I'd like to make a

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18 statement.

19 THE COURT: Well, the first thing you do is

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20 decide whether you want to testify or not. Do you want

21 to testify?

22 MR. FITZPATRICK: No.

23 THE COURT: All right. You indicated --

24 MR. FITZPATRICK: I do have a question at

25 this point.
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1 THE COURT: Go ahead.

2 MR. FITZPATRICK: I want to know if this

3 trial session is being recorded.

4 THE COURT: Yes, it is.

5 MR. FITZPATRICK: Audio recorded?

6 THE COURT: Yes, it is.

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7 MR. FITZPATRICK: And transcribed?

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8 THE COURT: It will be transcribed at your

9 request and at your expense. But it is being recorded.

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10 MR. FITZPATRICK: Is a copy of that

11 recording available to me?

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12 THE COURT: It is.
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13 MR. FITZPATRICK: Okay. Is that recording
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14 unedited?
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15 THE COURT: It will be.

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16 MR. FITZPATRICK: Thank you.

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17 THE COURT: The State has rested. He is

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18 indicating the intent not to testify; he has, however,

19 indicated an intent to make a closing statement. So

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20 here I'll give you the opportunity to make your

21 statement. You may stand and make your statement.

22 MR. FITZPATRICK: This community needs to be

23 ashamed of itself. This arrest that I'm here for today,

24 this -- this outrage, is the product of a government

25 gone out of control.

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1 I know what's going on here. I want it to

2 be made part of the record that Judge J. Reed Dixon has

3 already involved himself in blocking me from defending

4 myself in an earlier court session, earlier trial

5 sessions that are the proximate cause of this nonsense

6 today.

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7 I've committed no crimes. I've stood

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8 against government corruption. What happened in October

9 with Captain Michael Morgan, who is an outrage -- an

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10 embarrassment to the police department, an embarrassment

11 to the law enforcement community, a liar -- you know

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12 what's going on here.
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13 I was not notified that there was a hearing
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14 that I needed to be present at. That hearing was not

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15 necessary and should have been stopped because in the

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16 other court, Judge Blackwood's court, there has been no

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17 grand jury indictment that's recognizable.

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18 Mr. Pettway is known to everybody who sat in

19 that grand jury on the 3rd of June. That grand jury

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20 does not exist -- it's not legal. It's not lawful.

21 It's not recognized in the law. Every single person who

22 was in that grand jury on the 3rd of June knows Mr.

23 Pettway.

24 And Ms. Angela Davis, who sat as the foreman

25 that day and was assigned as the foreman that day by

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1 Judge Amy Reedy, who in that act committed a crime, was

2 on a trial jury last year. Ms. Angela Davis is not

3 allowed by law in the state of Tennessee to be on a jury

4 this year, any jury anywhere in the state of Tennessee.

5 And you, Judge J. Reed Dixon, know that, and you passed

6 this case to that grand jury knowing that there was no

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7 probable cause.

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8 There was a motion for you to dismiss

9 yourself that was put together by public defenders, and

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10 you threatened them with disciplinary action should they

11 file that motion in writing. And then when Judge --

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12 excuse me, when Mr. Hughes, the public defender, stood
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13 to ask you to recuse yourself in open court, you refused
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14 to do that.
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15 THE COURT: Mr. Fitzpatrick, you can say a

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16 lot of things, but that -- I'm going to interject only

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17 to the extent to say that that is an absolute untruth.

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18 And I do know that.

19 Now, if you want to continue making a

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20 statement that relates directly to the charges in court

21 today, I will let you do so. But if all you want to do

22 is stand up there and cast aspersions on everyone

23 involved in this case without any reference to the facts

24 in this case and, in fact, make references to previous

25 actions which are patently untrue, then I think your

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1 statement is over.

2 MR. FITZPATRICK: I understand why you would

3 want to block me from speaking the truth and --

4 THE COURT: I'm not blocking you; I let you

5 go on way longer than anybody else would. But when you

6 say that I threatened your lawyer, you and I both know

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7 that's a patent lie.

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8 MR. FITZPATRICK: I know it's not.

9 THE COURT: Well, sir, you said all you

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10 want -- if that's all you want to talk about --

11 MR. FITZPATRICK: I'm not done.

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12 THE COURT: -- you are finished unless you
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13 want to make a reference to the evidence in this case.
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14 MR. FITZPATRICK: It's a false arrest.

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15 There was no reason for it. Judge Blackwood knows that.

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16 And this is just nothing but a continuation of a

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17 government piling on charges which are false to try and

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18 stop me from recognizing what's really going on in this

19 community. The corruption here is massive. It's

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20 outrageous. That's what's going on. And you, Judge J.

21 Reed Dixon, are part of the problem.

22 THE COURT: All right. Ten days, contempt.

23 He's bound for grand jury.

24 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Court date's January

25 18th.
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1 THE COURT: January 18th.

2 (Proceedings concluded.)

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