Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2005
Source: Johnson City Press (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Johnson City Press
Contact:  http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1983
Author: Jim Wozniak
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

UNICOI OUTCRY - SHERIFF'S BACKERS COME OUT IN FORCE IN DISPUTE WITH JUDGE

ERWIN - A courtroom so stifling people vigorously fanned themselves and 
dripped with sweat grew even hotter Tuesday when Judge Bob Cupp entered and 
the crowd roasted him with allegations he was soft on drug crimes and 
warned him they were targeting him for defeat in the 2006 election.

Cupp maintained his cool during a nearly 45-minute exchange with Unicoi 
County residents and sheriff's department representatives who were madder 
than hornets about his decision in July that led to the dismissal of 
charges against a man accused of having about a kilogram of cocaine in his 
mobile home. The audience was not swayed by the judge's comments, and when 
the anger continued to flare, Cupp concluded there was no more point in 
carrying on the conversation.

The judge ruled on July 22 that the search warrant the sheriff's department 
used to enter Cecil Ross Smith's residence, 1709 Jonesborough Road, was 
improperly written. He said prosecutors could not present evidence at a 
trial of the cocaine and the fact the man had 215 grams of marijuana and 
drug scales and had stolen more than $10,000 in collector coins from 
Darrell Woods, grandfather of Sheriff Kent Harris. Based on that decision, 
Assistant District Attorney General Melanie Gwinn dismissed the charges 
involving those items.

Harris called the ruling a smack in the face to law enforcement and said 
his officers did not do anything wrong when they entered the mobile home on 
July 17, 2004. He said Cupp's ruling "shocked" him, and he contended the 
courts had let down the sheriff's department.

Other officers in the sheriff's department criticized the developments in 
court, and that led to Cupp to subpoena Harris, Administrative Assistant 
Brushy Lewis, Chief Investigator Ronnie Adkins and Sgt. David Walker to 
appear in front of him Tuesday. Word quickly spread in the community, and 
supporters of the sheriff's department descended on the courthouse to let 
Cupp know their feelings.

The courthouse erupted in applause when Harris entered the courtroom, 
shaking hands with people standing on both sides of the center aisle. He 
had led a group of his officers from the sheriff's department headquarters 
next door to the courthouse.

Before his arrival, supporters stood on the sidewalk on Main Avenue holding 
signs of support for Harris and the department. Officers who were trying to 
maintain order in the courtroom before Cupp took the bench removed signs 
that were brought inside, including one that said, "Fed up with Cupp." 
Sheriff's department backers passed out stickers to people entering the 
courtroom that said "junior deputy" on them with the abbreviation for Drug 
Abuse Resistance Education in the center of the badge.

In addition to the sheriff's department, others who were in court included 
public officials, such as Circuit Court Judge Tom Seeley, County Mayor 
Larry Rose and Erwin Alderman Glenn Tilson. Lewis also serves as Erwin's 
mayor. The sheriffs from Carter and Johnson counties, John Henson and Roger 
Gentry respectively, also were present. Henson said he came at Harris' 
request to back him, and Gentry said he happened to be in town for a 
meeting with Seeley.

Cupp, who said he had overcome the anger he initially felt over the flak 
directed at him, said he could sympathize with everyone's feelings about 
the case's outcome, but he said he had a job to do. According to the judge, 
the sheriff's department did not vouch in the Smith case for the 
credibility of the informant or his work. But he said he would let Harris 
appeal his ruling if he wanted.

"I should be in a mental institution if you think that I suppressed that 
search warrant to get myself involved in this situation," Cupp said. "I 
would be crazy. And I could have taken the easy way out, very easily, and I 
could have just simply said, 'The warrant's good' and pass the buck to the 
(state) Court of Criminal Appeals that once they got it, they would have 
sent it back or dismissed the case at taxpayers' expense. And that wasn't 
the right thing to do.

"I suppressed that search warrant because it was bad. And I'm sworn to 
uphold the law."

Acknowledging some of the good work Harris has performed, Cupp nonetheless 
said he would continue to look at search warrants with a critical eye. He 
said he and fellow Criminal Court Judge Lynn Brown have never had a ruling 
on a search warrant overturned by the appellate courts. He offered to help 
teach the sheriff's department the proper way to write a search warrant so 
deputies will not watch another case go down the drain. He said he wants 
the sheriff's department to be successful in executing a search warrant.

"I just want to stress to you that that the Constitution of this great 
country and this state applies to every one of us," Cupp said. "It's not 
here to protect criminals. It's here to protect us. It's here to protect us 
from communism and those things where government becomes oppressive."

Cupp said another option for the sheriff is to find a candidate who might 
defeat him.

"I don't have to worry about it because whoever sits here will do the same 
as I attempted to do," he said.

The judge said he regretted this conflict has developed and said he 
respected Harris for the job he performs. He said he hoped the sheriff 
would reciprocate and work with him, not against him.

Cupp gave Harris a chance to speak, but the sheriff's attorneys, Jeff 
Thompson and Alex Vogel, advised him to stay silent. Afterward, the lawyers 
allowed him to make a statement to the media but would not let him answer 
questions.

"I just want to say that it's heartwarming to know that there's this many 
good people in Unicoi County that care about law enforcement," he said. "It 
touches your heart to know that the people care what's going on. Lord knows 
that we care, and we're going to continue to do our job and continue to be 
tough on drugs."

In court, resident Gene Hurley pledged to ensure the judge's defeat next 
year and told Cupp that word was spreading that he was soft on drugs. The 
crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Hurley said people involved with 
drugs would come to Unicoi County if they know he is presiding. Cupp said 
they also might come because they know there is going to be a mistake in 
the way a case is handled.

Estil Edwards, a reserve captain for the sheriff's department, brought 
cheers when he said Cupp had questioned the sheriff's department's 
integrity in comments prior to Tuesday. The judge said he probably made a 
mistake but was upset when he read a comment in a newspaper that he was a 
"disgrace" to the judiciary. He said the natural impulse is to snap back, 
but he apologized to Harris for those earlier remarks.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom