On June 24th 2022, I decided to do a first amendment audit of Oxford Mississippi City Hall with a goal of requesting public records from the city clerk at the conclusion. These audits were something I had started doing as a citizen journalist to promote government transparency and accountability, and I had done several during the month of June. As I’m doing my audit documenting the inside of City hall, I am approached by Oxford police lieutenant Kevin Parker and ordered out of the building under detainment due to Parker stating mayor Robyn Tannehill had a restraining order for 2017 which was still allegedly active against me. Another supervisor, Captain Lyons, then approaches me, and I voice my disagreeance with all of this calling it unconstitutional to bar a citizen and journalist from City Hall based upon a five year old extremely shady restraining order taken out never renewed by a mayor whom I never asked for, and never saw while I was in City hall. Lyons says if I come back to City Hall I would be arrested for trespassing and violation of restraining order. I complied and I left.
On June 28th 2022 as I was walking into Lafayette county chancery Court for a child custody hearing I’m wandered by Major Alan Wilburn of the sheriff’s department and told I can’t come in with the recording devices per the judge. he then pulls out an arrest warrant for the charge of aggravated stocking which stem directly from me walking in the city hall on June 24th to do a first amendment audit. What I would later find out was that the Oxford police chief Jeff McCutchen had referred the matter which should have been squashed over to the Mississippi bureau of investigations and returned they felony charge of aggravated stocking citing the audit and five to six Twitter tweets against Tannehills policies one year prior during her reelection campaign as the course of conduct supposedly directed at Tannehill. I was given a $10,000 Bond set my Judge Kent Smith which was promptly moved to be revoked by assistant district attorney Tiffany kilpatrick. at the preliminary and revocation of bond hearing which gave the impression of the kangaroo court, judge Smith ruled that I be held without bond in order to mental health exam and competency hearing. my initially assigned public defender Mitchell Driskill was mysteriously replaced with another attorney by the name of Mark McClinton and was from New albany. However there was never any Court filing or entry authorizing the swap. what if what I quickly found out was that McClinton did not have my best interest at heart whatsoever. Not only could I rarely reach him, but the court ordered mental health exam wasn’t scheduled by him until nearly two months later, in September. Dr Christopher Lott conducted the mental health exam and concluded that I had no bipolar or any other major or noticeable mental health illness. The day before the competency hearing September 29th, I speak with McClinton on the phone he informs me the whole case fell apart from the state, they never had anything on me to begin with as the charge didn’t fit, and the following day the charge would be tossed completely at the competency hearing on September 30th. This never happened just following day McClinton springs a guilty plea on me telling me if I don’t take it, the jury would be tainted and fixed and the elements of the charge would be exploited likely sending me to prison, even if it moved to another adjacent county. He said if I accepted it, I’d go home in my family today, and get five years probation, banishment from Lafayette county for five years beginning 45 days later, and that he would expunge the charge when eligible. Due to a crisis with my family I felt my hands were tied and I took the Guilty plea, solely to get out take care of my family. I immediately told the McClinton this was a mistake and I wanted to withdraw my plea and go to trial. He wouldn’t entertainment he wouldn’t entertain it or assist with it so on October 31st 2022 I filed my own motion to withdraw guilty plea and either go to trial or dismiss the unconstitutional charge.
A few days prior, I witnessed an act of police corruption in a neighboring City and captured it on video. I reported this to the local FBI field office in Oxford Mississippi on October 28th 2022. I was advised to bring the video up to the field office a short time later and I recorded this call. I then called to Lafayette county sheriff’s office to report my requested presents at the FBI office in Oxford so as to being compliance with the circuit court order regarding the banishment.
On November 1st 2022, the day after I filed my motion to withdraw my guilty plea, the assistant district attorney filed a motion to revoke my sentence and hold me without bond for a revocation hearing, which is then ordered by judge Tollison.
I was arrested the evening of November 1st 2022 and held in jail until November 3rd for the revocation hearing. I was deprived fully of due process. I was never informed what I was being revoked for until I was brought to the hearing. No attorney was present for me and the fact that I went into the hearing blind not knowing what the revocation hearing was for meant that I was not afforded the opportunity to gather evidence or produce witnesses to prove my innocence. Some of the most crucial requirements to due process.
The testimony given was that I drove to the FBI office in Oxford Mississippi without having an appointment set, however this is untrue as a call recording shows, I did exactly as I was advised to do by an agent or employee of the FBI to bring evidence to their office of police corruption caught on video in another city. Sheriff East allegedly called the FBI field office a short time later and some individual, or possibly the same one, told East that I didn’t have an appointment. I told the judge I had called recordings corroborating everything showing I did exactly as I was advised by the FBI to do, even me calling the sheriff’s department to report my needed presence. However judge Tollison would not let me produce it, and after a short deliberation he sent me to serve one year in prison for violating the banishment, even though my reason for going to the FBI was lawful, for official reasons in order to enforce the equal protections of the law!
Can you say entrapment and false imprisonment among many others?
