Truck driver Michael James sits in the county commission meeting today while Lorrie Miller, behind him, speaks to a member of panel. (Photo David Tulis)
State law is very clear about the affiant which elsewhere is required to be the victim or fact witness. Unnder policy in Hamilton County, fact witnesses and victims are forbidden to testify for an arrest warrant.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Wednesday, March 6, 2024— I have my hard copy of T.C.A. § Title 40 in my hand today at the county commission podium where, in three minutes, I demand reform from the ill-conceived work of Lorrie Miller, chief magistrate.
By David Tulis / NoogaRadio Network
She attends a second in an effort to obtain funding for a fifth magistrate position, and by time of public comment is gone.
Joining me is truck driver Michael James. He relates how he was falsely accused, arrested and jailed in a case in which two girls refused to go to the magistrate to swear out a story of his having threatened them by brandishing a pistol.
“I am a victim of her illegal customs and usages May 6, 2020,” Mr. James says. “Her customs and usages are a violation of the citizenry’s constitutional rights.”
The arrest warrant process accepts hearsay, but if a fact witness or victim is available, requires that person to swear.
The job of swearing out the arrest warrant fell to a late-arrival at the alleged crime scene, “rogue cop Lance Hughes,” whom Mr. James sued in federal court, with his case bounced to Hamilton County circuit court for false imprisonment and false arrest.
James, Tulis demand warrant reform
As Mrs. Miller is leaving the room, I catch up with her to again ask for a meeting to discuss my authorities and claims. She refuses, saying issues are pending and intending me to believe that the grievances in my letter Dec. 26, 2023, are included.
Mrs. Miller’s policy violates T.C.A. § 40-6-203 which describes the role of the magistrate and how warrants are created before the judicial commissioner under examination, put into writing and the accuser put under oath.
In my case, the alleged accuser never appeared before the chief magistrate judge Lorrie Miller,” Mr. James recounts. “I was the only one there standing before her. The officer left me there, but threw a complaint on her desk, and he goes to the criminal court clerk and files it himself, which he commits a felony, and it’s also a crime against me.
Its a felony assault against me because he wasn’t firsthand witness of anything. This process that chief Miller is doing is unconstitutional. It’s illegal and it violates the citizenry of the republic’s due process constitutional rights, like it happened to me.
Mr. James praises sessions court former Judge Gerald Webb for his dismissal of the case because of the due process violation Mr. James articulated in a written brief.
“It’s very evil, it’s wickedness to kidnap somebody like that and throw them in the jail and process them criminally when there’s no swearing under oath under penalty and perjury.”
