Starting line of the Cherohala Skyway in Tellico Plains TN
UPDATE FEB 2013: Suspect in Miller slaying Brandon Steele pleads guilty to federal meth charges - But his murder of deputy Jim Miller is OK
UPDATE: DA says there will be more killers charged in the Jim Miller murder case... - "There will be other indictments as soon as we have enough information to proceed with prosecution," said Assistant District Attorney James Stutts. At one point, before Jessica Kennedy Powers faced Judge Kurtz, she turned around to Jim Miller's widow, Vickie, and said, "I didn't do it. I swear."
UPDATE: Petit drug addict hooker patsy arrested for assassination "robbery" of cop/politician/mobster(?) Jim Miller...
UPDATE: TBI press release re arrest in the Jim Miller case
UPDATE: Indictment of Jessica Kennedy Powers in the Jim Miller case
UPDATE: TBI "forgot" to request copy of autopsy report on assassinated cop/politician/mobster(?) Jim Miller...
UPDATE 2: Monroe DA to block "part" of assassination autopsy report, but gave copy to suspected assassins in Monroe County Sheriff Office
Motorcycle accident kills one, injures three on Cherohala Skyway
One person is dead and three others injured following a motorcycle accident in Monroe County.
It happened Saturday afternoon, just before 4:00 p.m. According to the TennesseeHighway Patrol, Robert N. Tittenhofer of Middleburg, Florida was heading west on State Highway 165, also known as the Cherohala Skyway.
The THP report says Tittenhofer's Honda CBR1000 motorcycle veered into the eastbound lane while traveling into a right-hand curve. It nicked a 2004 Harley-Davidson operated by Lawrence E. Kinard Jr. of Montross, Virginia.
Tittenhofer then sideswiped a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan ridden by King David Stewart of Marshall, Virginia before crashing head-on into a 2006 Harley-Davidson. That rider, Charles E. Poles Jr., was injured along with Stewart and Kinard. Tittenhofer was killed.
All four riders were wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
See also:
Ride Reports: Cherohala Skyway closed this afternoon
Video: Cherohala Skyway offers fun, danger for motorcyclists
"We had another great weekend at the gap as the skyway continues to mount fatalities. The skyway has had 3 in the past 7 days. Two on the NC side and One on the TN side, all speed related. I know the gap gets a bad rap from time to time but we are going on the 5th straight year the the skyway is much deadlier than the gap. So when up there please be carful and watch your speed the curves can sneak up on you and next thing you know you will be in on coming traffic."
-DealsGap.com, 19 July 2010
Decreasing radius downhill turns are most likely to spook riders on the Charahala, especially enroute to Tellico. Forgetting how to COUNTERSTEER feels like the steering is welded solid. Target fixation send riders where they look, which is the oncoming lane on the outside of a curve...
REALITY CHECK
Order your Countersteering stickers now
What we probably have here is a classic example of Failure To Countersteer, combined with defective roads, and a lack of competent or timely medical care.
The extreme incompetence and criminal negligence of Tennessee Highway Patrol is probably a major factor in this crash. THP censors the word "countersteering" from its Motorcycle Operator Manual and Motorcycle "License" Test, and actually shows images of motorcycles steering like cars and trikes. Nowhere does THP warn riders that bikes must be steered in the opposite direction of a turn, the opposite of cars and trikes.
Deadly advice from THP "license" test
USDOT's Hurt Report found that 95% of motorcycle crashes involved riders who never heard of countersteering.
THP crash reports never ask a victim if they know what countersteering is, nor determine if the rider wore competition-grade leathers with hard body armor and hard spine protector, nor whether the helmet is open-face or a mere bicycle skidlid. Crash reports never blame a govt highway department nor contractor for defective road construction, nor blame vehicle manufacturers for defective products. This makes it impossible to investigate crashes for improvement of highway safety, as done routinely in aircraft crashes. "Guard rails" routinely impale car drivers, and are called "cheesegraters" by bikers.
Both news corps and school corps censor the word countersttering. News corps (extortion rackets) don't allow journalists to criticise any products made by their advertisors (marks), such as defective motorcycle helmets, or the journos are instantly fired. Nor are they allowed to criticize insurance rackets where only 5% of revenue is paid in claims as execs are paid $200,000 per week per person -- or $35-billion per year TAX-FREE per person if your name is Warren Buffett, owner of GEICO, Government Employees Insurance Corp (CIA terrorist bombers and mass murderers on 9/11). Nor can journos critique government agencies in these days of bailouts, where even a local newspaper can win $20-million corporate welfare. Failure of corporate "news" to give a damn about dead bikers, and its inability to investigate crash causes, guarantees perpetual loss of life, and expansion of the deadly Police State that arrests 100-million Americans every year for frivolous traffic lawsuits.
The extreme delay in First Responder and ambulance response is also a probable factor. If Rural Metro takes 4.5 hours to rescue riders in Blount County, imagine how long it takes in the remote mountains of Monroe County? Volunteer First Responders are required to pay for their college certification and equipment costing $2,000, while private foreign ambulance corporations rake in trillions of dollars in no-bid contract monopolies.
Police are not trained nor equipped as First Responders, and never perform first aid on crash victims. Often 10 cops stand around at crash scenes waiting for an ambulance, as Good Samaritans stand in the road covered in fuel giving comfort to dying victims. Police are excellent at censoring names of eyewitnesses from crash reports, unless a witness will testify the victim was drunk, making it hard for victims to defend or prosecute insurance claims in civil court. Nine out of ten cops should be replaced with government-owned ambulance crews, and all cops should be trained and equipped as First Responders.
Lifestar helicopter flights cost $18,000 in Monroe County, and are not covered by motorcycle insurance.
Crash victims who die as a result of medical malpractice are still listed as dying from a crash. Medical doctors murder over 2-million Americans every year, the leading cause of death in USA, equivalent to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky every day. Ambulance crews are now murdering crash victims to harvest their organs, which can only be harvested from living bodies, at a gross profit of $500,000 per murder victim, whether or not the victim was gullible enough to sign an organ donor contract.
Stick and ball sports kill 200,000 healthy young Americans every year, from sweating.
Only 4,000 to 5,000 bikers die per year in USA. This proves motorcycle riding is one of the safest things you could ever do.
"For decades, speed was the subject of the most widespread slogans drummed into the public. 'Speed kills' and 'slow down and live' are familiar ones peddled by the National Safety Council. The findings showed a more complex picture of the role of speed than had ever been assumed before. Accident involvement rates are at a minimum at speeds between fifty and seventy five miles per hour. Although obviously the severity of accidents is greater at higher speeds, the study revealed that considering accident frequency rates and severity, the number of injuries per vehicle miles traveled is at its minimum [up to six times lower]. The law embodies an invincible rationale: 'He had an accident; therefore he violated the law.' No distinction is made between responsibility for the accident and responsibility for the injury due to unsafe vehicle design or construction. Manslaughter charges are filed routinely against drivers; there is yet to be recorded any similar charges against the manufacturers for vehicle defects. A typical police traffic accident report has a list of 'contributing circumstances' which the officer is to check off: 'Speed too fast; failed to yield right of way; drove left of center; improper overtaking; passed stop sign; ran traffic signal; improper lights; had been drinking; and other improper driving.' Thus the driver is heir to all the dangers created by the automobile designers, not only in terms of bodily injury but also in terms of legal exposure. The result of this drastic imbalance in the law is the very poor quality of accident investigation in this country. Consequently, enforcement of the law brings no pressure on the car makers to increase the safety of their vehicles."
-Ralph Nader, attorney at law and presidential candidate, from "Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile", quoting David Soloman in "Accidents on Main Rural Highways Related to Speed, Driver and Vehicle," FHwA (1964). Nader forced GM and VW to start using CV joints, anti-sway bars and proper independent suspensions that don't roll over at 20 mph.
"One hundred forty years ago, the Royal Society in England warned against the railroads, claiming that at speeds over 30 miles per hour, the air supply to the passenger compartment would be cut off and people would die from asphyxiation. And the college of physicians in Munich, for its part, warned that at 30 mph, travelers would suffer headaches, vertigo and possible lose their sight because of a blurring effect. Over 30 mph great catastrophies were predicted, because everyone knew that even a twig would shatter the wheels."
-Jules Burgman, ABC News, NASA Langley Research Center, The Impact of Science on Society, NASA SP-482, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985
THE DRAGONATER WINS IN TRAFFIC COURT AT DEALS GAP, RAISES SPEED LIMIT TO 65 MPH ON THE DRAGON - NOLLE PROSEQUI BY BLOUNT COUNTY ATTORNEY GENERAL. NO TESTIMONY, HEARING NOR TRIAL WHATSOEVER. 60 MPH SPEEDING TICKET DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, COSTS PAID BY THE STATE, IN BLOUNT COUNTY GENERAL SESSIONS COURT WITH JUDGE BREWER. THP TROOPER RANDALL HUCKEBY ADMITTED ON VIDEOTAPE DURING TRAFFIC STOP THAT ALL SPEEDING TICKETS NORTHBOUND ON US129 AT MILE MARKER 0.5 ARE FEDERAL JURISDICTION, NOT STATE JURISDICTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). HUCKEBY WAS ALSO CAUGHT ON VIDEO SPEEDING AT 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON, WITHOUT THE MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS AND SIREN REQUIRED FOR IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION (VIDEO BY THE DRAGONATER). TDOT ADMITTED IN WRITING THAT THE MANDATORY TRAFFIC ENGINEERING SURVEY SPEED AUDIT WAS NEVER PERFORMED, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, THUS THE POSTED 30 MPH SPEED LIMIT ON THE DRAGON REVERTS TO THE DEFAULT 65 MPH IN TN CODE. THE DRAGONATER ALSO MADE VIDEO OF TROOPER HUCKEBY SPEEDING UP TO 60 MPH ON THE DRAGON IN A 30 MPH ZONE, WITHOUT MANDATORY EMERGENCY LIGHTS NOR SIREN, IN VIOLATION OF TN CODE, AND PERJURY IN HIS PERSONNEL FILE, WHICH SHOWED HIS $100,000+ SALARY. 2007 TDOT SAFETY AUDIT REPORT CONFESSED THAT THP'S JOB IS TO BAN ALL COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES ON THE DRAGON, SO THP TICKETS INCREASED 11,400% IN BLOUNT COUNTY. THP'S STALKER RADAR OPERATOR MANUAL CONFESSED THAT RADAR CANNOT MEASURE THE SPEED OF VEHICLES WITHIN 18 MPH OF ACTUAL SPEED. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FULL EVIDENCE FILE. UPDATE 7 MARCH 2011
The speed limit on the Dragon is 30 mph...
However, being an politician in Monroe County is quite deadly. On the same day as this Cherohala crash, the chairman of the Monroe County Republican Party and Monroe County Election Commission Chairman, Jim Miller, was found by a deputy sheriff in the trunk of a burning car. All that was left of him were charred "remains". Whose election did he fix to result in this mob hit? Miller is the name of the mafia-connected owner of the worldwide towtruck/garbage/cartheft cartel, Miller Industries, headquartered in East Tennessee, that kills cops and burns cars of politicians in Knoxville, and stole two of my cars with their police partners in the cartheft rackets, in retaliation for my newspaper article about the police-approved murder of a motorcycle cop.
This is the county where my aunt is a county commissioner, and where my cousin was appointed to a judgeship on the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Jessica Kennedy Powers
"I didn't do it. I swear."
-Jessica Kennedy Powers, to the widow of Jim Miller
"I didn't shoot nobody, no Sir! I'm just a patsy!"
-Lee Harvey Oswald, in the same Dallas Police Dept where President JFK had just been shot in front of, and the same police station where Oswald was shot and killed by jewish mobster strip club owner Jacob Rubenstein, aka Jack Ruby
WBIR TV named this photo: "JIM MILLER GOOD HEADSHOT"
Monroe County politico Jim Miller, murder suspect knew each other
By Jim Balloch
Knoxville News Sentinel
January 5, 2011
Monroe County Election Commission chairman Jim Miller knew the woman who is charged with killing him during a robbery, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Jessica Kennedy Powers, 27, of Sweetwater, Tenn., is charged with felony murder, aggravated robbery, arson and abuse of a corpse, according a statement issued Wednesday by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
"They did know of each other, but the extent of their relationship is not known," TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.
Miller, 60,was a lifelong Sweetwater resident who knew many people throughout Monroe County.
A grand jury indicted Powers on Wednesday after a nearly six-month probe.
Asked if there were any other suspects or if any other arrests were expected, Helm's careful answer was: "At this time, no other case has been presented to the grand jury."
Officers served Powers with the indictment in jail in neighboring Meigs County, where she was serving time there for violating her probation from a charge of simple possession of narcotics.
According to the indictment, which identifies the defendant as simply Jessica Kennedy, Miller was murdered "during the perpetration of robbery."
Wording of the indictment also indicates that she used a handgun to rob Miller of his money before killing him, rather than killing him and robbing the corpse. It was widely known that Miller commonly carried large sums of cash.
Helm declined to say if a weapon has been recovered.
The suspect has been moved from Meigs County Jail to Monroe County jail, where she is being held under $500,000. Court officials said an arraignment is scheduled for January 18.
Miller was last seen alive leaving the election commission office shortly after noon on July 17. His body was found later that afternoon on Sands Road in the trunk of his flame-engulfed car. He had been shot in the head three times, and his body was burned beyond visual recognition.
Comments
I believe there is more yet to come. She may have been involved in it, may have even pulled the trigger. However, she is a small girl and I find it difficult to believe, though not impossible, that she put this man in his trunk after she shot him. Dead weight is hard to move. But this was a very mean man with plenty of enemies.
She definitely had help in at least putting the body in trunk. Logic would conclude she then had help in the burning and cover up. I am sure she will have a good story to tell.
But what perplexes me is how did she overcome this guy? Especially if she is all drugged up? He's pretty big. And how did she get him in the trunk unless she shot him while in there. But he was shot in the front and back of the head. I'm thinking she had help. Maybe it was that H...oh, never mind.
It's certainly an interesting case, but I have doubts that she could have done this alone. Someone helped her get the body into the trunk. I seriously doubt he would have voluntarily climbed into the trunk while looking at a gun barrel - he appears to be smart enough to understand that voluntarily climbing into the trunk would have been a likely step to his death.
She was helped by her boyfriend Brandon Steele.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Has someone already said "caught with his pants down" and it was removed?
Pure speculation: Maybe our vic had a proclivity for tawdry women? Maybe she was used as bait?
I like your bait theory. For someone like this man who carries a gun with him, he would have to be caught off guard.
Maybe I'm getting all CSI on this, but would 3 shots to the head be considered a crime of passion?
I don't think I would ever want to be 'widely known as someone who carries a large amount of cash'...
Human remains found in burned vehicle off Sands Road
Monroe County Advocate and Democrat
July 18, 2010
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office and state officials are conducting an investigation into the discovery of a burned vehicle just off Sands Road near Sweetwater with human remains found inside Saturday night.
Family members of Monroe County Election Commission Chairman Jim Miller have said the longtime Republican leader is missing and investigators consider him the likely victim in this case.
Early Sunday, the Sheriff's Office released this initial statement:
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office and state officials are conducting an investigation into the discovery of a burned vehicle just off Sands Road near Sweetwater with human remains found inside Saturday night.
Family members of Monroe County Election Commission Chairman Jim Miller have said the longtime Republican leader is missing and investigators consider him the likely victim in this case.
Early Sunday, the Sheriff's Office released this initial statement:
On July 17, 2010, at approximately 8 p.m., a Monroe County Sheriff's deputy while on patrol located a vehicle fire. The vehicle was fully engulfed upon arrival of the deputy. The deputy requested fire department assistance and Christianburg Fire Department responded to the scene on Sands Road and extinguished the fire. During the operations of the Fire Department, human remains were found in the trunk of the vehicle. The District Attorney's Office, The TBI, and Tennessee State Bomb and Arson were contacted for assistance and all three agencies responded to the scene. Positive identification of the victim has not been made at this time. The Sheriff's Office is working in conjunction with these agencies to quickly identify the victim and solve this crime. Anyone having information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at 423-442-3911 or Monroe County Dispatch at 423-442-4357.
See also:
How to rig a black box election in Tennessee
Memphis has 3,221 more phantom votes than voters in 2010
Ten Memphis candidates sue for vote rigging
Somebody let Low Tax Looper out of jail?
To the even more bizarre:
When contacted Sunday afternoon, TBI spokeswoman Kristen Helm said: “We provided assistance at the scene originally, but we are not investigating. The DA did not request TBI to open a case.”
Miller also owned Miller Excavating and resided on Hawkins Road in Sweetwater.
Miller was appointed chairman of the Monroe County Election Commission during the April 22, 2009, meeting of the Election Commission.
I’m sure the DA’s stance of not wanting the TBI’s help is providing great comfort to the rest of the Monroe County Election Commission.
Video: Rumors swirl in Monroe County following election commissioner's death
MADISONVILLE (WATE) - Two days after a body was found in the trunk of Jim Miller's burning car, Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bevins says he still can not confirm that the body is Miller's.
Family members and friends, however, say they have no doubt Miller was murdered and his body put in the car before it was set on fire. A source in law enforcement has also told 6 News the body belongs to Miller.
Monroe County is in the midst of early voting, prompting rumors about Miller's mysterious death.
Fellow Republican Tim Yates, who happens to be running for county mayor, called Miller a leader in the Republican party and someone who was never afraid to speak his mind.
Yates says he hopes politics had nothing to do with his friend's death.
"It's shocking," said Yates. "Because of it happening during this time there are a lot of rumors, suspicious rumors."
"He may have had enemies, but everyone makes enemies," said James Brown, Monroe County's administrator of elections. "I don't think it was political.
Brown says he was most likely the last person to see Miller alive when they saw each other at the election office Saturday.
Brown says he overheard Miller call his wife on the phone and say he was on his way home.
Miller never made it home. His burning car was found instead about seven hours later.
Various national mafias have a long history in Sweetwater according to Monroe Co deputy sheriffs. TN leads the nation in sheriffs convicted of dope dealing.
"The murder took place outside the City Limits,,,under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff Department...of which one of the deputies is being investigated for making death threats to Miller and his family. TBI was brought in because of the conflict. Art Vandelay is right,..the story has just begun. I think TBI was brought in to keep there from being the appearance of impropriety. Even if the guy had a 100% locked down alibi (filmed in another state at the time of the incident or whatever) this keeps the conspiracy theorists away. That said, there may have actually been a conspiracy in this case. What the heck was a deputy doing making threats against an official?!? Any more insight?"
KNS: Victim found in trunk thought to be Monroe Election official
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has set up a tip hotline in regards to the burned vehicle and the body found this past Saturday, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office has announced. The phone number is (423) 519-8477. Anyone with any information regarding this case is requested to contact the tip line. The hotline will be staffed twenty four hours a day by Task Force Personnel.
Miller v Miller v Miller v Miller - $700,000 family farm carved up by TN Court of Appeals. Background on Jim Miller's political ties.
Body found in car trunk tentatively identified as Monroe official - The body found in the trunk of a burning car Saturday has been tentatively identified as belonging to Monroe County election official Jim Miller, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday. The manner of Miller's death has been ruled a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound.
Monroe deputy suspended; murder probe continues - Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bivens confirmed this afternoon that the deputy, Kenny Hope, has been placed on administrative leave with pay but would not discuss the specific reason for the suspension or details of the case. “I wouldn’t say he is any kind of a No. 1 suspect or anything like that,” Bivens said. “A person of interest, maybe.”
Asked if Hope has been questioned in the case, the sheriff would only say, “He has been spoken to,” and added that he has not been given a polygraph.
Sheriff's deputy says he is suspect in Monroe County official's death - The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now in charge of the investigation. So far, Sheriff Bill Bivens has been tight lipped about the county election commissioner's death. Perhaps the reason for the sheriff's silence is because the case is too close to home. During a phone interview with 6 News Monday night, one of Bivens' deputies revealed he is a suspect. Kenny Hope said he was questioned by TBI agents over the weekend and says he was told he is a suspect in Miller's death. He told 6 News that he has been put on administrative leave pending the investigation. Hope said he had "no motive" to kill Miller. His only connection with Miller, Hope said, was during an April 2010 traffic stop. Records show during that traffic stop, Miller was charged with reckless driving and having no insurance. A Monroe County judge recused himself from the case, sending it to McMinn County in May. District Attorney Steven Bebb confirmed to 6 News that Sheriff Bivens was the one who asked for TBI to take the lead in the case. Bebb said the sheriff's office was not being investigated for Miller's death. Source: Daily News Express
Miller's friends say some of the rumors 'can't be true' - Miller had an auxiliary deputy sheriff's commission from Loudon County. His personal car was equipped with a spotlight, blue lights in the grill, tinted windows and a radio antenna on the back, according to several people familiar with it. Anderson, Heuer and several others who knew Miller agree on two things: They feel it is highly likely that he was killed by someone he knew, and it probably took more than one person to commit the crime. Miller was more than six feet tall, stout and strong, and would likely defend himself in a robbery or confrontation, they said. "He was just too big and tough" for one man to handle, Anderson said. Miller often carried large amounts of cash - a practice that friends say was as widely noticed as his generosity and kindness to other people. "He was hard-core Republican," Anderson said. Miller's main source of livelihood was his excavating business that specialized in removing old fuel tanks from service stations and other businesses. "The excavating business is where he made his money, and I suspect it paid for the farm," Anderson said. "It was a very successful business." Comments: "Business" deal gone bad!!!! Word is former Sheriff Watson has been told that he is next.This story is alot deeper than you might think. No one every said Republicans don't play for keeps. And no one ever said that democrats aren't suspects.
UPDATE 5 AUGUST 2010 - Jim Miller, a well-known political official, was killed on July 17, 2010. He was found shot in the head three times, and burned in the trunk of his own car on the first Saturday of early voting. TBI is investigating the circumstances around Jim Miller's death. Mechelle Miller said the family is waiting for answers.
Dragonater Note:
Loudon County TN, where Jim Miller was a cop, is world HQ for the Mafia-connected worldwide garbage and cartheft cartel, where William Miller, owner of Miller Industries, lives in "The House That Garbage Built". William Miller and KPD police were sued in a class action by The Dragonater, for running massive cartheft rackets in Knox County. William Miller owned BFI and Waste Management, which had dozens of contractors convicted under the RICO Act for membership in the Gambino and Genovese Mafia crime families in New York City, as seen on A&E TV's Investigative Reports with Bill Curtis: "Modern Mobs", where the World Trade Center and NY City were extorted by a "Mob tax on garbage" of 900%, thanks to monopoly contracts from corrupt government.
Home Destroyed by Fire - Daily News Express, 20 July 2010
Man tries to coerce witness in TBI investigation - A Lenoir City man allegedly threatened to burn the home of prospective witnesses in an ongoing TBI investigation, although the warrant did not specify which investigation. Daily News Express, 24 July 2010
"I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County TN sheriff James Berrong, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005
Coincidence...?
Still no sign of worker at Sevier County Waste Compost Facility - Bobby G. Reagan has been missing since Thursday morning, shortly after he arrived work at the Sevier County Waste Compost Facility on Ridge Road. 24 July 2010
Dragonater Note: KNS lawyers, City of Knoxville law director and Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz quashed a subpoena by The Dragonater, and sought sanctions and arrest of The Dragonater, for seeking open public records of govt propaganda contracts with KNS and WBIR TV... The Dragonater is banned from posting comments on the KNS website.
Autopsy queries in killing of Monroe County Election Commission Chairman Jim Miller hit wall
Monroe examiner snubs requests in politico's slaying; counsel critical
Knoxville News Sentinel
10 Nov 2010
It has been nearly four months since Monroe County Election Commission Chairman Jim Miller was shot to death and left in the trunk of his burning car. The case remains a mystery.
Miller's preliminary autopsy report has long been completed. It's also a public record. Yet for reasons that no official has been able - or willing - to explain, the document remains unavailable.
Dr. Christopher Shamblin, the new medical examiner for Monroe County, has failed to respond to two public records requests to either provide the report or authorize its release. The News Sentinel's requests were made Oct. 15 and Nov. 1.
Shamblin has also not responded to repeated follow-up telephone calls, and according to the State Office of Open Records Counsel he is in apparent violation of the state Open Records Act.
"At a minimum, he is required to respond to your request, and if it is being denied (he is then required) to state the reasons why," said Open Records Counsel Elisha Hodge.
"And there is a deadline of seven days to respond," said Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. "That deadline was put in there to stop such shenanigans as (simply ignoring a request)."
The newspaper initially requested a copy of the report from the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville, where Miller's autopsy was performed. A reporter was referred to the Monroe County Medical Examiner's office.
Shamblin was named medical examiner by Monroe County Commission nine days before Miller's July 17 homicide. Shamblin said he did not have the report and referred a reporter to his immediate predecessor, Dr. Kenya Kozawa.
Kozawa had earlier resigned as medical examiner. On July 8, the same day Shamblin was appointed, Kozawa was named his assistant, according to Monroe County Commission records.
When Kozawa's office was contacted about the report, a woman who answered the phone said the News Sentinel would probably have to ask the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for it.
Instead, the News Sentinel filed the first of its two written requests to Shamblin.
"The risk that any public official runs in withholding material, which is public record, without giving a reason as required by the statute is that actions could be declared by a court to be willful, and that could mean the county would have to pay all court costs and legal fees incurred in getting the document," said Knoxville lawyer Rick Hollow, general counsel for the Tennessee Press Association and attorney for the News Sentinel.
In some cases, law enforcement agencies have claimed they can make an autopsy report unavailable by simply declaring it part of an ongoing investigation. But Hodge said she is unaware of any case law that allows that.
The two top law enforcement agencies in the Miller case say they have made no such claims.
Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Steve Bebb, who will prosecute anyone arrested in the killing, said he has not asked anyone to withhold the document. Asked if anyone had made such a request on his behalf, he said: "Not to my knowledge. I believe they would know better."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the lead investigative agency on the Miller case, has made no such request either, according to TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm.
Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bivens did not return several calls last week. On Monday, he called and left a message for a reporter who was out of the office. Since then, Bivens has not responded to subsequent calls.
Miller, 60, was a prominent and popular Sweetwater businessman, farmer and Republican political figure. He left the election commission office in Madisonville shortly after noon July 17, apparently to head home. Early that evening, a deputy in a rural section of the county sighted Miller's car, engulfed in flames. Miller had been shot in the head three times and his body was burned beyond recognition.
Miller was known to carry large sums of cash. His car closely resembled a police car. The slaying has sparked numerous theories and rumors around Monroe County, but no arrests have been made.
Jim Balloch may be reached at 865-342-6357.
Jessica Kennedy Powers
