Pelizzari joins DA’s office

Attorney and prosecutor Brandon Pelizzari, left, is pictured with Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark. (Submitted photo)

Attorney and prosecutor Brandon Pelizzari will join the Seventh Judicial District Attorney General’s Office in Clinton on December 1. He will be an assistant district attorney general.

“Brandon is an experienced attorney and prosecutor,” District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release. “I am thrilled to add his experience and talent to the office.”

Pelizzari joins the Clinton office after having been a prosecutor of driving under the influence violations in the Eighth Judicial District, mostly assigned to Campbell County, for the past several years, the press release said.

“In addition to his professional skill, Brandon brings familiarity with our community,” Clark said. “As a native Anderson Countian who lives in our community, he will literally be coming home.”

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Governor appoints Spitzer as Circuit Court judge

Ryan Spitzer
Ryan Spitzer (File photo)

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has appointed Ryan Spitzer to serve as Circuit Court judge for the Seventh Judicial District to fill the seat left vacant when former judge Don Elledge retired at the end of June.

Spitzer’s appointment is effective immediately, the governor said in an announcement Monday.

“Ryan is a dedicated public servant with an extensive background in criminal prosecution,” Lee said in his announcement. “I am proud to announce his appointment and confident he will serve Tennessee with integrity.”

[Read more…]

Sexual harassment lawsuit against county appealed to Sixth Circuit


The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

  A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable. Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County. Now that’s on hold. The former employee, Gail Harness, has appealed her $7.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Anderson County to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable.

Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County.


The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

  A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable. Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County. Now that’s on hold. The former employee, Gail Harness, has appealed her $7.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Anderson County to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

Judge Elledge retires

Don-Elledge-Sept-9-2019
Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge is pictured above on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Seventh Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Don Elledge retired Wednesday, the end of June, after 16 years on the bench. The Seventh Judicial District is Anderson County. The Circuit Court hears both civil and criminal cases.

Elledge hadn’t aspired to be a judge, but when a vacancy opened up, he was encouraged to apply by others in the community, Tennessee Courts System said in a story about Elledge’s retirement.

“He was successful, and Governor Phil Bredesen appointed him to the bench in September 2005,” the story said. “Judge Elledge did not fully know at the time that he was about to embark on the most rewarding journey of his professional life.”

Since his appointment, Elledge has won election to the circuit court bench twice, in 2006 and in 2014. Stepping down now, a year before his term is up in 2022, was not something that he ever intended to do, Tennessee Courts said.

If it were possible, he would continue in court for another year, even at nearly 72 years old, the story said. However, health issues are forcing him to slow things down a bit and step away from the bench.

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Evaluation ordered for Finnegan, charged with murder, rape, kidnapping

Sean Finnegan, one of two defendants in a series of gruesome alleged crimes in Oak Ridge between December 2019 and August 2020, including murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping, is pictured above in a mugshot from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

An evaluation at Ridgeview Psychiatric Hospital has been ordered for a 52-year-old man charged with murder, rape, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse in a series of gruesome crimes allegedly committed against a 36-year-old woman in a home in east Oak Ridge between December 2019 and August 2020.

The evaluation was ordered for Sean Finnegan in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Friday. The evaluation was recommended by Finnegan’s attorney, who was able to show why it should be conducted, Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Roger Miller said in the order.

Finnegan is represented by Kathy Kroeger, a public defender in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County.

The evaluation by Ridgeview is expected to include Finnegan’s competency to stand trial and his mental capacity at the time he allegedly committed the crimes against Jennifer Gail Paxton of Knoxville. It is also expected to include an IQ test and an evaluation of Finnegan’s ability to assess his conduct.

[Read more…]

AC, ORPD to discuss program to combat elder abuse

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Submitted

Elder abuse is a new focus of Anderson County and the Oak Ridge Police Department. The two agencies are preparing to jointly implement a Senior Citizens Awareness Network, or SCAN, program that will likely start later this year to deal with the crime.

District Attorney General David Clark of the Seventh Judicial District and his Anderson County office are leading the charge on combating elder abuse, and the office will be running the SCAN program, according to a press release. RPD will help implement the program in Oak Ridge.

Clark and ORPD Detective Wendy Zolkowski will speak Thursday, January 16, about the SCAN program, elder abuse in Oak Ridge, and the ways seniors can be protected.

Their talks will be the first in 2020 in the lecture series sponsored by Roane State Community College and the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning. They will speak at 2 p.m. Thursday in the City Room (A-111) of the Coffey-McNally building on RSCC’s Oak Ridge Branch Campus, 701 Briarcliff Avenue. ORPD is hosting the presentation, which will be preceded by a reception with refreshments at 1:30 p.m. in the lobby. [Read more…]

Coria appointed district public defender

Ann Coria has been appointed public defender in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County.

A Republican, Coria replaces Tom Marshall, a Democrat who was re-elected to a fourth eight-year term in 2014. Marshall, who had served as Anderson County public defender since 1989, retired at the end of September.

Coria, who has been an assistant public defender and worked in the office for about 20 years, applied for the position. After an interview process and background check, she was appointed district public defender by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday, October 15.

“I believe that I have the skills to run the office and the knowledge of what’s needed,” Coria said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “It is a unique set of skills.”

There will be a special election in 2020 to choose someone who will serve the last two years of Marshall’s eight-year term and a regular election for an eight-year term in 2022.

[Read more…]

For members: Man sentenced to 14 years after taking van from woman in wheelchair

Bradley Allan Thomas

CLINTON—A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year.

Bradley Allan Thomas, 31, received a 12-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. He will be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before he could be eligible for a parole hearing. Authorities had alleged that Thomas pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

Bradley Allan Thomas

 

A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year. Authorities had alleged that the man pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

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Oak Ridge man charged with murder in drug death

Ronald Nicholas Bunch
Ronald Nicholas Bunch

An Oak Ridge man has been charged with second-degree murder in the drug-related death of another Oak Ridge man in February.

It could be the first time that anyone has been charged with murder, rather than homicide, for a drug-related fatality in Anderson County. There has been a previous case where a man was charged with and convicted of homicide in a drug overdose death.

The man who died on February 6 was Steven Douglas Scruggs, 34.

Indicted in his death was Ronald Nicholas Bunch, 28, of West Wadsworth Circle in Oak Ridge. Bunch’s indictment for second-degree murder on June 4 said he unlawfully and knowingly killed Scruggs through the unlawful distribution of a Schedule II controlled substance, and the drug caused Scruggs’ death. Second-degree murder is a Class A felony in Tennessee.

The charge of second-degree murder, part of a three-count indictment, doesn’t specifically say what drug killed Scruggs. But the second count of the indictment charged Bunch with possessing fentanyl, a Schedule II medication, for resale.

[Read more…]