Oak Ridge Today

Cromwell’s motion for new trial is denied

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide in a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after July 4 fireworks two years ago, was sentenced to 12 years in prison during a hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide in a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after July 4 fireworks two years ago, was sentenced to 12 years in prison during a hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 19, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A judge has denied the motion for a new trial for Lee Harold Cromwell, the man convicted of vehicular homicide in a 2015 fireworks crash at Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge.

Cromwell, 67, was convicted of one count of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault after a three-day trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton in February. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June.

The crash occurred when Cromwell backed his Dodge Ram pickup truck through the crowded parking lot of the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. The crash killed James Robinson of Knoxville, a husband and father of two young girls, and it injured at least eight others. It’s one of the worst crashes anyone can remember in Oak Ridge.

Cromwell’s motion for a new trial was heard by Senior Judge Paul G. Summers in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on June 27.

Summers denied the motion for a new trial that day. He issued an order July 5.

The case has been appealed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Former officer, football player reaches plea agreement in statutory rape case

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Cassen Jackson-Garrison, a former police officer and professional football player, has agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct, and he will be sentenced to two years of supervised probation, officials said this week. Jackson-Garrison is pictured above standing at right during a plea agreement hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 12, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Cassen Jackson-Garrison, a former police officer and professional football player, has agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct, and he will be sentenced to two years of supervised probation, officials said this week. Jackson-Garrison is pictured above standing at right during a plea agreement hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, June 12, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

CLINTON—Cassen Jackson-Garrison, a former police officer and professional football player, has agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct, and he will be sentenced to two years of supervised probation, officials said this week.

State asks for 11-year sentence in fatal July 4 parking lot crash

Posted at
By 3 Comments

Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell has been on trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, was convicted of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell was convicted at the end of a three-day jury trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—Prosecutors have asked for an effective 11-year sentence for the Oak Ridge man convicted of one count of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in the fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015.

The crash killed a father of two, James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville, who was trying to push his daughters to safety, and it injured eight others. It’s one of the worst crashes anyone can remember in Oak Ridge.

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, was convicted of the vehicular homicide and aggravated assault charges after a three-day trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton in February, and he was scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday. But the sentencing hearing was postponed because Cromwell did not want private attorney James Scott representing him anymore. A public defender has been appointed instead.

A new date hasn’t been set yet for the rescheduled sentencing hearing. The public defender will need time to review the case and the transcript of the three-day trial in mid-February before he or she can represent Cromwell at sentencing. [Read more…]

Cromwell sentencing delayed as public defender appointed

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lee Cromwell

Lee Cromwell

Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. April 12.

CLINTON—The sentencing hearing for Lee Harold Cromwell, who has been convicted of vehicular homicide for a fatal parking lot crash after fireworks in 2015, was postponed Tuesday after Cromwell said he no longer wanted attorney James Scott to represent him.

A public defender will be appointed, although the public defender will need time to review the case and the trial transcript. It’s not clear when the rescheduled sentencing hearing will be held, but it could be this summer.

Scott had represented Cromwell in court hearings, including a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge in January 2016 and a three-day trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton in February 2017.

In court papers, Cromwell has called Scott incompetent and ineffective. On Tuesday, Scott entered Anderson County Criminal Court before the sentencing hearing and asked Cromwell if he wanted to go into a back room and talk, an attorney-client conference. [Read more…]

Seven ‘sovereign citizens’ who filed fraudulent liens arrested in Anderson County

Posted at
By 1 Comment

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced in Nashville on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Seven “sovereign citizens” from Anderson County, including Lee Harold Cromwell, have been indicted and arrested on charges related to filing fraudulent liens against local officials, law enforcement officers, and public employees, authorities said Thursday.

The sovereign citizens were arrested Wednesday by teams that included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to a press release from Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark in Anderson County.

The TBI said a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies also participated in the arrests.

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. That was about the time that Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge learned that Cromwell had filed a lien against the judge, causing Elledge to recuse himself from a vehicular homicide and aggravated assault case filed against Cromwell. The judge vowed to do everything he could legally, morally, and ethically—both criminally and civilly—to prosecute Cromwell to the full extent of the law.

Elledge said he discussed the liens filed against him by Cromwell with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal task force, the Seventh District Attorney General’s Office (the Anderson County DA), and local legislators. [Read more…]

Cromwell files $137 million in liens against law enforcement, IRS, Social Security

Posted at
By 5 Comments

Lee-Cromwell-Preliminary-Hearing-Jan-15-2016

Lee H. Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records. Cromwell, who was convicted after a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records.

Cromwell has been indicted by a grand jury in Davidson County in Nashville on Class A and Class E felonies. Officials announced those indictments after Cromwell was convicted at the end of his vehicular homicide trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation elaborated, saying that Cromwell was one of 11 people indicted in a 320-count indictment after a one-year investigation into fraudulent liens in East Tennessee that was conducted with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So far, 10 of the 11 people have been arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records, the TBI said. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the arrests on Wednesday.

Seven of those arrested, or more than half of them, are from Anderson County. They claim to be “sovereign citizens,” or people who do not typically “believe that they have to abide by the rules everyone else follows because they have declared their personal independence from government,” said Dave Clark, Anderson County district attorney general.

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. They were helped by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. [Read more…]

Jury finds Cromwell guilty of vehicular homicide, aggravated assault

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell has been on trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, was convicted in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 a.m.

CLINTON—An Anderson County jury on Wednesday found Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, guilty of one count of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault for killing one person and injuring eight others during a parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015.

The 12-person jury—six men and six women—unanimously returned the guilty verdicts just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The case had been sent to the jury about four hours earlier, just before 11 a.m.

The jury verdicts came at the end of a three-day trial that started Monday morning in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Senior Judge Paul Summers heard the case because Judge Don Elledge had recused himself due to liens filed against him by Cromwell.

A sentencing hearing has been set for Cromwell for 9 a.m. April 11. [Read more…]

Fatal July 4 crash: Victim, mechanic again dispute stuck-throttle claim

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lee-Cromwell-Trial-Paul-Summers-James-Scott-Ben-Higgins-Feb-13-2017-Web

Defense attorney James Scott, right, talks to potential jurors in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, during the homicide trial for Lee Cromwell, 67, who is accused of killing a Knoxville man and injuring others as he backed through the crowded parking lot at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. Also pictured is Senior Judge Paul Summers, top left, who was appointed to hear the case after Don Elledge recused himself, and Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Ben Higgins, center front. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6 p.m.

CLINTON—On the witness stand on Tuesday, a mechanic and victim again disputed a claim that a stuck throttle might have been the cause of a parking lot crash that killed a Knoxville man and injured other people, including children, after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015.

The two witnesses—victim Michael Eldridge and mechanic David Carey of Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram—were among 15 witnesses who testified from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon in the homicide trial of Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton.

The witnesses included victims, police officers, and the wife of the man who died as well as the couple’s two young children.

Presentation of the evidence concluded Tuesday afternoon, and closing arguments were given Wednesday morning. The case went to the 12-person jury late Wednesday morning.

Cromwell is accused of killing James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville; injuring others; and crashing into several vehicles as he backed his Dodge Ram pickup truck through the crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, after fireworks across the street at Alvin K. Bissell Park. He is facing a vehicular homicide charge and eight counts of aggravated assault. [Read more…]

Homicide trial starts for Cromwell, could last three days

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

lee-cromwell-motion-hearing-sept-21-2016-2-web

The trial for Lee Cromwell, 67, the defendant in a fatal parking lot crash in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, has been set for the week that starts Monday, February 13, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—The homicide trial for Lee Harold Cromwell, the defendant in a fatal parking lot crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, started Monday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

The trial started with jury selection. About 115 potential jurors received instructions from Senior Judge Paul Summers on Monday morning.

A jury of 12 people and three alternates will be selected from among the 115 potential jurors.

Summers, appointed to hear the case after Judge Don Elledge recused himself because of liens filed by Cromwell, said he expects the trial to last three days, although that is not guaranteed.

The plea deadline for Cromwell was February 3.

The witnesses that are expected to testify include current and former Oak Ridge Police Department officers, victims of the crash, and Julia Robinson, the wife of James Robinson, 37, the Knoxville man who died in the crash.

[Read more…]

DA’s office also recused from July 4 fatal crash case because of liens filed by defendant

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anderson County Criminal Court Lee Cromwell Jim Scott July 25 2016

Lee Cromwell, right, who has been charged with vehicular homicide and 16 other charges after a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015, huddles with his family and defense attorney James Scott, left, after an arraignment in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, July 25, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11:47 a.m. July 27.

CLINTON—First the judge recused himself and now the district attorney general’s office has been recused in a homicide case filed against an Oak Ridge man after a fatal crash in the crowded parking lot of Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015.

Both recusals were because of liens filed by the defendant, Lee Harold Cromwell, 66. The recusals mean another judge has already been appointed, and another DA will have to be appointed. A lien is a claim that one person owes something to another person.

Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Donald R. Elledge recused himself during a June 3 arraignment because of an $8 million lien filed against him by Cromwell.

“It was upsetting that he filed a frivolous lien against me,” Elledge said Monday. “I’m going to do everything I can legally, morally, and ethically to prosecute him criminally and civilly to the full extent of the law.”

Then, during a rescheduled arraignment on Monday, defense attorney James K. Scott asked for Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark and the DA’s office to also be recused. That was because of liens that Cromwell filed against the DA and another member of his office in “misplaced mindset” in a “misguided effort, out of desperation, to advocate for his innocence without the knowledge or advice of counsel,” Scott said in a motion to recuse. [Read more…]

Follis found guilty of first-degree murder in death penalty case

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis Jr May 10 2016

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11:15 a.m. May 11.

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago.

A jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about one hour and 40 minutes before unanimously returning the guilty verdict against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52,  in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton. Follis was convicted of killing his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012.

It was the first death penalty trial in Anderson County since 1991, officials said.

Adams’ body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton on January 24, 2012, after he was reported missing in December 2011. His decomposing body was buried under at least 10 blankets, and a couch had been shoved up against the door of the closet where Adams was hidden, according to testimony.

Defense attorneys did not dispute that Follis killed his uncle, a Korean War veteran.

“We cannot whitewash that out,” attorney Mart Cizek said. [Read more…]

Jury in first-degree murder trial could be sequestered up to 2 weeks

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis

Norman Lee Follis

CLINTON—The jury in a first-degree murder trial that continues in Clinton on Monday could be sequestered for up to two weeks, a prosecutor said Friday.

That means jurors will be “separate and apart from others” during that time, said Tony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District (Anderson County). Jurors will only be able to communicate with others by using the phone of a law enforcement officer and only under the supervision of an officer.

“You cannot have any contact with the outside world,” Craighead said in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton as prosecutors and defense attorney Mart Cizek questioned potential jurors in the courtroom and dismissed some, often four at a time.

Jurors can’t have cell phones or electronic devices, such as tablets or iPads. They can bring printed books, but not electronic ones. They will be prohibited from reading, hearing, or seeing any news about the trial for Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, who has been charged with first-degree murder, property theft of more than $1,000, and forgery. [Read more…]