Atrocious and stupid
For three months now, Neal has been sitting behind bars in a West Tennessee prison even though a Knox County judge has deemed him innocent of double murder charges.
That’s because the state Board of Probation and Parole had accused Neal of violating his parole by possessing for a matter of minutes a gun he wrested from two intruders who broke into his East Knoxville home.
That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard. More details:
Terry Dodson, 32, and Benjamin Pollard, 24, were linked to a Memphis gang and had a history of violence. On May 17, the pair stormed into Neal’s apartment, threatened to shoot him and began looting his home, testimony has shown.
Neal didn’t know either man. He tried to run but wound up in a struggle with the men. He disarmed one of the intruders, shot him and tried to flee again when the second intruder began to attack him. Neal shot him, dropped the gun and ran.
The first person he called was his parole officer, phoning her within hours to explain what happened. He then contacted Whalen to arrange his surrender to police.
His parole officer filed a warrant against him. Whalen said Neal had expected as much. After all, he was by then charged with two counts of murder.
But when Knox County General Sessions Court Judge Bob R. McGee ruled at a hearing in July that Neal had acted in self-defense and dropped both charges, Whalen said he expected Neal to go free.
He didn’t.
His parole officer refused to dismiss the parole violation charge, which was based entirely on the double shooting of which Neal had been acquitted, Whalen said.
The article doesn’t tell us who the parole officer is but it should. That person’s phone line should be ringing off the hook.
If you wish to contact the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, you can reach them at:
Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole
404 James Robertson Parkway, Suite 1300
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
Phone: (615) 741-4543
Fax: (615) 532-8098
Email: bopp.webmail@state.tn.us
The good news is he’s at least scheduled to be released because this idiot parole officer’s supervisors intervened:
The officer responded that supervisors in Nashville had decided to free Neal, who was on parole for a cocaine possession charge, Whalen said. Neal still isn’t free, though. First, he must be returned to the West Tennessee prison where he has been housed and then processed for release.
“They’ve promised to expedite his release,” Whalen said with a cynical chuckle.
The entire affair has Whalen wondering just how wisely his tax dollars are being spent.
“It would be of real interest to find out how much money was spent on this whole case,” Whalen said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Mr. Neal, I recommend you lawyer up.
August 25th, 2005 at 10:42 am
Suppose they had broken in while the parole officer was visiting him?
August 25th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
TN law has an exeption for “Felon in possesion” of a handgun that is along the lines of useing it to defend yourself. Ill try to dig up the relevent code.