Billy Tate Says He Was Arrested Illegally in 2009; Judge Poole Hears Post-Conviction Petition

Billy Tate, 63, said he filed a post-conviction petition because he was arrested illegally in 2009. He appeared in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t involved in no crime and he handcuffed me and took me back to the crime scene,” Tate said.

Detective Michael Early of the Chattanooga Police Department said he arrived at Vaughn Equipment Repair on March 30, 2009 to investigate a break-in that had occurred over the weekend. He said he called crime scene investigators to take photographs of shoe prints the owners of the business pointed out upon his arrival.

During previous hearings, Detective Early testified to going to a nearby residence, finding Tate there, and determining that his shoes were a positive match to the prints at the scene. He said he brought Tate back to the crime scene, where he was identified by Napoleon Dunson.

Mr. Dunson previously testified to owning a nearby business and seeing the suspect leave Vaughn Equipment with a chainsaw the weekend of the burglary. On the day of the investigation, the owners of the business confirmed they were missing a chainsaw.

Defense attorney Brandy Spurgin asked Detective Early if he had any special training to compare shoe prints, to which he said he did not.

Tate’s younger brother testified that what Tate needed to succeed in society was “some treatment, a program or something.” He said Tate had had cocaine problems since he was 16 or 17.

“He don’t like alcohol, don’t like cigarettes, don’t smoke weed, but he loved them hard drugs,” he said.

He said he did not think his brother had had any drug rehabilitation besides what might have been provided in prison. He also said he, as well as other family members, would have come to testify for Tate during the trial if they had been called.

Tate, who was represented by Lori Miller during the jury trial, said he thought his attorney should have called his family in to testify and investigated the crime scene.

He said he was diagnosed with a mental health issue while in prison and that, if he had been able to stop the substance abuse, he could have been successful in society.

He said he felt like he was illegally seized by Detective Early in 2009. At the time of the seizure, Tate said, there were 10 or 15 other people in the residence, and Detective Early “didn’t say nothing to nobody but me and took me back to the crime scene.”

“I feel like he was just talking to me cause he knew me,” Tate said.

Detective Early testified to having arrested Tate prior to March 30, 2009.

Prosecutor Charlie Minor asked Tate if he understood that the state had filed 16 convictions on him prior to the March 30 incident. This number of convictions, prosecution said, made Tate a career criminal, for which there is only one possible sentence.

Attorney Miller said though she talked to the owners of the business, she did not feel it was necessary to go inside the crime scene, since so much time had passed since the date of the crime.

“I felt like (pictures of the crime scene) gave a really good sense of what the space felt like,” she said. “It wasn’t as if you could go to the scene and see if something was overturned.”

She said she did not remember if she contacted Tate’s family members to see if they wanted to testify, but that she would never take someone to trial and not contact any witnesses the defendant wanted her to contact.

Attorney Miller also said she argued for a mistrial because of testimony from Detective Early. She said during the trial she also argued that the state not be allowed to introduce any evidence involving Mr. Tate’s shoes or the shoe prints, since she felt there should have been an expert opinion.