I represented a gentleman in Hamilton County Criminal Court last Wednesday in a hearing before Judge Boyd Patterson.
At the end of the more than four-hour hearing, Judge Patterson ordered my client released from Silverdale, but that he stay away from the alleged victim until the trial. He ordered my client to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor compliance with the stay-away order.
I learned Saturday morning my client had not been released, despite Judge Patterson's order.
Calls to the Sheriff's Department and to the Probation Office (responsible for ankle bracelet fitting), were answered by machines, with no option to speak to a live person. Even a call to 911 produced no assistance in getting my client released three days after Judge Patterson's order.
We pledge allegiance to the flag of a country which purports to secure liberty and justice for all. Did Hamilton County add a footnote that says "Liberty and justice for five out of seven days a week? If we only have liberty and justice five days a week, do we have justice at all?
I hope the citizens of Chattanooga and Hamilton County will express, with me, outrage that the orders of our elected judges are so callously ignored by those in law enforcement.
Art Grisham, attorney at law