Daniel Wilkey
A federal jury deliberated 40 minutes on Tuesday before finding in favor of former Hamilton County Deputy Daniel Wilkey and another officer.
Mr. Wilkey had resigned from the Sheriff's Office in December 2019 after a slew of lawsuits were filed against him, including one in which he baptized a woman in Lake Chickamauga after a traffic stop.
However, he has prevailed in every case thus far with some dismissed and some findings in his favor. Three cases remain against him, including two that currently have issues that are on appeal and one that is set for trial.
A 44-count indictment against him in state court charging rape, sexual battery, extortion and assault was dismissed.
William Klaver had sued him and Deputy Tyler McRae, who is still with the Sheriff's Office and who arrived as a backup at the stop. The county was also sued, but was dismissed as a defendant last week.
Mr. Klaver acted as his own attorney and won a ruling from Judge Travis McDonough when he declined to dismiss the case by summary judgment. That decision was upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Klaver was still his own lawyer when the case went to trial on Monday morning.
He testified that day he had gone to repair a car for a 99-year-old woman who had once been his foster mother. He said he was going southbound on Dayton Pike in his bus when he was pulled over by Deputy Wilkey.
Mr. Klaver videoed the 39-minute stop with his cellphone, and the jury saw that as well as officer bodycam footage.
Deputy Wilkey, who said the stop was related to too dark window tint, asked Mr. Klaver several times if he had any medical issues, while noting that he was nervous and shaking. It was not until the very end of the stop that the motorist stated that he had muscular dystrophy.
The deputy called for a Soddy Daisy K9 to search the vehicle. The dog did a "hit" though nothing was found in a search.
Deputy Wilkey wrote a ticket citing him for too dark window tint. He said after hearing that he had MD, he would have handled the case differently.
The case never actually made it to court.
Mr. Klaver said he is a former Marine and had a Marine Corps sticker on his tag. Deputies told him that nothing can cover any part of the tag.
Mr. Klaver said he was upset that the citation referred to a Marine Corps "stinker" rather than sticker. Mr. Klaver said he felt that was a dig at him because he had been living at a house without electricity and had to bathe with rain water. Deputy Wilkey said it was "just a mistake" while written in dark conditions in his patrol car.
Mr. Klaver also said Deputy Wilkey put down the start of the stop as when the dog arrived - not when it actually started.
He said there were several references to him as a "sovereign citizen," but he denied he is a sovereign citizen with feeling of immunity from government.
Mr. Wilkey was represented by attorneys Jim Exum and Isiah Robinson and Deputy McRae by attorneys Jerry and Matthew Tidwell.
Attorney Jerry Tidwell said, "The jury found that neither Mr. Wilkey nor Deputy McRae violated William Klaver’s 4th amendment rights. Mr. Klaver filed William Klaver v. Hamilton County, Daniel Wilkey, and Tyler McRae claiming his civil rights were violated in a traffic stop made in April of 2019.
"Hamilton County was dismissed by the court prior to trial. All claims against Mr. Wilkey and Deputy McRae were also dismissed prior to trial other than whether the deputies unreasonably extended the traffic stop in question in violation of Mr. Klaver’s 4th Amendment rights.
"After a 1 ½ day trial with a thorough review of all the evidence (including the dashcam video preserved by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and authenticated by Panasonic and video taken by Mr. Klaver of the incident), the jury found that neither Mr. Wilkey nor Deputy McRae had elongated the stop in question."