Justice Took a Nine Month Holiday

I have been reporting on the Clarice Albright Gunn case for several months and to say that I find it not only confusing but appalling is an understatement. This is a case of a private citizen of Jefferson County being charged with a criminal act (though it was only a misdemeanor) for a campaign violation. The meat of the charge was that the financial information was not included in a mailer that went out prior to the August election which encouraged the support of candidates that Gunn and more than forty of her fellow Jefferson County residents believed to be in favor of open government. Interestingly, Gunn was the only person charged. Information from the TBI (yes, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) alleged that Clarice Gunn had paid for at least part of the mailer. Did she or didn’t she fork out the funds for copies to be printed, I don’t know and frankly I don’t really care. She certainly wasn’t hiding behind an anonymous mailer. She signed it, as did more than three dozen other people.

I have read the statute that Gunn was charged under and it appears to me to be designed to put the kibosh on anonymous mailers. From where I am sitting, you can’t be more upfront than signing your name. No matter who paid the bill, Gunn or someone else, none of those citizens had the intent of hiding their identity. In fact, it was just the opposite. They all, including Clarice Gunn, proudly signed their names.

Much about this particular case is troubling. From the amount of time that passed from the mailing to the actual summons (around nine months) to the misleading initial information that was provided to the press. The press release provided by the TBI (yes, they provided a press release on a misdemeanor case but during that time there was a big pill mill bust in Knoxville that had roots in Jefferson County and I had to search for information) stated that there had been a Grand Jury indictment. For me, that signals a game changer. In my mind, serious cases go before the Grand Jury, so I assumed that there were facts in play that deemed this a serious case. Actually, I was both correct and incorrect. When I checked with the District Attorney General’s office, I was informed that this case had never gone before a Grand Jury. This was a misdemeanor and Gunn was brought in on a summons. That same evening, I saw the same misinformation being played on the local television channel. In their defense, had I not inquired I would have made the same mistake. Unfortunately for Mrs. Gunn, you can’t “unwatch” something and the damage, incorrect though the information was, was done.

So, I began making calls and checking facts. Fool me once-you know the saying. Beyond the TBI and the District Attorney General’s Office, I also called the printer of the mailer and Gunn’s attorney. The more people that I talked to, the more that I realized that this case was simply silly. And it was also frightening. I don’t know who pushed this case inside Jefferson County but it is a travesty that it made it through the legal process, through mug shots and fingerprints, press releases and nine month investigation and no one tapped the brakes. Gunn’s case was postponed earlier this Summer and, finally, it was dismissed last week – More than a year after the infamous mailing went out. Perhaps the biggest travesty in a string of travesties is that Clarice Albright Gunn never knew her accuser. Apparently, this person or persons that was so disturbed that Gunn did not openly included her name as a financial sponsor of the political letter (if she was) did not feel the same compulsion when it came to disclosing the name of her accuser or accusers.

In the end, Clarice Albright Gunn’s case was dismissed. Gunn’s attorney contended that the statute in question actually was a violation of Gunn’s Constitutional Rights and the District Attorney General’s Office agreed. So all’s well that ends well, right? Not really. A line was crossed with Clarice Albright Gunn and once a line is crossed we all loose a little of what makes us free. Politics have no place in the courtroom. Period. And it is a sad, frightening day when justice takes a nine month vacation.