Tag Archives: Judge Marvin Pope

Uncategorized, WOFFGATE

Summary of Events in Matthew Fenner Case as of Sept. 18, 2015 (court docs)

Leave a comment

Court ROom #2
Court Room #2

This week brought more motions and notices in the Matthew Fenner case.

September 15th- Rccatalyst.com reported Attorney Beeker withdraws from Fenner Case. They also reported Ms. Beeker filed a continuance for the three defendants, Brooke Covington, Justin Covington and Sarah Anderson for more time for them to find counsel. Beeker included Robert Lewis Walker, Jr. in the list of defendants. Walker’s attorney of record, Matthew Cabe, did not sign the motion. Could this just be sloppy paperwork? It is not clear how this will be treated during Monday’s session.

On the same day, the disqualified Josh Farmer filed a Petition for Writ of Supersedeas and Motion for Temporary Stay on behalf of Brooke M. Covington, Justin B. Covington and Sarah C. Anderson in the North Carolina Court of Appeals (19 pages). Mr. Farmer along with Mark Morris also filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari (157 pages). The review of these documents is too long for this post. We will look at them in an upcoming post. There is a lot of feedback to offer about what was put in and what was left out of these documents. There is a docket entry for the filings, the fee has not been paid and it is unclear whether the Court will review and act on these filings.

September 18th, a motion from Adam Bartley’s attorney Robert Denton arrived in the mail and the clerk’s time stamped it into the records. We review this Motion to Continue All Motions below. Also, just before 5:00PM, Assistant District Attorney Garland Byers filed a response to Denton’s Motion. I do not have a copy, but will review it in a later post. For now, it is enough to look at Denton’s Motion.
Continue reading Summary of Events in Matthew Fenner Case as of Sept. 18, 2015 (court docs) →

Uncategorized, WOFFGATE

More Appeals Filed in Fenner Case (Court docs)

Leave a comment

At the very end of the fourteen day period allowed for filing an appeal, Brooke M. Covington, Justin B. Covington and Sarah C. Anderson each filed appeals this past Thursday, during the last half hour that the court was open. Each defendant filed two notices. One notice was appealing Judge Pope’s order “entered August 27, 2015 granting the State’s motion to dismiss the notice of appeal filed by (each) defendant on August 20, 2015.” The second notice was to appeal the order of Judge Pope “entered August 27, 2015 denying defendant’s motion to reconsider order disqualifying counsel.” (Use BACK ARROW to retunr to this post)
Brooke Covington appeals
Justin Covington appeals
Sarah Covington Anderson appeals

Questions pop up all over the place from these notices. Who helped prepare them? What is the goal for these filings? What is the purpose of filing without representation? Rule 4 of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure is used to justify these appeals. A layman’s reading does suggest that the defendant’s CAN file these appeals, but should they? How will Judge Pope view them in light of his most recent Order which contain these words pertaining to the Motion to Reconsider;

“After a review of the Court file, review of the State’s and the Defendant’s Memorandum, case law, consideration of legal arguments by counsel for the State and the Defendants, it is HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED AS FOLLOWS: The Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider the Order of August 6, 2015 filed by the Defendants on August 20, 2015 be and is hereby DENIED. “
Continue reading More Appeals Filed in Fenner Case (Court docs) →

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates, WOFFGATE

Motions, Commotions, WOFFGATE Palaver

1 Comment

This past Monday, Assistant District Attorney Garland Byers filed two Motions in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning filings were a Motion to Dismiss Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider Disqualifying Counsel and a Motion to Strike the Documents Captioned “Notice of Appeal” and “Motion to Stay Proceedings”. These motions were in response to the Tomblin, Farmer & Morris (TFM) filings the previous Thursday which attempted to secure an appeal of the Disqualification from Judge Marvin Pope on August 6, 2015. (use the BACK ARROW to return to post)
Motion to Dismiss Motion to Reconsider
Motion to Strike

In summary of the Motion to Dismiss, Mr. Byers contends that the “substantial change of circumstances” were “…all the result of acts which were in violation of the Court’s lawful order. (to disqualify TFM) He also included that the conflicts were “…concurrent non waivable conflicts of interest that are actual conflicts and not merely possible conflicts…”

In summary of the Motion to Strike, Mr. Byers reasons “…that there is no basis in law or fact for the documents to be filed and that the documents are of no legal effect.” He then lists the “A total of 9 separate acts of representation appear(ing) in the official record as filings on the part of the disqualified counsel after the entry of the Court’s Order of August 6 which disqualified them all as legal counsel in these matters.”

Additionally, “7. A total of 24 separate acts of representation that are reflected and appear in the official record as exhibits which were prepared by disqualified counsel after entry of the Court’s Order…”

“25. Disqualified counsel and defense counsel did not follow the proper procedure in attempting to obtain appellate review. The defendants’ aforesaid filed documents should, therefore, be stricken.”
Continue reading Motions, Commotions, WOFFGATE Palaver →

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates, WOFFGATE

Summary of Events for the Matthew Fenner Case

3 Comments

One struggle I find in writing this blog for the last several years is making the ongoing story lines understandable for new readers. I have learned that readers may visit here for a time and move on to other interests. Weeks, or months later, they return and find it hard to take in the drama during their time away. That is one reason I made the “Quick Links” page. There certain posts are grouped by subject. Take time to visit that page as you can. Pages are listed between the most recent post and the banner at the top of the home page.

The post will recount the events surrounding the Matthew Fenner case. This was first posted in Portuguese and it caused some confusion. I apologize as that was not my intent. The purpose was to bring our new Brazilian readers up to speed on these events. Because of translating logistics, we did not explain the result of the disqualification hearing in that post, but we will in the near future as there will be more to add to the description of the continuing events. Thank you to our English readers for the understanding. Please, share this news with our friends in Brazil. I appreciate many who made me aware of the need to add this feature. So, excited to add Portuguese to this blog!

We will not have space to retell every detail; however we will review the pivotal events ending with the recent court events.
Continue reading Summary of Events for the Matthew Fenner Case →

Portuguese, Uncategorized, WOFFGATE

Resumo dos recentes acontecimentos e processos judiciais

Leave a comment

Uma dificuldade que eu encontro ao escrever este blog nos últimos anos é fazer com que novos leitores entendam o conteúdo e a história principal. Leitores leem por um tempo, depois perdem interesse. Semanas ou meses mais tarde, quando retornam é difícil de enterder o drama que perderam. Essa é uma razão que eu fiz a página “Quick Links”. Há certas mensagens são agrupadas por assunto. Tire um tempo para visitar essa página quando puder. Páginas são listados entre o post mais recente eo banner no topo da página inicial.

O post vai recontar os eventos que cercam o caso Mateus Fenner. Nós não teremos espaço para recontar cada detalhe; no entanto, vamos rever os eventos cruciais que terminam com alguns eventos judiciais recentes. Este é o nosso primeiro post disponibilizados em Inglês e em Português. Por favor, compartilhe esta notícia com os nossos amigos no Brasil. Agradeço aos que me concientisaram desta necessidade. Obrigado. Estou muito animado para adicionar Português a este blog!

14 de outubro de 2014-
Um editorial apareceu no site da rcCatalyst.com delineando as difficuldade que Mateus Fenner encontrou para que finalmente sucedesse na apresentação de acusações de agressão contra cinco membros da Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Em busca de justiça, Mateu foi instruido para fazer suas acusaçoes ao magistrado. O promotor informou-o que precisava fazer a denúncia ao xerife. Ele persistiu até que finalmente um policial aceitou a denúncia. O editorial afirma Matthew tinha fotos dos ferimentos após o assalto e que ele é uma vítima de um crime de ódio. O Procurador do Distrito Rutherford County na época era Brad Greenway e Chris Francis o xerife. Os funcionário, e oficiais envolvidos não demostraram enteresse nenhum de procedir com o depoimento. Ao encerrar o editorial, “Este é um caso a ser vigiado. Não só você tem que ser muito claro sobre seus direitos civis, mas também com a nossa persistente aplicação da lei atual e procuradores … Obrigado por fazer a coisa certa, mesmo com as probabilidades empilhadas contra você. ”
Continue reading Resumo dos recentes acontecimentos e processos judiciais →

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates, WOFFGATE

DISQUALIFICATION!!!

2 Comments

This conclusive ruling by Judge Marvin Pope caps off a week of big developments in the Matthew Fenner case. Friday, the ruling was made public on rccatalyst.com. Judge Pope granted the State’s motion for disqualification of all attorneys affiliated with Tomblin, Farmer and Morris (TFM). The attorneys listed on the TFM website include Joshua Farmer, Andrea Farmer, Mark Morris and Caleb Farmer. This ruling bars them from representing in any manner in the defense of any of the five defendants.

From the rccatalyst.com article, “The representation of five co-defendants in this cause of action (now four co-defendants) is a concurrent conflict of interest which exists and cannot effectively be waived by a defendant absent knowledge of what a co-defendant may testify on behalf of the State against the remaining co-defendants.”

Additionally, from the ruling, “This disqualification of an attorney does not mean that the attorney has violated a specific disciplinary rule.”

In granting the motion the judge also requested the District Attorney to “calendar a court date for the Court to advise the remaining defendants of their right to counsel, either appointed or a waiver of their right co counsel.”
Continue reading DISQUALIFICATION!!! →

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates, WOFFGATE

WOFFGATE-Stunning Developments in Rutherford County

2 Comments

This morning the Superior Courtroom was alive with action. There were several items on the docket which required plenty of attorneys. The session was scheduled to start at 9:30AM. I arrived at 9:15AM and met Matthew Fenner and his supporters in the foyer of the courthouse. We entered the room taking seats on the right side of the courtroom, most sitting toward the front. The only member of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) present at that moment was Karel Reynolds. Soon, the others made their way in and the beehive of activity ebbed and flowed as attorneys milled in their area and onlookers took seats and spoke in hushed tones. The cameraman for WLOS Channel 13 waiting outside the courtroom door on hold for permission to film or take pictures.

About 9:50AM, Assistant District Attorney Garland Byers along with Josh Farmer approached the bench where the judge was setting up his computer for the session at hand. Probably, the permission for video was discussed and the judge agreed to rule on it soon. The activity continued as conversations in different corners buzzed with the issues at hand.

At 10:03AM, the court was called to order, all stood as Judge Marvin Pope entered and was seated. At last, we were beginning. I was in the front row and surely missed the ebb and flow of any dramas behind me. Much to my dismay, there were other court cases on the docket. Two defendants were heard and their cases processed. This only added to the overwhelming anticipation. Come on, let’s get rolling!

At 10:34AM- Mr. Byers steps off to the left side of his table, glancing down at documents and addressed the judge saying there were two matters before the court which were not on the docket. In order to brief the judge, the attorneys agreed to retire to the judge’s chambers and give the background of the matters at hand. Another wait… Again, hurry up and wait was the order of the day- normal for court sessions, right? Oh, the excitement was rising to a fever pitch, at least in my mind.

11:00AM, the attorneys for each party and the judge reentered the courtroom. Ray Farmer was called to the front. He was sworn in and took his place on the witness stand. From here, let me say again the acoustics were not great and I may miss what some others would consider important parts of the testimony. I may concentrate on something others may find as minute. But, at least, the hearing started.
Continue reading WOFFGATE-Stunning Developments in Rutherford County →