Tag Archives: Sarah Anderson

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

Judge Tommy Davis- Who is Matthew Fenner?

Leave a comment

Superior Court in Rutherford County
Superior Court in Rutherford County

Thursday, October 8, 2015, in Rutherford County Superior Court there was a hearing held in the civil case brought by Robert Lewis Walker Jr. and Sarah Covington Anderson against Jerry Cooper Rccatalyst.com wrote about the case here when telling about the arrest of Jerry Cooper in the criminal case brought by Jane Whaley which was dismissed on May 29th. Mediation in the civil case did not bring a solution. The civil case surrounds Jerry Cooper’s Facebook posting commenting on the WRAL story of Matthew Fenner’s story of the events of from January 27, 2013. The issues in front of the court Thursday included a subpoena of the phone records of Danielle Cordez and Matthew Fenner.

One of the obvious differences on Thursday was the absence of any other WOFF members except Mark Morris, Hannah Davies and one other young WOFF member sitting in the attorney area. Mark Morris spoke as the lead attorney for Walker and Covington. Attorney Paul Ditz represented Jerry Cooper in this case.

About 2:12PM, Mark Morris leads off the session. The issues discussed included the requirements to obtain phone records from Ms. Cordez in Florida. In the end, this issue was not concluded as Judge Davis required more information from the attorneys. The process for an out of state party to obtain private records from a Florida resident is more involved than in North Carolina.

In the session, the definitions of libel and defamation were reviewed and rules quoted. During the discussion of the subpoena of Matthew Fenner’s records, Judge Davis asked, “Who Is Matthew Fenner?” In retrospect, the question did not mean, “I don’t know about Matthew Fenner.” I believe this was a way to get information into the court records about Mr. Fenner and related matters. Judge Davis presided over the initial hearings in the Fenner case as reported by Rccatatlyst.com.
Continue reading Judge Tommy Davis- Who is Matthew Fenner? →

Uncategorized, WOFFGATE

NC Court of Appeals to Review Judge Pope’s Orders (Court Docs +)

Leave a comment

Update in the Matthew Fenner Case:
The NC Court of Appeals granted the request for writ of certiorari submitted on September 15th by Josh Farmer on behalf of the three defendants, Brooke Covington, Justin Covington and Sarah Anderson. Rccatalyst.com reported this ruling on Monday. From the article which quotes the order:

“Defendants’ petition for writ of certiorari is allowed for the purpose of reviewing the order entered on 6 August 2015 by Judge Marvin Pope, Jr. granting the State’s motion to disqualify counsel and the order entered on 27 August 2015 by Judge Pope denying the Defendants’ motion for reconsideration. It appearing the defendants have retained appellate counsel and are not seeking court-appointed counsel, the appeal shall be deemed taken as of the date of this order. The record on appeal shall thereafter be settled as provided in Appellate Rule 11 and filed in the Court as provided by Appellate Rule 12.

Defendant’s petition for writ of supersedeas is also allowed… and all further trial court proceedings are hereby stayed pending the outcome of defendants’ appeal to this Court.”

Included in the quoted article is a copy of the docket sheet for the case showing 10/5/15 as the date of the ruling.

What does this mean? From a layman’s perspective, this means the trial could actually be delayed for several months at a minimum. It appears to me that the first step will be to acquire the transcripts from the Superior Court sessions on August 3rd and August 27th. Those could take up to 60 days from the date of the initial request for the transcripts. After those are submitted to the appropriate parties, there comes a set time frame for each party to the appeal to agree on the accuracy of the submitted materials.
Continue reading NC Court of Appeals to Review Judge Pope’s Orders (Court Docs +) →

Uncategorized

Recap of Events, Motions, and Letters in Fenner Case as of 9/25/15 (court docs)

Leave a comment

There is a lot of ground to cover in this post. We will begin with a timeline of known events, filings and letters issued during the last few weeks. Some of these events have already been covered or mentioned here. Also, we will note which ones have been reported by Rccatalyst.com.

In summary, five defendants from the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) were indicted in January of this year on several charges including felony assault and second degree kidnapping stemming from events on January 27, 2013. The five defendants include Brooke M. Covington, Justin B. Covington, Sarah Covington Anderson, Robert Lewis Walker, Jr. and Adam Bartley. Tomblin, Farmer & Morris (TFM) started out as counsel for the five. After hearing a Motion to Disqualify TFM on August 3rd, Judge Marvin Pope issued an ORDER of Disqualification of TFM and their associates for representing any of the five. Adam Bartley and Robert Lewis Walker, Jr. have since secured counsel. Bartley’s attorney is Robert Denton and Robert Walker’s attorney is Matthew Cabe. Both attorneys practice in Morganton. TFM filed a Motion to Reconsider the Disqualification and took on Angela Beeker to argue for them. August 27th, Judge Pope issued an ORDER denying the Motion to Reconsider Disqualification.

9/11/15- Letter from Assistant District Attorney Garland Byers to Attorney Denton (not placed in court file until 9/18) (Rccatalyst.com 9/26) Byers explains the State’s position with Bartley’s bond and offered plea. Byers points out that Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) holds the security (land) for the bond and for any reason or no reason have the option to withdraw their security. This could land Bartley in jail until other means or considerations for a bond are made. The power that WOFF has in holding the bonds of all five defendants is a matter of concern or Byers and he is seeking a way of “eliminating this situation.” In this letter, Byers admits concerning the plea, he is “keeping the offer open and disregarding your client’s premature rejection…” This is not a surprise in my eyes.

9/14/15- Attorney Beeker files Motion to Withdraw from counsel and Motion to Continue – Motion to Withdraw has not been heard because of the Stay issued 9/17, therefore Beeker remains as counsel for Brooke, Justin and Sarah- in the eyes of Superior Court. (Rccatalyst.com 9/15)
Continue reading Recap of Events, Motions, and Letters in Fenner Case as of 9/25/15 (court docs) →

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

Summary of Events for Week of 9/4/2015 (Court docs)

2 Comments

This past week included disclosure of documents outlining several events in the Matthew Fenner case. As a review, five defendants from the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) were indicted earlier this year on several charges including felony assault and second degree kidnapping stemming from events on January 27, 2013. The five defendants include Brooke M. Covington, Justin B. Covington, Sarah Covington Anderson, Robert Lewis Walker, Jr. and Adam Bartley.

Pre-trial events have included a show stopping disqualification of Joshua Farmer, Mark Morris, Andrea Farmer of Tomblin, Farmer & Morris (TFM) and their associates from representing any of the five defendants. Judge Marvin Pope issued the order on August 6th and also confirmed his Order after a hearing on August 27th. During the August 27th session, attorney Angela Beeker argued the case against disqualification on behalf of TFM. This disqualification came into focus after TFM refused to present Adam Bartley with a plea deal offered by Assistant District Attorney, Garland Byers. In a hand written refusal of the plea, Bartley said, “…I did nothing wrong.” Adam Bartley and Robert L. Walker, Jr, each have secured separate counsel from TFM. Mr. Bartley’s attorney is Robert Denton and Robert Walker’s attorney is Matthew Cabe. Both of these attorneys have their office in Morganton.

This is where we pick up our summary of this week. In court documents, a letter dated August 25th from Bartley’s counsel,in response to the previously reported Motion to Revoke Bond, Robert Denton included these words in regards to the Motion for his client,

“I am saddened to receive the same (motion) and had hoped to have a more professional relationship with you…Do you really intend to tell the Judge that it is a coincidence that approximately a week after he turned your plea down that you decided to file a motion to revoke his bond?… You may want to consult the Rules of Professional Conduct on a prosecutor abusing his calendaring authority for these types of shenanigans. …As you know I do not even have discovery in the case… It seems to me that you are taking this case very personally… I would request you withdraw your motion and we discuss your concerns over the phone…If these are the types of games you play… Perhaps you should recuse yourself from this case?”
(use the BACK ARROW to return to this post)
Denton letter to Byers
Continue reading Summary of Events for Week of 9/4/2015 (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 →