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?”
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Denton letter to Byers
Continue reading Summary of Events for Week of 9/4/2015 (Court docs) →