KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - Tennessee sheriff's deputies impersonated a jailed murder suspect's defense attorneys, and coerced witnesses to give false testimony against him, jailing him for four years, the man claims in court.
John Edward Dawson Jr. claims the deputies submitted false evidence to a grand jury to get him indicted. He claims the sheriff knew what they were doing and let them do it.
Dawson sued Monroe County, sheriff's Officers James Patrick Henry and Doug Brannon, and Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bivens, in Federal Court.
"While the individual defendants were acting in the scope of their employment with the Monroe County, Tenn. Sheriff's Office and under color of state law, they engaged in a scheme to implicate and prosecute John Edward Dawson Jr. for the murder of Troy Green," the complaint states.
"As part of this scheme, the defendants represented themselves as licensed attorneys who were representing John Edward Dawson Jr. on his pending criminal charges and pretended to handle parts of his case, interfered with Dawson's right to counsel, fabricated evidence, coerced witnesses to provide testimony against John Edward Dawson Jr. that the defendants knew to be false, and omitted relevant evidence and presented perjured testimony to the grand jury in order to secure an indictment for which probable cause did not otherwise exist. The individual defendants initiated a prosecution of John Edward Dawson Jr. without probable cause which resulted in Dawson being incarcerated and deprived of his freedom."
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office investigated the murder of Troy Green after his body was found in May 2006. Henry, the lead detective on the case, started considering Dawson a suspect in 2007, according to the complaint.
Dawson claims the Monroe County Sheriff's Department searched his home and cars in January 2007, but found no evidence linking him to Green's murder.
Nevertheless, the Sheriff's Department seized Dawson's truck and other belongings, and continued to consider him a prime suspect, according to the complaint.
"Sometime in 2007, Detective Henry visited the residence of [nonparty] Monte Cox," the complaint states. "Detective Henry had received information that Monte Cox owned a pistol similar to a gun that was believed to have been in Troy Green's possession at the time of his disappearance.
"Detective Henry questioned Monte Cox about the pistol and how Cox had acquired it. Cox told detective Henry that he had purchased the gun shortly after Green's disappearance from someone named 'Dirty Eddie' at the Reagan Station flea market. Cox was clear that 'Dirty Eddie' was not John Edward Dawson Jr.
"Detective Henry was not satisfied with Monte Cox's statement and offered to assist a friend of Cox's that was in prison if Cox would change his statement to indicate he had purchased the gun from John Edward Dawson Jr.
"When Monte Cox expressed hesitation about changing his statement, Detective Henry assured Cox that was the way things were done in Monroe County. Detective Henry continued to speak with Cox and convinced him to change his statement to implicate John Edward Dawson Jr. Detective Henry's statement demonstrates that his actions were accepted by Monroe County, Tenn. and that similar action had become so widespread as to constitute a custom."
After Dawson was indicted on criminal charges unrelated to Green's murder, he was taken to jail in Monroe County and the court appointed counsel to represent him, according to the complaint.
