Knox County taxpayers pay bundle for sheriff’s contempt of records request

By RANDY KENNER AND LAURA AYO

kenner@knews.com and ayo@knews.com

            Knox County taxpayers have paid a Knoxville law firm $93,270.73 so far in  Sheriff Tim Hutchison's appeal of a ruling finding him in criminal contempt of court.

            Hutchison was ordered to pay a $300 fine as part of that ruling last year.

            But it doesn't appear that the costly effort to reverse the contempt ruling against Hutchison will be successful.

            The Tennessee Supreme Court decided Monday not to hear the sheriff's
appeal  of the contempt finding. The state Court of Appeals earlier this year also held that Hutchison was personally responsible for paying the $300.

            The sheriff's lawyers have 10 days to ask the high court to reconsider.

            "We are doing our evaluation of the situation right now," said Dean
Farmer, who has been representing Hutchison along with Keith L. Edmiston, another Hodges, Doughty & Carson attorney. "We really haven't made any decision."

            Knox County Law Director Mike Moyers said his office was also still analyzing the decision but appeared resigned to the result.

            "The Supreme Court rejects a great majority of the appeals sent to it," Moyers said, though he added he still thought there were important issues that should have been heard.

            Attorney Herbert S. Moncier said his client, County Commissioner Wanda S. Moody, wants Hutchison to repay all the legal fees paid by the county.

            "Commissioner Moody has requested that I pursue every available means to require Sheriff Hutchison to pay for the costs of the legal proceedings,"

            Moncier said, "so that the taxpayers will not be required to pay anything for his misconduct."

            Moncier has a motion before Knox County Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler asking  the chancellor to award him unspecified legal fees. He declined Tuesday to say how much his fees will total.

            Fansler found Hutchison in criminal contempt and fined him on Feb. 13, 2003, after determining the sheriff deliberately made false statements to the court about public records.

            That arose from a court action Moody filed arguing Hutchison could not use  taxpayer money for things like maintaining helicopters and horses and constructing buildings without commission approval.

            Hutchison responded to Moncier's request for public records on those issues with a handful of documents and stated in court filings that his office had turned over everything it had.

            After pressure from Fansler, however, he turned over 15 boxes of pertinent information.

             Hodges, Doughty & Carson entered the case on Feb. 17, 2004, and was paid  $76,902.03 for services by April 13, 2004. They were paid an additional $16,367.73 for that case on Aug. 6.

            Farmer, according to the first fee applications, was paid $250 an hour; Edmiston $200 per hour.

            Moyers said last spring that the fees were reasonable considering the complexity of the 4-year-old dispute the firm was walking into.

            "Whenever you bring someone in at the last minute, you are going to pay a premium," he said. The firm submitted fee applications detailing the work it had done for the first $76,902.30 - which was reported in a May 28 News Sentinel story.

            But the portion of the fee application detailing what was done for the $16,367 check in August was redacted by the Law Department. Moyers said it was because some entries fall under the attorney-client privilege.

            He said his office wasn't trying to hide anything from the public, but
that it was trying to keep some information from opposing attorneys.

            Neither Hutchison nor a spokeswoman returned calls for comment.