I arrived at the Federal Courthouse in Asheville a little bit early to find my way around any crowd of people that might be there. There was no crowd, I went through the Courthouse security and found my way to the Third Floor Courtroom. I entered the Courtroom and found Rev. Murphy sitting at the right-side front table facing the Judge. So, I went up to that table and also sat down.
The Courtroom was about three times bigger that any of the Cleveland County Courtrooms. The furniture and walls were lined with what I believe was walnut. The place was impressive.
Besides me and Rev. Murphy, a Clerk of Court, a stenographer, and a Bailiff were the only people in the room. A bit later Lawyers Stephanie Webster and Martha Thompson entered the Courtroom and took seats at the left side table facing the Judge’s Bench.
The Clerk of Court asked me my name and what I was doing there. I told her my name and that I might be asked by Rev. Murphy to testify.
Later, the Clerk came back from talking to the Judge, who was not yet in the Courtroom. The Clerk came back a few minutes later stating that I would not be testifying and neither would Martha Thompson. Only Attorney Stephanie Webster and Rev. Murphy would be testifying to the judge.
As the Clerk was first talking to us, I cupped my hand behind my ear to hear her better. The gracious clerk asked me if I had some difficulty hearing and offered me the use of some sort of a hearing assistance device. I said sure.
The Clerk brought me what looked like an upside-down set of ear phones. You plugged the ear piece into your ears and a volume control device extended down to my chest. The Clerk instructed me to turn the volume control back and forth to adjust the volume. She also told me that the Courtroom microphones were hooked into a radio transmitter that transmitted what was said to the hearing assistance device.
So, I am sitting there with this gadget hanging from my ears turning the volume control knob and nothing happens. Then I realized that nobody was talking and there was nothing to transmit. But just a few seconds later, I start hearing voices. Who was talking? I wondered, looking around and twisting the knob on the hearing device.
The only people in the room that were talking were Lawyers Stephanie Webster and Martha Thompson. All the microphones in the Courtroom were “hot” and the “system” was feeding their conversations with each other straight back to ME. Even their whispers that indicated that they surely did not want either Rev. Murphy or myself to hear.
At his point, I will not say whether or not I heard enough of anything to give up information regarding their Courtroom strategy. I will tell the Judge, if asked, what I heard and whether or not I relayed any inside information to Rev. Murphy. I WILL say this; When Federal District Court Judge Max Cogburn, Jr. entered the Court and the Court Hearing began, the hearing device worked perfectly. I heard everything that was said by the Judge, Attorney Webster and Rev. Murphy. That Federal Court Hearing will be the subject of the rest of this article.
Federal District Court Judge Max Cogburn, Jr. entered the Courtroom at 9:30 AM, apparently already briefed by the Clerk of Court about who was in attendance, what were the additional people (Myself and Deputy Cleveland County Attorney Martha Thompson) there for. Judge Cogburn got straight to the business at hand.
Judge Cogburn first informed the parties about some administrative items, neither myself nor Attorney Thompson would provide testimony or even speak. The only people to speak were the representatives for the parties, Attorney Stephanie Webster for the Defendants. Rev. Murphy for the Plaintiff-himself.
Judge Cogburn also ruled that the case was going to be limited in scope to only include the alleged retaliation against Rev. Murphy by Cleveland County. And he was removing the Commissioners, Doug Bridges and DSS Director Katie Swanson as defendants, leaving only “Cleveland County” as the Defendant that would be liable if the Motion to Dismiss was denied and the case went to a jury. At first brush, this might seem to be against the Plaintiff (Rev. Murphy), until you realized that “Cleveland County” has the power to tax citizens and any jury ruling-even in the multi-millions of dollars-against the County would have to be paid by the County taxpayers. I have always contended that the Cleveland County Commissioners would someday be caught up in something they couldn’t get out of and taxpayers would be stuck with the big bills. That this would have to happen to “wake-up” the voters in Cleveland County to the fact that the bad acts of the County Commissioners would have to be paid for by the taxpayers. Perhaps, if justice is finally done, that will end up being a prediction that is close to coming true.