Word straight from the Courthouse is that the District Attorney’s Office has finally “flipped” one of the three women imprisoned in the Cleveland County Jail for three years without a trial. The word is the “flipped” woman has signed papers that are on file in the DA’s Office that she will testify, maybe and even likely falsely, against the accused cop-killer Irving Fenner, Jr. and family members who sheltered Fenner when he was on the run.
For those not familiar with the term “flipped” in this context, it is when several people are believed by the District Attorney to be involved in a criminal act that the DA cannot prove in court, those people are held in jail in separate cells with a high bond that the prisoners cannot afford to make, until one agrees to testify against the other(s) in court. It is an unscrupulous thing for prosecuting District Attorneys to do-but they do it because it makes their prosecuting record look good for them and to heck with fairness and justice. Legalized kidnapping and incrimination some would say. And President Donald Trump says so too after all the people that were arrested in his phony Mueller Investigation who plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for lying against Trump.
General Michael Flynn even plead guilty to charges he did not do and could not have done, after losing his house and all his live savings to lawyer bills defending himself. That was another example of being flipped. You plead guilty to something, guilty or not, just to get the unscrupulous prosecutors off your back.
Flipping witnesses also can be dangerous for the District Attorney. If the witness will flip and lie for the DA to get a lighter sentence, he or she may end up telling another story in court to get someone else off Scott free. Former DA and now Assistant DA Rick Shaffer learned that lesson the hard way just a month or two ago in a murder trial. And an accused murderess got let off free as a bird, when the “flipped” witness against her comes to court and tell the court that the woman had nothing to do with the murder he committed. The flipped witness gets a reduced sentence instead of the death penalty and the woman gets to walk out of court. “It’s a beautiful day” she tells reporters.
Also, savvy jury members will not take flipped witnesses seriously and disregard their testimony. Why should a jury member believe a flipped witness, who has cut a deal with the DA to save their own skin, by testifying against someone else? Shelby is full of people who will say anything the DA wants them to say so THEY can get off. Informants they are often called. And the DA protects his informants. They can do anything and not get charged as long as they testify against someone else.
However, informants do get convictions, sometimes the wrong conviction. William Dillard “Bugsy” Powell was tried for the murder of convenience store clerk Mary Gladden, convicted and eventually executed-Rick Shaffer was a witness to the execution. Powell was convicted on the testimony of his “flipped” girlfriend Lori Yelton. Well known to be on drugs and a snitch for law enforcement and the DA. In Powell’s appeal Attorneys said “Cleveland County District Attorney Bill Young, who prosecuted the case, failed to reveal a deal with Powell’s girlfriend, Lori Yelton Donohue, in exchange for her testimony at the 1993 trial. Prosecutors are required to tell the defense about any promises made to witnesses.” Also, other information indicated another prosecuting witness who testified against Powell and received a $5,000 cash reward, which he then split with Lori Yelton. Many people who knew both Yelton and Powell, to this day, contend it was most likely that Lori Yelton actually killed Mary Gladden by beating her with a tire iron, instead of William Dillard Powell killing Gladden. But the DA’s office “protected” Yelton.
The bottom line in both the William Dillard Powell and the Irving Fenner, Jr. case is the DA has to rely on flipped testimony. Meaning they have a weak case. Perhaps a fixed case in both cases where. In Powell’s case, the would rather execute Powell that let it be known that their “protected” informant had murdered a person when she should have otherwise be in prison for crimes that she had done that she was “flipped” for. In Fenner’s case in the death of SPD Officer Tim Brackeen, knowing what we know now, is there also something being covered up??? Did Fenner actually fire his gun in self-defense? Has the City of Shelby put out a false narrative, around the world, and are on the verge of being exposed? What a major mess that would be.
But one thing is sure. A witness has been flipped in the Brackeen so-called Murder case and the word is the trial will occur next month. Stay tuned folks. You might want to join me down at the Courthouse to watch this case. And form your own opinion.
All I can say to any potential jury members, beware of “flipped” witnesses. They will lie for money or in exchange for lighter sentences for themselves. The DA has to prove his case beyond the shadow of doubt. And, right not, there is lots of doubt. Especially in a capital case when the accused, Irving Fenner, Jr. faces the death penalty.
And, you only get the facts here. So, I say again, stay tuned.
Also, one more thing, the “flipped” witness is still in the Cleveland County Jail. So, whatever she is charged with, the time served was not enough to get her completely out of jail. Or the DA wants to make sure she doesn’t get to talk to anybody.