Deputy Brown

 

     

The first to testify was Deputy Brown. (To simplify this, I will only use the Deputy’s last name when referring to him.) Brown was one of the first Officers that arrived at the scene of the crime, and one of the Officers who met me at Gordon County Hospital.  When asked to describe what he saw when he first arrived at the Flying J in Resaca on Dec 9, 1997, Brown said he observed several men under a semi trailer, and it appeared that they were holding another man on the ground. When he asked what was going on, he testified that he was told that the man on the ground had created a disturbance and was being held for them. Brown testified that he didn’t specifically remember telling any of the men who were later identified as Flying J employees to let the other man up off the ground.

      Brown said that he noticed the bruises and abrasions on my face when I told him “they” broke my arm. He testified that I identified Ruben Cody as the person who assaulted me. He also testified that one of the employees told him that I had been drinking and that another employee accused me of striking him first, but it is unclear if he identified anyone in particular. He also testified that he did not smell alcohol on my breath, nor did he suspect I was under the influence of any drug or alcohol.

      Brown also testified that although he did see others in the area, he didn’t specifically remember seeing anyone grabbing onto any of the Flying J employees, as Tommy Waldner testified to. He did testify that he felt the Flying J employees were “unprofessional” and said he lectured them on their unprofessionalism.

 

 

 

Detective Morrison

 

    

Again, for the sake of brevity, I will refer to Detective Morrison by using his last name.

Morrison testified that he interviewed me first. He said it was obvious that I had been assaulted.

     He testified that the right side of my face was swollen and I had a large bruise under my right eye, as well as what appeared to be abrasions on my face. He said that my right arm was in a cast or sling.

     He also said that he did not smell alcohol on my breath, nor suspected that I had been using drugs. When asked if he would have arrested me if he had, Morrison testified that he wouldn’t have had to, because his Deputies would have placed me under arrest.

      Morrison testified that he interviewed the four Flying J employees, and while he did not “Mirandize” me prior to my interview, Morrison testified that he did read the employees their rights prior to their individual interviews.

      Morrison testified that he did not observe any injuries on the Flying J employees, nor did they indicate to him that they did have any. He also testified that Carl Goolsby was asked to take a polygraph test. (lie detector)

     

 

     

An interesting note: prior to trial, when my lawyers went to interview the Gordon County employees, (off the record) several of them characterized the Flying J employees as "out of control", "uncooperative", "belligerent" and one even went as far as to call the Flying J employees "assholes".

      The Resaca Flying J currently employs off duty Gordon County Sheriffs Deputies as security guards.