I am Kathy Harvey, mother of Dr. Jay Edwards. I take a no-holds-barred approach to dealing with judicial and law-enforcement adversaries. I am of the opinion that the justice system as well as the citizenry in Knoxville, Tennessee demonstrated extreme racial prejudice. Case in point: my son had reservations about attending a public park as one day while speaking with me on the phone a park visitor (white male) called the police to report a black male screaming and yelling on the premises. That simply was not true. I could hear the dialogue when the officer approached him.
Another episode of prejudices he has experienced is on or around September, 14-15 2017, a police deputy (Ferrell) advertently falsified a warrant which would adversely affect my son’s livelihood. And, we have been struggling with these issues and charges for almost 2 years.
I need for all to understand my son was sleeping separate from his wife for about a month in the upstairs bedroom. He retreated up there because she (wife) suffers with manic depression and schizophrenia. When she had the baby it got worst. Postpartum also came in to play. She would then began to hear voices, and that scared Jay is why he moved upstairs.
Said move caused fear in his wife that he was going to leave her and take the baby.
His wife, her mom, and her sister devised a plan to prevent this from happening. They actually set him up (validated by email transcripts).
The sister called the police around seven times claiming he was holding a gun to her head. This was an exaggeration on the sister’s behalf. She told them he was African-American. Black. Again, Tennessee, especially Knoxville is a very racist city.
When the police got there they kicked in the front door and subsequently his wife was asked to strip and they found no bruises or marks on her. CSI additionally combed the residence for any blood and none was found.
His wife never called the police. It was her sister that called them seven times. She was not there to witness any of this. It was her sister that said he had a gun at her head. But, none of that was true.
The racist officer believed the sister without any evidence of an attack. His wife stated my son struck her over 55 times over a period of approximately four hours. If that were the case she would have been black and blue when the police arrived. My son’s wife is white.
This “nebulous region between mere suspicion and probable cause” should be further investigated. The Detective (Ferrell) should be indicted for falsifying an arrest warrant. He threw the book at my son by charging him with eight (8) counts of criminal charges. May he and all involved receive his just deserts.
I believe arguments in Jay’s trial by Jed McKeehan, Esq. Tarpy, Cox, Fleishman & Leveille, PLLC were cogent. However, I remain sufficiently bothered that Jay was advised not to take the stand. Additionally, the warrant was “bad.” I don’t think that was addressed?!?
Further, I am just disturbed by the 1994 crime bill that the then Senator Joe Biden authored and was enforced by President Bill Clinton in 1995. Said bill is the cause of mass Incarceration of black and brown persons. The bill took away the power of the states’ judges to intervene in the sentencing. Hence, mandatory time in prison for felony charges.
We have to understand the motive as to why this all happened. The detective wrote a bad warrant based on what the sister said. Because my son is black, said Detective wrote a warrant that would make sure he would be jailed.
I am familiar with how domestic disputes are handled. I am a clinician, and also hold a Master’s Degree in Law and Public Policy. If the wife claimed a dispute then the husband may be taken to jail. The detective over charged him because he is black.
The detective charged him with eight different offenses based on what the sister told him. That is not fair! The sister lives in another state. Because my son is black they wanted to make sure he serve some jail time.
Jay did NOT beat his wife! When the detective took the stand at the trial, he admitted twice that it was a bad warrant. The judge (McGee) simply nodded at that admission. Why? Because the Judge, DA, and Law Enforcement are all in cahoots with each other. All attempt to “save face.”
Note: Judge McGee said “ I have signed off on warrants for over 30 years and they don’t have to be accurate.”
Can one believe the detective wrote in his warrant "especially aggravated kidnapping plus aggravated kidnapping," “ aggravated assault plus assault,” and so on. Doubling up offenses just to make sure the jury would convict him of one or the other?
The moment that they saw no bruises on her they should've moved along. But because my son is black they falsified the warrant. The most he should have received was a first time offender which requires just being placed on probation. He has no priors.
My son did not beat his wife. That is the issue at hand, and I pray all believe that. His in-home camera captured a peaceful, non-disturbed environment on the days in question.
NOTE: His jury was 11 white and one black in a racist county. Think about it.
I feel certain that in the appeal process this matter will be handled. My son is willing to hang in there even if it takes appealing to the court of last resort which is Supreme Court.
He says that he will not except a felony plea because he did nothing wrong. I am proud of him for taking that stance. In the long run I know that he will be vindicated.
In the meantime I will write the NAACP, the governor, the mayor, his local and Congressional representatives and relevant Advocacy groups.
This correspondence is being forwarded under separate cover to the NAACP, Mayor, County Commissioner(s), State house representative(s), Senator(s) in his voting district, and his Congressional representative(s). I endeavor to find out what is the root cause of African-American males being accused and prosecuted for falsified crimes and being disproportionately incarcerated. It is my prayer all leadership in tandem develop a task force of sorts to eradicate such folly.
Dr. Edwards is a sought after professional from colleges and universities nationwide. In his arsenal of professionalism, he has instructed students abroad and has authored many publications. In other words, he takes his career very seriously and would absolutely do nothing to jeopardize it.
I pray that the truth prevails.
Respectfully,
Kathy L Harvey, MLPP, MACC
P.S. At the moment my son is housed at the Rodger D Wilson detention center, 5001 Maloneyville Dr., Knoxville, TN 37918. His sentencing is June 27 at 9 AM.
