Nashville Judge Reprimanded After Poor Courtroom Performance

Nashville Judge Reprimanded After Poor Courtroom Performance

A Nashville judge says a “cavalier attitude” and another judge’s limited work schedule left one man languishing in jail for weeks longer than necessary.

Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn on Wednesday ordered the man, Richard Atchley, released from jail pending trial. Fishburn in two stern orders issued this week found no good reason why Presiding General Sessions Judge Rachel Bell could not hear Atchley’s case until 24 days after his arrest.

“Whatever the reason for the inordinate delay, it was not brought on by the actions of the defendant, but he is the one who is unduly suffering the consequences of not having his timely day in court,” Fishburn’s Wednesday order reads.

The crux of the ruling is a state court guideline that directs — but does not require — that preliminary hearings be held within 10 days of an arrest, if someone is in custody. A defense lawyer challenged how Bell handled the case, appealing to Fishburn.

Bell took Fishburn’s orders as an affront, honing in on a footnote and calling them an attack on a medical condition that influences her schedule.

“I am very disappointed and would expect more from my colleague and using this platform to discuss and attack my health and involvement in the community,” she wrote in an email to The Tennessean.

Fishburn denied making a personal attack, saying his concern was that Atchley — who like all defendants is presumed to be innocent — was kept waiting too long to appear before a judge. He said his ruling was based on information presented by lawyers in a Tuesday hearing.

Atchley and his lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jared Mollenkof, declined to comment on the pending case, as did Deputy District Attorney General Amy Hunter.

Atchley was arrested April 22 after a traffic stop. An arrest affidavit says police officers found a blue-green substance they believed to be methamphetamine and tubing they suspected was the makings of a meth lab in Atchley’s car. He faces charges of manufacturing methamphetamine, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.

Fishburn’s orders shed some light on what happened in Atchley’s case and Bell’s hours. According to the court documents:

On April 28, the day Bell was scheduled to hear a preliminary hearing in Atchley’s case, she did not begin court until after 11 a.m. In a preliminary hearing, a judge determines if there is enough evidence to send a criminal case before a grand jury to consider a possible indictment.

She then said she had to leave at 12:30 p.m. because she was teaching a class at a local high school.

Bell said she would be back at 3:30 p.m. to finish the hearing. But one of the prosecution’s witnesses had a scheduling conflict. Future dates “were not convenient” to the judge and so she scheduled it for May 16.

That would have been 24 days after Atchley’s arrest.

Acknowledging that the record explaining the delay was “less than complete” and even “scant,” Fishburn expressed concern about why the hearing had to be delayed 18 days beyond Atchley’s April 28 appearance before Bell.

“This court commends the general sessions judge for her contribution to the community and her dedication to her position, so it should not be necessary to point out that ‘(t)he duties of judicial office, as prescribed by law, shall take precedence over a judge’s personal and extra judicial activities,’ ” Fishburn wrote, citing the Tennessee Code of Judicial Conduct. (continue reading)

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