On Oct. 27, 2014, while visiting from Tennessee, I was arrested on three misdemeanor charges in Fayetteville. I was finally released on March 18, 2015, when my charges were dismissed.
I spent almost five months in jail, shuffled between municipal and superior court. I never saw a magistrate, was not indicted, and never saw a public defender attorney.
It was only in the last two weeks when a friend of a fellow inmate started asking questions about my case to the Public Defender’s Office and of the District Attorney’s office that someone finally looked at me.
I am sure if that stranger, whom I had never met before, would not have taken an interest in my case, I would still be sitting in jail for weeks or months, or longer.
I am not sure if I am the first person that has been locked up in Fayetteville and left in jail without anyone following up on their arrest. I bet I am not the first nor will I be the last.
A fellow inmate’s wife tried to find out what was happening to my case, but she is out of state and did not get anywhere with her calls.
It was a stranger who finally would not let my case drop who finally got me in front of the right judge where my case was dismissed.
I would also like to thank the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, especially Maj. Anthony Rhodes, for facilitating my speedy return to Municipal Court so that my case could be resolved.
I would NOT like to thank the Public Defender’s Office for ignoring my case and letting my misdemeanor case sit in Superior Court when it should have been in Municipal Court, even after it was pointed out to them that I had not seen an attorney since my arrest last year.
I feel sorry for everyone who has to depend on the Fayette Public Defender’s Office to represent them.
Albert Cupp
Heiskell, Tenn.
