Morgan County News

Editorial, By Joe Webb

I have been following the story of the tragic death of Savannah Cass McMahan and the subsequent re-victimization of her family by a lazy, distracted, certainly incompetent, and probably ethically-compromised District Attorney General's office. My emotions have swung from excruciating sorrow for the young woman's family, to an almost blind fury at the notion of allowing her alleged killer to walk free. This infuriates me (fathers of daughters reading this will understand).

As I read the coverage of this tragedy and the compounding epic farse that is the criminal justice system in the 9th Judicial District under Russell Johnson, something caught my eye and it added a new dimension. Maybe this is a teachable moment in our lives. Maybe there is something important to be learned in this horror. Maybe something good can come from something so terribly bad.

The thought came reading Hugh Willet's excellent coverage of this story for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. In his story "Family critical of plea deal in shooting", Mr. Willet writes of John McMahan, the victim's father "McMahan said he witnessed the couple's frequent arguments and what he called "bullying" by Harvey." Willet goes on to quote Mr. McMahan "She said she was going to leave him several times before the shooting," he said. "I know that's why he shot her, because she said she was going to leave."

Did you catch it? Did you see the teachable moment? I'll give you a hint: The key word is "bullying" suggesting domestic violence that just didn't get addressed in time. Tragically, many don't and maybe that lesson is the silver lining here. This tragedy may have given us an opportunity to think deeply and critically about domestic violence, and our response as a community to domestic violence.

(Click the headline to view the full article)

According to the arrest warrant: A Morgan County 911 dispatcher listened as a gunshot rang out over the phone. The mortally wounded Memford Lynn Hamby then told the dispatch employee that Heather Young had just shot him again. Two more gunshots are then heard on the 911 tape, followed by silence.

The warrant further states that Heather Young confessed to shooting Hamby.

Earlier in the 10-minute phone call, Hamby told the dispatcher he'd wrestled the gun from his assailant and hit her on her head with it, and that she had left to go get another weapon.

A Sunbright man who was fatally shot managed to call 911 as he lay dying. He said that he had snatched the weapon away from his assailant but she'd gone to get another gun.

Memford Lynn Hamby, 60, was found dead inside his Sunbright residence on Thursday. He had been shot at least once in the front torso.

A woman who lives nearby was taken into custody and is being questioned by TBI.

========June 26 Update================

32-year-old Heather Young, in custody in the Morgan County Jail in Wartburg, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Memford Lynn Hamby.

A Morgan County jury deliberated just 20 minutes Thursday before convicting a man of the aggravated rape of a 90-year-old woman.

Harold L. Morris, 49, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison for his conviction of aggravated rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.

Morris, a Deer Lodge resident, forced his way into the elderly woman's house in Lancing on April 8, 2007 and bit her on her breast during the sexual assault. After the attack, Morgan ripped jewelry and a watch off the woman's fingers and hand, further injuring her.

Morris was arrested several hours later in Crossville. Items found in Morris's possession linked him to the incident.

Knoxville News-Sentinel editorial, June 26, 2009:

Justice was not served when prosecutors in the Ninth Judicial District agreed to five years' probation for a Lenoir City man who shot his girlfriend to death.

John Kenneth Harvey, 26, was originally charged with second-degree murder in the February 2008 death of Savannah Cass McMahan, 21.

Harvey admits he was arguing with McMahan when he picked up a loaded .22 from a nearby table. The two argued often, according to McMahan's father, who said Harvey bullied his daughter, and "she said she was going to leave him several times before the shooting."

The gun was a single-action revolver, and the detective in the case said it had to be cocked before it could be fired. The powder burns he found showed McMahan was shot at close range.......

If prosecutors could not do better than a no-jail-time deal in that case, they should have gone to trial and let 12 citizens decide who had the best ballistics expert.

This plea bargain simply undermines faith in the judicial process.

(The full editorial is longer than Topix allows on the news board. To read it in its entirety, visit the accompanying link. The Ninth Judicial District includes Loudon, Roane, Morgan, and Meigs counties.)

A Morgan County jury deliberated just 20 minutes Thursday before convicting a man of the aggravated rape on Easter Sunday 2007 of a 90-year-old woman who is still recovering from injuries she sustained in the attack.

A 61-year-old Harriman man died after being struck Wednesday night by a pickup truck.

The parents of a Lenoir City woman shot and killed by her boyfriend are speaking out against a plea bargain that sentenced their daughter's killer to five years on probation.

The plea-deal was granted by the office of Russell Johnson, District Attorney General for Roane, Loudon, Meigs, and Morgan counties.

"I want justice for my daughter," said Sarah Berry, mother of Savannah Cass McMahan, 21, who was shot by John Kenneth Harvey, 26, in February 2008.

Harvey was originally charged with second-degree murder, and admits he shot the woman during an argument but claims it was an accident. The charge was reduced to reckless homicide.

The victim’s mother, Sarah Berry, said she met several times with the district attorney general's office. She says the office wanted to avoid a trial from the beginning,

The victim's father, John McMahan, said he witnessed the couple's frequent arguments and what he called "bullying" by Harvey. McMahan says his daughter was going to leave Harvey. He says:

I know that's why he shot her, because she said she was going to leave"

Assistant Attorney General Bill Reedy says one critical factor in not pursuing a murder charge was a "dying declaration" made by the victim that the shooting was accidental. The witness was said to be Nathan Lane, who called the ambulance that night.

Lane says that he never heard a dying declaration and never agreed to testify to hearing such a thing:

By the time I saw her she was already going into convulsions. She didn't say a thing to me."

For more details, see the full story.

Sunbright has never had a police department - until now.

Allen Dagley is Sunbright's first full-time police officer.

He's the beginning of what Sunbright officials hope will eventually become a three person department.

Morgan County's Sheriff Department’s Chief Deputy William Angel says they're sometimes spread thin and can't always respond quickly.

Morgan County is 500 square miles in size so answering a call in Sunbright could take up to a half an hour. A police presence in Sunbright cuts that response time down to five minutes.

A line of severe thunderstorms rolled across East Tennessee on Tuesday, triggering numerous tornado warnings but no reports of any serious damage, according to the National Weather Service station in Morristown.

A Lenoir City man who admitted shooting and killing his girlfriend during an argument last year will receive five years' probation for the crime.

John Kenneth Harvey, 26, was arrested in February 2008 and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Savannah Kathy McMahan, 21.

Prosecutors said they reduced the charge to reckless homicide and agreed to five years' supervised probation after reviewing the evidence in the case.

I got some contrary response to my last column, "Who Wrote This Script?" My main point, that Knox County's law director should resign, seems to offer little in the way of controversy.

A line of severe weather moved across parts of east Tennessee Tuesday evening. Tornado warnings were issued for Morgan County, Anderson County, Loudon County, and Roane County, while many other counties were under severe thunderstorm warnings.

Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex Warden Jim Worthington points to the back corner of the prison where James Earl Ray, convicted killer of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and five other inmates escaped for four days in 1977.

A Morgan County commissioner says he will withdraw his proposal urging the state to consider moving terrorism suspects from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay to a recently closed state prison.

Commissioner Nick Bishop released a statement today saying he lacked public support and will remove his proposal.

A Morgan County commissioner has drafted a proposal urging the state to consider moving terrorism suspects from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay to a recently closed state prison.

The McMinn County Senior Activity Center has adopted two new programs as part of the McMinn Senior Alliance For Empowerment group.

A Morgan County teenager has been arrested for aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators found videos they call child pornography on computers.

Farmer Jeff Price and his daughter, Jessica, 12, work with free-range chickens. The chickens and a herd of cows share a sustainable pasture where no chemicals or fertilizers are added.