Free Republic

NASHVILLE — A state commission has rejected an effort to strip former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison of his certification as a law enforcement officer, but a lawyer says the decision will be challenged in court. Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission voted last Friday to dismiss a complaint filed against Hutchison and “rescinded the decertification” imposed temporarily by a judge earlier, said Brian Grisham, executive director of the panel. Grisham said today the action means that, as far as the POST Commission is concerned, the matter has been put to rest. But Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier, who...

When he wanted a training academy and firing range, he built them. When he needed a helicopter pilot, he learned to fly. When a bad guy ran, he chased him. He didn’t ask permission. He didn’t hold meetings. He didn’t hire a consultant. He just did it. If there is any one trait that defines Tim Hutchison, Knox County’s longest-serving sheriff, it is this: He is a man of action, doing what he wants, when he wants and how he wants. “I’m the kind of person that if you need to get something done, let’s go do it,” said Hutchison,...

NASHVILLE — Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle today ordered former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison’s status as a certified law enforcement officer suspended immediately. Lyle said the suspension will remain in effect pending the outcome of an Aug. 16 hearing on Hutchison’s certification before the Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Commission. “Considering that thousands of tax dollars may be irrevocably and wrongfully committed if this court does not act immediately, that an aborted inquiry and investigation by the POST Commission harms the public perception of the certification process in the state of Tennessee, and considering that counsel for...

NASHVILLE - A judge Tuesday closed one door in legal attempts to deny expanded pension benefits to former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison but left another open. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle dismissed motions by Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier seeking to revoke Hutchison's certification as a law enforcement officer. She based the dismissal on legal procedural rules without addressing the merits of Moncier's arguments, declaring he was trying to "resurrect" a lawsuit that is already dead in her court. At the same time, however, the chancellor noted in a five-page order that Moncier filed a second lawsuit last...

NASHVILLE — The Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission decided this morning to refer the possible decertification of former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison until August. In doing so, the commission rejected a request from Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier that the panel act immediately and block Hutchison’s pension benefits scheduled to begin July 1. Hutchison, now a chief deputy in the sheriff’s office, was convicted of criminal contempt in an open records case. Moncier, who arrived at least a half hour late to this morning’s hearing, told the panel it had acted contrary to the instructions of Davidson County...