State senator, supporters defend ‘anti-crime’ record Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 6:32 am
By: Sabrina Bates, Special to The Messenger By SABRINA BATES
Special to The Messenger
Having served as the state senator for the 24th Senatorial District and sponsoring more than 30 pieces of anti-crime and pro-victim legislation during his time in office, Roy Herron said the allegations against him that he is not tough on crime are unfounded.
In his defense, Herron said “The Murder Manual” being circulated as a book by the organization Conservatives for Truth is nothing more than an article written when his Republican opponent, Stephen Fincher, was 10 or 11 years old.
“It’s an article, not a book, though they’ve bound a print-out of the article to mislead and make people think it’s a book,” the Dresden state senator said. “It was written more than quarter-century ago (in 1984) … when there were no public defenders in most of the state and when many attorneys were ordered by judges to represent defendants and had no experience or expertise in defending people on trial for their lives.
“The consequences of inadequate and incompetent lawyering is (that) cases are reversed, victims’ families suffer even more, often witnesses for the prosecution no longer are available and the taxpayers have to pay for two or more trials instead of one.”
Herron provided comments compiled from individuals who have worked beside him in the judicial process throughout his time as an attorney.
District Attorney General Tommy Thomas represents Weakley and Obion counties in the 27th Judicial District.
“Prosecutors and law enforcement officers know, or should know, that if the attorneys defending death penalty cases don’t do their jobs, then the cases are reversed and have to be tried again,” he said. “That prolongs the pain for the victims’ families. That increases the expense to the taxpayers. And it increases the chances that witnesses will be gone or memories will fade and that criminals will go free.
“So, what Roy Herron did more than a quarter-century ago was reduce the chances that convictions will be reversed. That is something all of us who prosecute criminals should appreciate.”
District Attorney General Hansel McCadams of Henry County said, “I’ve worked with Roy Herron and he’s always been there for prosecutors and those of us who fight crime. He wrote the Crime Victims Bill of Rights.”
Several sheriffs have also backed Herron, including Mike Wilson of Weakley County.
“I’ve worked with Roy Herron for years, and he’s always been there for law enforcement and that’s why so many of us in law enforcement are for him — because he’s for us,” Wilson said.
Bill Thomas, when he was the executive director of the Tennessee Sheriffs Association, said, “Roy Herron has been tough on crime and hard on criminals.”
Herron added that crime victims have supported his efforts through the years as an attorney.
“As the mother of a precious daughter who was murdered, I thankfully support Roy Herron for his great work for crime victims,” said Charlotte Stout, whose 8-year-old daughter was killed in 1979 by Robert Glen Coe. “Without Roy Herron, there would be no Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights in Tennessee’s Constitution. Every day his work helps victims who have lost loved ones and all of us who are crime victims.”
Jodie Gaines Johnson of McKenzie was kidnapped when she was a young woman. She worked with Herron in Nashville for the Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights. She wrote a letter to the editor strongly defending Herron, saying, “I know he stands against crime and for victims” and noted that Herron’s Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Constitutional Amendment “could be the most important legislation ever done for victims in Tennessee.
“Roy Herron hates crime and is as tough on crime as anybody. He loves people and is as strong for helping victims as anybody,” she wrote. “Anybody who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth.”
Theresa Blakley, a Union University professor and advocate for homicide victims’ families who helps organize an annual homicide-loss survivors walk, said she was stunned by the accusations and said they simply are wrong.
“Roy Herron is an undisputable advocate for crime victims’ rights,” she said. “His record speaks for itself. No legislator has done more for crime victims than Herron.”
Herron’s campaign also took issue with the Conservatives for Truth, rejecting their claim in a press release that they are not part of any political campaign.
“The Jackson Sun reported that they ‘gave $100,000 as an independent contribution to Stephen Fincher’s campaign’ and there is ‘no record of the group giving money to another campaign,’” said Brandon Puttbrese, spokesman for Herron. “It’s clear that they are part of Stephen Fincher’s campaign.
“They claim it’s a ‘manual’ but it was actually a law review article that appeared in a collection of articles published more than a quarter-century ago. They just had it bound separately to try to deceive people to make them think it was a ‘manual.’ They’ll do anything to mislead.”
Editor’s note: Sabrina Bates is the news editor of The Weakley County Press in Martin. Published in The Messenger 10.26.10 , | 
