Ex-Tipton deputy testifies in probe
By Jery Markon
Staff Reporter
February 1989 FBI Probe of Tipton County | A Tipton County, Tenn., sheriff’s deputy charged in the death of a fellow deputy was the subject of grand jury questioning Wednesday.
Ricky Fletcher, who worked for the Tipton County Sheriff’s Department from 1985-1988, said he testified about his work as a narcotics investigator and partner of Deputy Jimmy Hicks. Fletcher and Hicks were partners before Hicks began working with Deputy Ricky Rose, whom Hicks has been charged with shooting last November.
Fletcher would not be more specific about his testimony, saying only that “Hicks’ name came up” during his testimony. Fletcher is now a police officer in Mason, in south Tipton County. The former acting police chief there pleaded guilty last August to federal charges of extortion and perjury.
Wednesday was the second and last day of testimony this month before the grand jury, which is reviewing Tipton County court and sheriff’s department records dating to 1976. Grand jury members also are examining the criminal records of at least 16 county residents, including several nightclub owners and the operator of an alleged horse racing track.
The Tipton County Sheriff’s Department is the focus of a two year FBI investigation.
FBI agents are probing three unsolved killings in the county, including the deaths of two auto mechanics and the November shooting death of Rose.
Hicks was charged with involuntary manslaughter in that shooting and faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 23.
Several Tipton County Sheriff’s Department officials testified before the panel this week, including Chief Deputy Bob Pike, Deputy J. R. Dacus and Anne Sanders, Sheriff Wayne Baskin’s secretary. None would discuss their testimony, but another witness, Munford resident Lawrence Whitson, said he was asked about alleged gambling and sale of drugs and whisky in Tipton County.
[ February 1989 FBI Probe of Tipton County | 1989 – Ex-Tipton deputy testifies in probe; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 16 Feb 1989; Pg 4]
Suspicious deaths mount in Tipton
TBI considering link to slayings
By Jerry Markon
Dyersburg, Tenn., Bureau
COVINGTON, Tenn. – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death last week of a Tipton County man whose former brother-in-law’s slaying last fall is now under FBI investigation.
Frankie J. Sanders Jr., 28, died Friday night after his car crashed into a tree two miles west of Covington.
Sanders’ death was ruled an accident by the Tipton County medical examiner and the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Memphis.
But Sanders, a carpenter, was a former brother-in-law and close friend of Johnny Washington Pool III, a Covington auto mechanic who was shot in the back before his body was burned in a truck last October.
Pool’s death is one of three Tipton County slayings under investigation by the FBI, which has been active in this rural county for about two years.
The close relationship between Pool and Sanders has prompted TBI agents to investigate Sanders’ death, hoping to gain clues into Pool’s slaying, Dist. Atty. Gen. Paul Summers said Wednesday.
Sanders was formerly married to Pool’s sister, members of the Sanders family said.
Sources close to the FBI investigation have said the bureau is examining possible involvement by Tipton County sheriff’s deputies in Pool’s death. Pool reportedly had ties to one or more deputies, the sources said.
Another death under investigation by the FBI is the shooting last November of Tipton County Sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Rose. Rose was shot in the head Nov 28 in his office at the Criminal Justice Complex and died the next day at the Regional medical Center in Memphis.
Rose’s partner, Deputy Jimmy Hicks, is scheduled to face a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. today on state charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting.
The hearing, to be held at the Criminal Justice Complex, will determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to forward Hicks’ case to a grand jury for possible indictment, said Michael Whitaker, Hicks’ attorney.
According to Summers, TBI agents are examining whether the deaths of Pool and Sanders were related, though they have found no correlation.
“Mr. Pool died as a result of a homicide. A close relative of his then died in a traumatic accident. Any good investigator would look to see if there’s any correlation,” Summers said. “They’re checking out all possibilities.”
TBI officials would not comment.
Tennessee Highway patrol Trooper Jimmy Daniels, who investigated Sanders’ death, said he contacted the TBI this week after Sanders’ family questioned the circumstances of his death.
The elder Sanders insisted Wednesday that his son had been killed deliberately. He said family members noticed damage to the rear bumper of Sanders’ car, indicating he may have been run off the road.
Family members’ suspicions were also raised, he said, by the presence of tire tracks from other cars in the area of the accident.
Sanders said his son told him recently that his life had been threatened but did not say by whom.
“He was worried about something this last week, but he wouldn’t tell me what,” said Sanders, who would not say who he thought might have wanted to kill his son.
But Daniels said, “There’s no doubt in my mind the boy was killed by the accident. There was no indication of any other vehicle involved or any foul play whatsoever.” Buick west on Tennessee
He said the accident occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday as Sanders was driving his 1981 Buick west on Tennessee 59 two miles west of Covington. Just before a rightward bend in the road, Sanders’ car went off the left side of the road, sideswiped a utility pole and struck a tree.
Sanders, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown through the windshield and came to rest on the hood of the car, Daniels said. “The impact of the tree threw him out of the car.”
Daniels said he had not determined what made Sanders lose control of the car, but added that he is awaiting the results of a blood-alcohol test on Sanders.
The trooper said he found “scratch marks” on the left rear bumper of Sanders’ car, but said he found no indication they had been caused by another car.
Daniels said investigators also examined tire tracks found near the accident scene – that had been pointed out by family members – but found they had been made three hours earlier by another car and a tow truck.
Randy Roe, an investigator with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, agreed with Daniels that “there is no evidence that someone ran Sanders’ car off the road.”
[ February 1989 FBI Probe of Tipton County | Suspicious deaths mount in Tipton; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 23 Feb 1989; Pg 1]
Judge clears Tipton deputy in fatal shooting of partner
By Jerry Markon
Dyersburg, Tenn., Bureau
COVINGTON, Tenn. – A judge dismissed charges of involuntary manslaughter Thursday against a Tipton County sheriff’s deputy accused of shooting and killing his partner last November.
Fayette County General Sessions Judge James S. Wilder ruled that prosecutors failed to show Deputy Jimmy Hicks exhibited “gross negligence” in the shooting death of Deputy Ricky Rose. State law requires proof of such negligence for a conviction.
The ruling came after a preliminary hearing in Tipton County General Sessions Court. Judge wilder was presiding because Tipton County General Sessions Judge John Hill Chisholm had recused himself.
Rose, a narcotics investigator, was shot in the head Nov. 28 in his office at the Criminal Justice Complex. He died the next day at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.
State authorities initially said Rose had accidentally shot himself, but later charged Hicks after an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Prosecuting attorney Jerry Woodall said after the hearing that Hicks might face further charges, but he would not elaborate.
“As far as I’m concerned, the matter is still under investigation,” Woodall said.
The Rose shooting is still under investigation by the FBI, which is checking possible involvement by Tipton County sheriff’s deputies in two other slaying in the county. Rose had met with FBI agents before his death, according to sources close to the FBI investigation.
Last week, Hicks was questioned by a federal grand jury probing claims of misconduct in Tipton County, a grand jury witness said.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent Edward Simpson, who also investigated the Rose shooting, testified Thursday that Hicks changed his version of how Rose was shot.
In a sworn statement the night of the shooting, Simpson testified, Hicks said the two deputies had been in the office they shared just before the shooting. hicks told the TBI he got up to leave the office, saw Rose pick up a gun and heard Rose say he was going to clean the gun.
“I took a step out of the office, and I heard a shot,” Simpson quoted Hicks as saying.
But in another statement on Dec 14, Hicks acknowledged he had been holding the gun that Rose was shot with. “I pulled the slide back to check for a chamber round,” hicks told the TBI. “When the slide was released, the gun went off… I don’t know if my hand was on the trigger.”
Donna Sutphin, who was talking to Rose on the telephone when he was shot, also testified Thursday.
Ms. Sutphin, who was crying and appeared shaken, said she heard Rose say just before the shot, “You’d better put that gun down before I hurt you.”
Ms. Sutphin said she then heard a click that sounded like the phone dropping.
Woodall, who is district attorney general for Madison, Chester and Hardeman counties, argued that Ms. Sutphin’s testimony showed Hicks exhibited gross negligence in allegedly pointing the gun at Rose.
But Michael Whitaker, Hicks’ attorney, argued: “What we have here is an accidental shooting that’s been overdramatized. It’s a tragic event that happened to somebody… but it’s not a crime.”
Whitaker pointed out that Hicks and Rose had been close friends, and that Hicks had told several sheriff’s deputies after the shooting that he “would never hurt Ricky deliberately.”
Tipton County Sheriff Wayne Baskin refused to comment on Thursday’s hearing, or to say whether Hicks will return to active duty. The deputy has been suspended with pay since the shooting.
Rose’s father, Lawrence Rose, said he still thinks the shooting was accidental, but would not elaborate. Rose had previously said he regarded Hicks “like a second son.”
[Judge clears Tipton deputy in fatal shooting of partner; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 24 Feb 1989; Pg 5]
