Originally published on 9/28/2006
Who is Fred Hatfield? He is one of (two or three) Pike County trial commissioners and he is located within the Pike County Injustice Center. What does he do? He will sign any legal document put in front of him, as long as its for the right person with the right kind of political pull. But for those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar with trial commissioners, let me first give you a quick tutorial.
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Trial Commissioners are unelected judges. Also known as T.C.’s, their signature has the full weight of a judge‘s. What does this mean to the average person? Well, they can sign a search warrant for the police to search your home. Your ex can get an E.P.O against which takes away custody of your children. They can also sign an arrest warrant and have you ARRESTED!!
Oh yea, they can have you arrested AND, they don‘t even have to be a member of the bar association. Originally, the ideal of T.C.’s were for small counties where no Judges reside. A caveat in the law allows for Judges to state they have a need for a T.C. and A.O.C. will approve one. Never mind, that giving a political appointee judicial immunity violates the preamble of the Kentucky Constitution
Does Pike County, which already has three circuit and two district judges need three trial commissioners? NO!! The T.C.’s do the dirty work of the judges. If somebody needs a political favor and wants a judge to sign a bogus E.P.0.---no problem; just take it to the T.C. Thus shady political favors get traded from judicial office, county office, to individuals. And the corrupt political official claims that since (s)he didn’t sign it, the blame falls on the unelected T.C.
Meanwhile, the T.C. doing the crooked work of the Judge doesn’t have to worry about getting fired. (S)he is doing exactly what the boss wants. Everybody is happy, with the exception of the person getting their constitutional rights violated. And who cares about them, obviously they don’t have any political pull.
Gee, maybe you are thinking, “Well, I will sue that bastard Hatfield if he messes with me“!!! No you won’t. The terrifying thing is that T.C.’s have the same judicial immunity that judges have. Here is a hypothetical. If you made the county attorney angry, he would go to KSP to get a search warrant for your house. Even if the search warrant is completely without merit, Fred Hatfield will sign it. And KSP will knock on your door and search your house. There is little recourse against the T.C. He isn’t elected, so you can’t vote him out. What you can do, according to Frankfort is to complain to the local judges.
I wrote a formal complaint about Fred Hatfield to Judge Mullins, who I mistakenly believed was still the chief district court judge. Guess what happened? A few days later, Hatfield signed a felony warrant for my arrest. A person with a law degree would know they should recuse themselves. However, Hatfield doesn’t seem to have any legal training. Remember, he is only a political appointee trained to the do the bidding of his political masters.
Perhaps the name Fred Hatfield sounds vaguely familiar to you? It should. Hatfield was the man who caused a tragedy at East Ridge High School. Hatfield signed for a stoned teenage boy to be released to his parents, instead following proper procedure. The boy then murdered his parents, a grandparent, and committed a murder-suicide by crashing his car into oncoming traffic. Five people died due to Hatfield’s incompetence. Was Hatfield fired? Nope. Remember, by being a political appointee and signing bogus warrants and E.P.O.’s he is privy to a lot of dirt. The Judges can’t fire him. Hatfield knows too many criminal secrets about the courthouse.
Further incompetence; Hatfield believes in my ex husband’s psychic abilities. My ex, Jonah Stevens a Pikeville attorney signed an E.P.O. stating that on August 8, 2002 that I was going to commit acts of violence against him. Hatfield agreed it was a valid E.P.O even though it was July 22, 2002. That’s right, if you have political pull, Fred Hatfield will sign an E.P.O. against your ex even if you claim its going to happen in the future.
How incompetent is Fred Hatfield? He can’t even sign his name legibly. Nor does he follow proper procedure and mark out the word “judge” and write T.C. So if are ever served with a warrant, on its face, you won’t be able to tell that Hatfield signed it. Like me, you will assume it is a judge.
I filed an additional complaint about Hatfield with every Pike County judge in August. That’s right, I notified all three circuit judges and the two district judges of corruption involving T.C.’s Fred Hatfield and Terry Thompson. Are they going to do anything? Apparently not since I have not heard from them. My next step is to notify the judicial conduct committee. Instead of reporting just Hatfield and Thompson, I think I will include complaints about the judges too.
We, as citizens of Pike County rely on the Judges to appoint properly qualified trial commissioners. If they receive notice of a T.C.’s political favors and do nothing, they are as culpable as the T.C.’s themselves. And being culpable, shows they along with the T.C.’s need to be removed from office.
When the Pike County Judges read this, the first thing they will claim is that there are T.C.’s all over the state. Yes that’s true. However, the T.C.’s in most of the state are required to be attorneys. Its only in eastern Kentucky where the T.C.’s are appointed on the qualifications of corruption and political connections. Hence, culpability rolls uphill.
Documentation is available. Check the blog or email me and I will send to you personally.
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