UNICOI OUTCRY - SHERIFF'S BACKERS COME OUT IN FORCE IN DISPUTE WITH JUDGE

ERWIN - A courtroom so stifling people vigorously fanned themselves and
dripped with sweat grew even hotter Tuesday when Judge Bob Cupp entered and
the crowd roasted him with allegations he was soft on drug crimes and
warned him they were targeting him for defeat in the 2006 election.

Cupp maintained his cool during a nearly 45-minute exchange with Unicoi
County residents and sheriff's department representatives who were madder
than hornets about his decision in July that led to the dismissal of
charges against a man accused of having about a kilogram of cocaine in his
mobile home. The audience was not swayed by the judge's comments, and when
the anger continued to flare, Cupp concluded there was no more point in
carrying on the conversation.

The judge ruled on July 22 that the search warrant the sheriff's department
used to enter Cecil Ross Smith's residence, 1709 Jonesborough Road, was
improperly written. He said prosecutors could not present evidence at a
trial of the cocaine and the fact the man had 215 grams of marijuana and
drug scales and had stolen more than $10,000 in collector coins from
Darrell Woods, grandfather of Sheriff Kent Harris. Based on that decision,
Assistant District Attorney General Melanie Gwinn dismissed the charges
involving those items.

Harris called the ruling a smack in the face to law enforcement and said
his officers did not do anything wrong when they entered the mobile home on
July 17, 2004. He said Cupp's ruling "shocked" him, and he contended the
courts had let down the sheriff's department.

Other officers in the sheriff's department criticized the developments in
court, and that led to Cupp to subpoena Harris, Administrative Assistant
Brushy Lewis, Chief Investigator Ronnie Adkins and Sgt. David Walker to
appear in front of him Tuesday. Word quickly spread in the community, and
supporters of the sheriff's department descended on the courthouse to let
Cupp know their feelings.

The courthouse erupted in applause when Harris entered the courtroom,
shaking hands with people standing on both sides of the center aisle. He
had led a group of his officers from the sheriff's department headquarters
next door to the courthouse.

Before his arrival, supporters stood on the sidewalk on Main Avenue holding
signs of support for Harris and the department. Officers who were trying to
maintain order in the courtroom before Cupp took the bench removed signs
that were brought inside, including one that said, "Fed up with Cupp."
Sheriff's department backers passed out stickers to people entering the
courtroom that said "junior deputy" on them with the abbreviation for Drug
Abuse Resistance Education in the center of the badge.

In addition to the sheriff's department, others who were in court included
public officials, such as Circuit Court Judge Tom Seeley, County Mayor
Larry Rose and Erwin Alderman Glenn Tilson. Lewis also serves as Erwin's
mayor. The sheriffs from Carter and Johnson counties, John Henson and Roger
Gentry respectively, also were present. Henson said he came at Harris'
request to back him, and Gentry said he happened to be in town for a
meeting with Seeley.

Cupp, who said he had overcome the anger he initially felt over the flak
directed at him, said he could sympathize with everyone's feelings about
the case's outcome, but he said he had a job to do. According to the judge,
the sheriff's department did not vouch in the Smith case for the
credibility of the informant or his work. But he said he would let Harris
appeal his ruling if he wanted.

"I should be in a mental institution if you think that I suppressed that
search warrant to get myself involved in this situation," Cupp said. "I
would be crazy. And I could have taken the easy way out, very easily, and I
could have just simply said, 'The warrant's good' and pass the buck to the
(state) Court of Criminal Appeals that once they got it, they would have
sent it back or dismissed the case at taxpayers' expense. And that wasn't
the right thing to do.

"I suppressed that search warrant because it was bad. And I'm sworn to
uphold the law."

Acknowledging some of the good work Harris has performed, Cupp nonetheless
said he would continue to look at search warrants with a critical eye. He
said he and fellow Criminal Court Judge Lynn Brown have never had a ruling
on a search warrant overturned by the appellate courts. He offered to help
teach the sheriff's department the proper way to write a search warrant so
deputies will not watch another case go down the drain. He said he wants
the sheriff's department to be successful in executing a search warrant.

"I just want to stress to you that that the Constitution of this great
country and this state applies to every one of us," Cupp said. "It's not
here to protect criminals. It's here to protect us. It's here to protect us
from communism and those things where government becomes oppressive."

Cupp said another option for the sheriff is to find a candidate who might
defeat him.

"I don't have to worry about it because whoever sits here will do the same
as I attempted to do," he said.

The judge said he regretted this conflict has developed and said he
respected Harris for the job he performs. He said he hoped the sheriff
would reciprocate and work with him, not against him.

Cupp gave Harris a chance to speak, but the sheriff's attorneys, Jeff
Thompson and Alex Vogel, advised him to stay silent. Afterward, the lawyers
allowed him to make a statement to the media but would not let him answer
questions.

"I just want to say that it's heartwarming to know that there's this many
good people in Unicoi County that care about law enforcement," he said. "It
touches your heart to know that the people care what's going on. Lord knows
that we care, and we're going to continue to do our job and continue to be
tough on drugs."

In court, resident Gene Hurley pledged to ensure the judge's defeat next
year and told Cupp that word was spreading that he was soft on drugs. The
crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Hurley said people involved with
drugs would come to Unicoi County if they know he is presiding. Cupp said
they also might come because they know there is going to be a mistake in
the way a case is handled.

Estil Edwards, a reserve captain for the sheriff's department, brought
cheers when he said Cupp had questioned the sheriff's department's
integrity in comments prior to Tuesday. The judge said he probably made a
mistake but was upset when he read a comment in a newspaper that he was a
"disgrace" to the judiciary. He said the natural impulse is to snap back,
but he apologized to Harris for those earlier remarks.