Soddy Daisy fires two officers who testified in Justin Whaley case

They have attacked the credibility of a third officer in court

SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Two police officers who testified against a third officer in court have been fired by Soddy-Daisy.

Captain Eric Jenkins and Lieutenant Jake Elrod were the key defense witnesses in the prosecution of former EMT Justin Whaley.

He was convicted of traffic manslaughter and driving under the influence in a fatal car crash.

But a judge has now ordered a new trial, based on the allegations the officers made in court.

They testified that Officer Jeremy Wright should have been prosecuted in a separate case, but his superiors refused.

Agent Wright handled the blood evidence in the Whaley case.

The judge said that if the defense had been made aware of the allegations against Wright earlier, the outcome might have been different.

The lawyer for the two officers says they were wrongly fired by Soddy Daisy.

Here is their letter today:

“Three months ago, two longtime Soddy Daisy police officers, Lieutenant Jake Elrod and Captain Eric Jenkins, came forward with evidence that another Soddy Daisy officer, Jeremy Wright, had lied in a previous internal investigation. Legal experts explain that such allegations of untruth should be made public in criminal proceedings. Although both Lieutenant Elrod and Captain Jenkins testified in Hamilton County Criminal Court that they were threatened with their jobs by Soddy Daisy officers if they came forward and told the truth, the two persisted and brought the evidence to the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office, who immediately turned it over to defense attorneys. Hamilton County Judge Boyd Patterson, after a hearing, found both Lieutenant Elrod and Captain Jenkins credible witnesses in their testimony in the case of State v. Justin Whaley and ordered a new trial for Whaley based on their testimony of Wright’s untruth. Yesterday, Soddy-Daisy fired Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins in apparent retaliation for coming forward with evidence about Wright. “Shame on Soddy-Daisy for firing these two longtime officers, Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins,” said Janie Parks Varnell, an attorney with Davis & Hoss who is representing the officers. “This is the most blatant act of retaliation I have ever seen. These officers brought information to our local district attorney about the truthfulness of an arresting officer. Even the district attorney said in open court that this evidence should have been given to the defense before the trial. Soddy-Daisy tried to cover it up and now they are punishing the officers who did the morally and legally right thing. The message this sends to our community is that the Soddy(1)Daisy Police Department wants to cover up and cover up all the bad actions of their officers.” Tennessee law allows government employees to freely communicate their concerns to their elected officials. Being fired for giving this truthful information to the district attorney not only violates their freedom of speech, but also exposes the city of Soddy-Daisy to liability. Logan Davis, another attorney with Davis & Hoss who represents Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins, said, “These are the types of police officers you want to cheer for, the ones who do what’s right even when their jobs are on the line. What you hope for, however, is that their department will stand behind them. Unfortunately, Soddy-Daisy did not in this case. We look forward to making sure justice is done for these two officers who have admirably served the city of Soddy-Daisy and its citizens for seventeen (17) years. We will make sure they get their day in court.”

However, Soddy Daisy employees told us that the firing was not retaliation, but a reason for insubordination.

This is their response this afternoon:

“After a multi-week investigation, the City of Soddy Daisy has decided to terminate Captain Eric Jenkins and Lieutenant Jake Elrod. In terms of their exercise of constitutional rights, their testimony at the Whaley coram nobishearing was not a factor in this decision. Instead, the City has determined that their motivation for contacting the District Attorney was related to their desire to tarnish Sergeant Jeremy Wright and substitute their judgment for that of superiors in the chain of command, all as more fully set forth in a letter to each of them detailing the reasons for their termination. The City rejects the claims of retaliation they have and are expected to assert, and stands ready to vigorously defend its action.”

Meanwhile, Whaley will return to court in a few weeks to set a new trial date for the charges of manslaughter and drunken driving.