ARRESTED FOR FAILURE TO APPEAR, WHILE APPEARING

USPA NEWS - Terry Trussell was arrested in a Dixie County Courtroom for not being present, even though he was stating his presence in the courtroom directly to the Judge. The Judge then ordered the Deputy Sheriffs who were present, to arrest Trussell for not being present, even though Trussell was present.

Sheriff´s deputies arrested a Dixie County man, Terry Trussell, on October 9th, 2014, for failure to appear at his arraignment. Judge James Hankinson, of the Dixie County Court, called for Trussell to appear before him. Mr. Trussell spoke up stating his presence in the courtroom. Three times Judge Hankinson called for Trussell, and three times Trussell spoke out confirming his presence. Judge Hankinson refused to acknowledge Trussell´s presence and ordered him to be arrested without bond, for failure to appear. Sheriff´s deputies walked over to Trussell and arrested him, then took him immediately to jail.

In his capacity as foremen of the Dixie County Grand Jury, Mr. Trussell was arrested September 2nd, 2014, for “simulating a legal process.“ Trussell submitted a Bill of Information to the Dixie County Clerk of Court on August 5th, 2014, listing several infractions of State Attorney Jeffrey A. Seigmeister. Seigmeister allegedly prevented Mr. Trussell from performing his duties as foreman of the Grand Jury, and petitioned to have Trussell removed as foreman of the Grand Jury. Subsequently, on September 2nd, 2014, Trussell was arrested. The arrest for “simulating a legal process“ was the cause for him to be arraigned on October 9th, which resulted in his arrest for “failure to appear,“ while he was present as his arraignment.

On October 30, 2014, Mr. Trussell was again arraigned, this time for his “failure to appear“ charge. Mr. Trussell stated he was not able to procure an attorney due to his incarceration for 21 days, so asked for a bond hearing so he could begin working on his defense. The State Attorney for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, State Attorney Willie Meggs, asked that no bond be granted. Meggs´ reasons were that Mr. Trussell was a “flight risk,“ and “in light of his failure to appear,“ and his “disrespect for the law,“ the bond should be denied. Mr. Meggs then stated that if there was a bond, it should be doubled, and electronic monitoring by way of ankle bracelet should be utilized.

Mr. Trussell spoke on his behalf to explain his alleged “failure to appear.“ He stated that he made every attempt to be heard during his arraignment on October 9th. The Judge responded that he saw someone standing in the courtroom, but didn´t know it was Mr. Trussell; so he had Mr. Trussell arrested for failing to appear. Judge Hankinson did not explain how he could have ordered a man he didn't see, but who he knew to be Mr. Trussell, arrested for not appearing.

There were no responses to my repeated attempts for a statement concerning the disposition of his arraignment from the Public Information Officer, Major Scott Hardin with the Dixie County Sheriff´s Office.


Sources:
http://krisannehall.com/due-process-denied
/http://www.jasonwhoyt.com/blog/2014/9/3/breaking-dixie-county-fl-whistleblower-arrested-reporting-a-crime-is-now-deemed-criminal-activity