Soddy Daisy fires two officers who testified in Justin Whaley case

They attacked the credibility of a third officer in court

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

Capt. Eric Jenkins and Lt. Jake Elrod were key witnesses for the defense in the prosecution of former EMT Justin Whaley.

He was convicted of vehicular homicide and DUI in a deadly wreck.

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

They testified that Officer Jeremy Wright should have been prosecuted in another case, but higher ups refused to.

Officer Wright handled the blood evidence in the Whaley case.

The judge said that if the defense knew about the Wright accusations earlier, the outcome might have been different.

The attorney for the two officers says they were wrongfully terminated by Soddy Daisy.

Here is their letter from today:

“Three months ago, two long-time Soddy Daisy police officers, Lt. Jake Elrod and Captain Eric Jenkins, came forward with evidence that another Soddy-Daisy Officer, Jeremy Wright, had lied in a previous internal affairs investigation. Legal experts explain that such allegations of untruthfulness must be disclosed in criminal proceedings. However, while both Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins testified in Hamilton County Criminal Court that they were threatened with their jobs by Soddy-Daisy officials if they came forward and told the truth, the two persisted and brought the evidence to the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office who promptly turned it over to defense attorneys. Hamilton County Judge Boyd Patterson, after a hearing, found both Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins to be credible witnesses in their testimony in the case of State v. Justin Whaley and ordered a new trial for Whaley based upon their testimony of Wright’s untruthfulness. Yesterday, Soddy-Daisy terminated Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins in clear retaliation for them bringing forward the evidence about Wright. “Shame on Soddy-Daisy for terminating these two long-time officers, Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins,” says Janie Parks Varnell, an attorney at Davis & Hoss who represents the officers. “This is the most blatant act of retaliation I have seen. These officers brought information to our local District Attorney about the truthfulness of an arresting police officer. Even the DA said in open court that this evidence should have been given to the defense before trial. Soddy-Daisy tried to hide it and now they are punishing the officers who morally and legally did the right thing. The message that this sends to our community is that the Soddy[1]Daisy police department wants to hide and cover up all of the bad deeds of their officers.” Tennessee law allows public employees to freely communicate their concerns to their elected officials. To be terminated for bringing this truthful information to the DA is not only a violation of their freedom of speech but opens the City of Soddy-Daisy to liability. Logan Davis, another attorney at Davis & Hoss representing Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins says, “These are the types of police officers you want to root for, the ones who do what is right, even when their jobs are on the line. What you hope, however, is that their department will stand behind them. Unfortunately, in this case, Soddy-Daisy didn’t. We look forward to ensuring that 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 ensure they have their day in court.”

But Soddy Daisy officials told us the firing was not retaliation, but for insubordination.

Here is their response this afternoon:

“After an investigation of several weeks, the City of Soddy Daisy has determined to terminate Capt. Eric Jenkins and Lt. Jake Elrod.    In the sense of their exercise of any constitutional rights, their testimony in the Whaley coram nobishearing was not a factor in this decision.  Rather, the City has determined that their motivation in contacting the District Attorney related to their desire to besmirch Sgt. Jeremy Wright and to substitute their judgment for that of superiors in the chain of command, all as more fully set out in a letter to each describing the cause 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 returns to court in a few weeks to pick a new trial date on the vehicular homicide and DUI charges.