It was TERRY Davis, her second husband, who was accused of this. Terry's lawyer was objecting to the fact that anonymous people reported to the Tennessee department of protective services that Terry was abusing his wife, and the lawyer's argument was that at no time during prior proceedings, were the names of these accusers made known to the defendant (Terry) and hence his legal counsel did not have an opportunity to cross-examine them and potentially debunk their stories.
The right to confront one's accusers is a fundamental principle of American jurisprudence but it apparently was not allowed in this particular case. Whether or not these allegations against Terry Davis were true, I firmly believe a person should have a right to know who is accusing him, and that these so-called witnesses be subjected to rigorous questioning so as to ascertain the validity — or lack thereof — of their accusations.
Without defending Terry Davis, I must add that Judge Frank Clement (who even attended Christmas parties at convicted bank fraud felon Ed Gregory's home WHILE THE REEVES COURT CASE WAS PROCEEDING), allowed testimony and other evidence into the record, and made a series of rulings which I personally find very questionable.
He also made decisions which in retrospect were appalling mistakes, such as appoint Mary's nephew. Rev. Bill White, to act as her so-called "conservator" and ultimately recommend to the court whether or not his aunt really wanted to sell her estate to United Shows of America. Clement did this despite clear and compelling evidence that Ed Gregory was exerting undue influence over White (who has tried to capitalize on the fact that he was once Jim's nephew by marriage but is not a blood relative by dressing up like Jim and touring the world singing Jim's songs). Gregory bought him a red tuxedo, booked him at his fairs, took him to the White House and the Super Bowl, and made other gestures to manipulate Rev. White at a time when White was SUPPOSED to remain an impartial observer.
As a result of these machinations on Gregory's part, White ended up signing over everything of Mary's BEFORE ED PAID FOR IT, thus relinquishing his aunt's security interests. Mr. Gregory ultimately filed bankruptcy and screwed over creditors -- Mary among them -- for tens of millions of dollars.
This also is a reflection on Judge Clements who allowed the sale of the Reeves estate to proceed to Gregory, based on White's recommendations to the court.
So this whole case was grotesquely mishandled from the start -- by the litigants, certain lawyers, the judges, and others close to the situation.
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