8-17-12 Jake Lockert

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR HUMPHREYS COUNTY,

AT WAVERLY
TENNESSEE
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CHRIS DAVIS,
Plaintiff,
VS
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No.
10134
JAKE LOCKERT,
Defendant.
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12 DEPOSITION OF JAKE LOCKERT
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taken on behalf of the Plaintiff
August 17, 2012
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BAIN, CLEETON, EVANS, HARKINS & RICHARDSON

An Association of Court Reporters
Suite 201 212 Third Avenue North
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Nashville, Tennessee 31201 (615) 255-6425
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Reported by:
Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR
Reporter:
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APPEARANCES
For the Plaintiff:
PHILLIP L.
DAVIDSON
Attorney at Law
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2400 Crestmoor Road Suite 107
Nashville, Tennessee 37215
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For the Defendant:
JONATHAN L. GRIFFITH, ESQ.

Griffith & Roberts 213 Fifth Avenue North Suite 300
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Nashville, Tennessee 37219
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Also present:
Chris Davis
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INDEX
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Examination by Mr. Davidson Examination by Mr. Griffith Further Examination by Mr. Davidson
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EXHIBITS
No. 1....Facebook posting

No. 2....Defendantf s answers to interrogatories No. 3. ...Affidavit of John Etheridge
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No. 4....Waverly Police Department video

No. 5....McCord video
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No. 6....Tea Party video No. 7....Blank ouster petition, documentation No. 8. ...March 6 Facebook post
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Reporter:
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STIPULATIONS
The Deposition of JAKE LOCKERT was taken by

counsel for the Plaintiff at the Law Office of Charles
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N. Griffith, 415 West Main Street, Waverly, Tennessee,
at 1:06 p.m. on August 17, 2012, for all purposes under

the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure.
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All formalities as to notice, caption,
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et cetera, are waived.
All objections, except as to the
form of the question, are reserved to the hearing.
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It is agreed that Roxann Harkins, being a
Notary Public and Licensed Court Reporter in and for the

State of Tennessee, may swear the witness, and that the
reading and signing of the completed deposition by the

witness are waived.
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Reporter:
JAKE LOCKERT
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called as a witness, after having been first duly sworn,

testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
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Q.
record.
Sir, would you state your name for the
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A.
Q.
A.
William Bradley Jake Lockert.

Mr. Lockert
The Third.
Q.
A.
I?m sorry.
What do you do for a living?
District public defender for the 23rd
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judicial district.
Q.
position?
A.
And how long have you been in that
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Since 1998.
Q.
A.
Okay.
Before that, what did you do?
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In September of 1996 I became an assistant
district attorney and served in that capacity until

1998.
Q.
We1re here today about a lawsuit that my
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client's filed against you regarding defamation in a

false light. I'm sure you've had a chance to review
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that complaint; is that correct?

A. That's correct.
Reporter:
Roxann Harkins, RPR,
CRR,
LCR
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Q.
So the questions I'm going to ask you today
primarily have to do with that.
First of all, do you
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understand what the allegation is against you?

A. Yes.
Q.
A.
Okay.
And what is that?
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That I made a statement or a posting in
regard to the sheriff being at the scene of the Darrin

Ring beating, that he was present and took no action to
intervene or stop the beating or the tasing taking
place, essentially.
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Q.
Now
now, what
if the sheriff, in
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fact, was there and did not stop his officers from
beating this man, would that have would that have
violated any laws that you're aware of?

A. In my opinion, yes.
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Q.
A.
Okay.
And what would those laws have been?
Been violation of laws in regard to civil
rights of Darrin Ring, also in regard to criminal

statutes, if he's there and does not stop his officers
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from committing aggravated assault on Darrin Ring.

Q. Now, the allegations that we find are
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attached as an exhibit to the complaint.
And I'm going
to pass you a copy of this.
And it's
this is a copy
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of Exhibit A to the complaint.

A. Let me
Did you post this?
is it the whole thing?
Reporter:
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Q.
This is the whole thing.
A.
All right.
(Witness reading document.)
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I'm sure I did.
I mean, I don't have independent
recollection, but I'm confident I did.

name.
It's under my
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MR. GRIFFITH:
Let's make this Exhibit 1.
(Whereupon, the above-mentioned document

was marked as Exhibit No.
BY MR. DAVIDSON:
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1.)
Q.
Now, the part that we're concerned with
here at this stage is found at No. A of Exhibit 1.

A. Okay.
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Q.
It says that he failed
he being the
sheriff, failed to perform his duties by standing by and
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allowing officers to beat Darrin Ring while said Darrin Ring was handcuffed and stripped naked. Not only did he
stand by and watch the severe beating, he defended it.

Now, as you said, that
him of criminal conduct; correct?
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basically accused
A.
It doesn't say that he committed conduct
criminal conduct, I don't believe.
Q.
Exhibit 1.
Well, let's go down a little further in

Look under 6A. It says that the sheriff did
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violate the following laws and others to be set out in an amended petition after federal indictments are
Reporter:
returned against him.

misconduct is in
Sheriff Davis committed
is in beating the handcuffed and
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helpless Darrin Ring in the jail cell and allowing him

to be beaten at the scene of his false arrest.
A. Yes.
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Q.
Criminal conduct
criminal because his
conduct amounted to aggravated assault, attempted murder, false arrest and kidnapping and et cetera.
A. Yes.
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Q.
Now, after we filed this lawsuit against
you, we sent you a set of discovery responses.
Let me
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pass you that and see if you

A. Yes, I do.
if you recognize those.
Q.
Is that your signature at the end under
oath, having sworn to these answers?

A. Yes.
MR. Exhibit No. 2.
DAVIDSON:
Let's make that
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BY MR. DAVIDSON:
2.)
Q.
In Exhibit No. 2
MR. DAVIDSON:
Do you have a copy of these
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or you want to make a copy? MR. GRIFFITH: I've got a copy somewhere.
Reporter:
BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
Q.
Mr. Lockert, on page 3

MR. DAVIDSON: Why don't we make a copy of
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these real quick.

MR. GRIFFITH: Yeah.
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MR.
DAVIDSON:
That would be the easiest
way to do it.
(Whereupon, a break was taken from
1:13 p.m. to 1:16 p.m.)
BY MR. DAVIDSON:
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Q.
A.
Turn to page 3, please, of Exhibit No. 2.

Okay.
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Q.
I asked you, state all facts from which you
relied to make the statement found in paragraph 7 of the
complaint. complaint
Now, just for the record, paragraph 7 of the well, I think it's mistyped there. It's
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not paragraph 7.
original says 2.
Should be paragraph 2.
I think my
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And you state in there

to her so she can
let me give this
you state that I relied on the fact
that a District Attorney General's investigator told me
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that Chris Davis was present at the scene of the Darrin

Ring beating. John Etheridge advised me of the same.
Mr. Etheridge also advised me that Sheriff Davis was

there but not in front of the cameras.
Reporter:
Now, have you seen the affidavit that Mr. Etheridge has provided in this case?
A.
says.
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I've seen it or I've been told what it
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Q.
Well, let me pass it to you.
A.
All right.
Yes, I have seen it.

MR.
Exhibit No. 3.
DAVIDSON:
Let's make this
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BY MR. DAVIDSON:
3.)
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Q.
Now, this affidavit, sworn under oath, he
says, I have reviewed Jake Lockert's response to Chris

Davis's Interrogatory No. 3. I did not tell Mr. Lockert
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that Sheriff Davis was present during the beating of
Darrin Ring.
I did not tell Mr. Lockert that Sheriff
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Davis was present during the beating of Darrin Ring but

not on camera.
Where did you get the information for your
response to Interrogatory No. 3 regarding what I
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regarding whether the sheriff was there at the time that

Darrin Ring was beaten?
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A.
John Etheridge did, in fact, tell me that
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Sheriff Davis was at the scene of the Darrin Ring
Reporter:
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beating.
Q.
So he's not telling the truth?
A.
Well, I don't think he denies that he said

I don't
he was there at the scene of the beating.

believe he denies that.
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Q.
Well, you would agree that the affidavit
speaks for itself.

right?
A. Yes.
Whatever it says is what it says;
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Q.
He said, I did not tell Mr. Lockert Sheriff
Davis was present during the beating of Darrin Ring.
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did not tell Mr. Lockert that Sheriff Davis was present
during the beating of Darrin Ring but not on camera. And what you state is that District
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Attorney Etheridge told me that Chris Davis was present

at the scene of Darrin Ring's beating.
advised me of the same.
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John Etheridge
Mr. Etheridge also advised me
Davis was there but not in front of the cameras.
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I don't see how you can say that he's
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denying what you write in your interrogatories.

tell me why you think it's not a denial?
Can you
A.
My statement says that he advised me that

His
he was at the scene but not in front of cameras.
affidavit does not deny that he was at the scene and not
in front of cameras. In fact, he knows he was at the
Reporter:
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scene.
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Q.
the same.
A.
Well, it says John Etheridge advised me of
Yes
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Q.
A.
Mr. Etheridge advised me.

Exactly.
Q.
So you think there's a difference between
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somebody advising you and somebody telling you?

what you're saying?
A. No.
Is that
Q.
Okay.
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A.
I'm saying he told me that the Sheriff was
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at the scene of the Darrin Ring beating, but he was not

on camera.
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Q.
And here in his affidavit here, he says, I I did
did not tell Mr. Lockert that Davis was present.
tell Mr. Davis was present at the beating but not on

camera.
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A.
He says that he did not say he was present
during the beating.
He does not say he was not at the
scene, and he would not say that.
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Q.
Now, at what point did you receive

You were the defense
first
of all, let's establish this.
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attorney for Darrin Ring; correct?

A. I and one of my assistants, yes.
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Reporter:
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Q.
Okay.
And Darrin Ring was arrested on
this incident happened on January 27, 2011; correct?

A. I
Q.
Somewhere around that time?
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A.
Yeah, I don't know my personal knowledge,
but it was very early.
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Q.
And then you became involved in this case
in July of 2007 (sic)?

A.
Q.
Me personally?
Yeah.
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A.
Or my office?
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jpsx
Q.
Or your office.
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A.
I think my office would have been involved
considerably earlier than that in lower court, because I

think this was on affidavit of complaint as opposed to
indictment or presentment.
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Q.
When did you personally start becoming
involved in this case?
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A.
I'm going to estimate in June Assistant
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Dawn Kavanagh came to me with discovery which included
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reports and the video.
Advised me that something had to
be done about this, and I told her I would handle it.

Because she was working down here and I didn't want her
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to
having just started out down here to have to take
the brunt of any negative reaction for exposing what had
Reporter:
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happened.
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Q.
What videos did you review?
A.
McCord video.
Only had one video.
I think it was the
The same video that was shown on
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Channel 4.
And we never received the other videos in
discovery.
I did not learn of other videos until I had
talked to Mr. Griffith and was advised that the City had
provided some videos, I think, to him in a civil case,

but I've not seen those.
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Q. City
You've never seen the videos from the
Waverly Police Department?
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A.
The only video that I've seen is the one
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video that was provided in discovery, and my

recollection, that was Deputy McCord's video.
Q.
the
A.
You mean discovery in this case or in
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In the criminal case.
Q.
A.
Okay.
Where we represented Mr. Ring.
We had
asked for discovery, and we were not given the other

videos.
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Q.
Well, at some point did you
so it's your
testimony today you've never seen the video from the
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Waverly Police Department; is that right?

A. I've never seen any of the other videos.
Reporter:
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Q.
Okay.
A.
the fact.
Was not aware of other videos until after
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MR. DAVIDSON:
Well, let's make an exhibit,
there's two videos here.

both of these to you.
Counsel, I believe I provided
MR. GRIFFITH:
You know,
it said that you
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would provide them, but we didn't receive any CDs.

didn't get anything. It says CDs attached or a CD.
I
I
think you put singular CD, but I
honestly I've not
seen any videos that have

any discovery.
or DVDs that have come with
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MR. DAVIDSON:
Do you have any
well,
I've sent them, but I don't mind giving them to you
again.
Do you have any video capability here in the
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office today?
MR. GRIFFITH:
That's all I've got.
I don't.
I've got an iPad.
MR. DAVIDSON:
Okay.
Let's make the
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Waverly Police Department video Exhibit No. 4.

MR.
MR.
GRIFFITH:
DAVIDSON:
Is that McCord's video?

I'm not sure.
MR.
MR.
DAVIS:
That's Waverly PD.

Yeah. And this is the
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DAVIDSON:
McCord video, let's make that No.
Exhibit No.
Reporter:
MR. DAVIS:
want me to.
I can have them copied if y'all
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MR. GRIFFITH:
MR.
the exhibit is.
Yeah, I'd like you to.

Exhibit No. 5. Or whatever
DAVIDSON:
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(Whereupon, the above-mentioned documents

were marked as Exhibits Nos. 4 and 5.)
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MR. DAVIS:
copied?
MR.
Do you want me to have those
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DAVIDSON:
Can we release them to him
to have them copied and then you can
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MR. GRIFFITH:
Sure.
And you can just
what do you want to do with the originals?

just give them back to Roxann or
MR. DAVIDSON:
You want to
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You can give them back
this is going to be my deposition, so they're exhibits

to this deposition. They actually belong to her now
Okay.
MR. GRIFFITH:
MR. DAVIDSON:
and I can just take these
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and have the sheriff make copies for them.
MR. DAVIS:
I'll try to get them to run by
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while we're here and bring them back.

MR. GRIFFITH:
Thanks.
Okay.
That'd be great.
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Reporter:
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BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
Q.
When did you obtain the complete report
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from the file of the criminal case?
A.
officers?
You mean the various reports from the
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Q.
Yes.
To prepare your defense of this
gentleman.
A.
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It was not complete discovery, but as far
as the McCord video and Officer Hedge's report, I would

have first seen those sometime in June.
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Q.
Of 2011?
A.
Yeah.
I don't know when they were received
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by my assistant.
Q.
A.
Okay.
It would have been sometime after Darrin
Ring's case came out of the grand jury.

Q. Do you remember what do you remember
Do you
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about the McCord video?
That's Exhibit No. 5.
remember at any point in that seeing the sheriff in that

video?
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A.
Do not remember seeing or hearing the
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sheriff in that video.
Q.
Okay.
And when you answered this discovery
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#**"-
request, which is Exhibit No. 2, why didn't you put in

there that you were relying, in part, on your statement
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Reporter:
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made in Exhibit No. 1 based upon a police report?
A.
The police report and the video, I assumed
everyone was aware of that.
I should have put
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guess I should have put the blatantly obvious in there,

but, yeah, I had the video, the police reports.
had the video enhanced in regard to the audio.
I even
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Q.
Well, did the video that you had enhanced
show the sheriff standing around while this gentleman was being struck or kicked or beat?
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J^'
A.
No, the video simply showed me that the
sheriff took no action, either physically or verbally to stop what was taking place.
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Q.
Well, did the video show you the sheriff
was on the scene?
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A.
The video did not show that he was on the
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Q.
A.
Then how did you know he was on the scene?

I'd been told by a district attorney's
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office criminal investigator, which I did not solicit, he just came up to me and told me that.
Q. Who was that?
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A.
That was John Etheridge.
He also told
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/0^'-
another attorney, Mike Patrick, that he was there.
Mike
had advised me that John Etheridge had told him that.
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Q.
Oh, so Mike Patrick told you that John
Reporter:
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Etheridge had told him that?
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A.
Yes.
And the report of
I believe it was
Deputy Hedge, when I read that, it was clear that the

sheriff had arrived and was present when both Taser
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strikes or whatever you call them were being
administered to my client.
And also he was present when
kicks to the ribs were being administered to my client.

And based on the fact that the officer's
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report indicated he was there and the fact that the

video showed he did not say or do anything to stop it,
then that led me to believe he took no action to put a
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stop to it as the chief law enforcement officer.

Q.
there?
Did you interview the officers who were
A.
The
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Q.
A.
The officers who were there at the scene.

That's...
MR. GRIFFITH:
can go ahead and answer. THE WITNESS:
Object to the form.
But you
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I don't recall interviewing
the officers.
I read their reports.
I talked to their
lawyers to see if they would be allowed it give

statements or talk, and they advised they would not.
BY MR. DAVIDSON:
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Q.
Did any of their lawyers indicate to you
Reporter:
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that the sheriff was there at the scene?
A.
No, I didn't ask.
Q.
Now, Exhibit No. 1 had to have been created

you know, there's an ouster
You're aware of that; right?
I don't know when it was I
after the ouster suit

suit that's been filed.
A. There is.
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don't know when it was filed, but if the date of the
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ouster suit is prior to the date of the posting, then,

yes, you're right.
Q. Well, it says, in response to our
objective, ha, ha, DA's ouster petition being untrue in

part, I would add the following comments to the petition
filed by Mike Patrick and other good citizens.
A. Then it would have either been filed or I
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would have seen it prior to that.
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Q.
filed?
Weren't you present at the time suit was
A.
Q. A.
Yes, but I don't recall the date.

Okay. Yeah, I was at the courthouse.
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Q.
Now, you spoke at a May 29, 2012, you spoke
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at a Tea Party meeting; is that correct?

A.
I
I did speak at a Tea Party meeting, and
and I assume that date's correct.
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Q.
Okay.
This is a video that we received of
Reporter:
this Tea Party meeting, probably need to make
I want
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to make that the next exhibit.

a copy of that too.
And if you can make him
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5 before?
MR. GRIFFITH:
Was that provided to us
MR. DAVIDSON:
Should have been.
I sent
all those CDs in.
I don't know why you didn't get them.
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BY MR. DAVIDSON:
6.)
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.jfjPN
Q.
suit?
What was your involvement in the ouster
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A.
JP Bradley and Mike Patrick in court one
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day asked me if the DA was going to file an ouster, and

I told them I was confident he would not. They said
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something was going to have to be done.
I explained to
them the gist of the ouster law in regard to citizen

relaters filing an ouster, and they stated that one or both of them were going to do that.
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I found a form petition for ouster online.

Mike asked me Mike Patrick asked me if I'd ever seen
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one.
I told him that I had not,
and I forwarded the
form that I assume he used as a template for the ouster
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petition.
I also provided information to him based on
my interviews with various witnesses.
Reporter:
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Q.
I'm going to show you a document here and
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ask you if this is if you recognize this document.

Have you ever seen that document? A.
Q.
I just got it.

Sure, I'm sorry.
Let me look.
A.
Yes.
Q.
Did you prepare that?
A.
The petition I did not prepare.
That was
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from a form petition.
The information in regard to what
laws that I felt appeared to have been violated and

based on facts that I had uncovered in my investigation,
yes.
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MR. DAVIDSON:
Okay.
Let's make that the
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next exhibit, please.
Let me get a clip here.

BY MR. DAVIDSON:
7.)
18
19 Mr.
Q.
Lockert.
Look at Exhibit No. 1, again, if you could,
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A.
Okay.
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Q.
I want to go over some stuff here to make
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sure I understand where you got this.
You say in No. B
that Sheriff neglected his duty to obtain proper medical
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treatment by taking him or having him transported to the

hospital room with no pants on.
Reporter:
21
JPN
A.
Yes.
Q.
Okay.
So that Darrin Ring was too
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embarrassed to go naked, thus denied proper medical

treatment? A. Yes.
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Q.
Okay.
You got this information from Darrin
Ring and the jail staff that were present?

A. Jail staff. He said that he was brought in
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naked and one of the jailers took a blanket to him so

that he could be covered up.
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Q.
A.
Weren't they carrying him in a blanket?

She took a blanket to them. They wrapped
the blanket around him and carried him to the cell.
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Q.
Okay.
Do you
did you talk to anybody at
the emergency room to see what happened when he was

brought there?
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A.
I did not talk to anybody at the emergency
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room.
I read reports, medical reports.
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Q.
Did they tell you that when he was brought
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there that he spit on the nurse and refused to

refused treatment?
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23 evidence.
MR. GRIFFITH:
Objection, facts not in
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THE WITNESS:
No, no one told me that he
stood (sic) on a nurse and refused treatment.
J
Reporter: Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR
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BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
2
3 the ER?
Q.
But you looked at the medical reports from
A.
I don't
I say the ER.
It may have been
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medical reports from the jail where they

took him.
where they
And I talked to a jailer who actually took
him to the ER and sat with him.
8
9
10
Q.
Do you know that it was the Sheriff that
asked for the blanket to be brought out?

A. I don't know that. I was not told that.
11
Q.
Now, who told you that the Sheriff took
12
/#^u-
part in beating him while his hands were cuffed at his

back, administering multiple kicks to his body?
A. An inmate whose last name was Barbee, I
13
14
15
16
want to say Larry or Steven Barbee; an inmate by the

name of McGowan, I think Chris McGowan; inmate by the
17 18
19
name of Hooper, I think John or JC Hooper. I'm missing a name of
And I know
I'm thinking there were four
different inmates who advised me that they were in a
20 21 22
23
cell across from the holding cell where Darrin was and observed the Sheriff administering knee strikes to Darrin Ring as he lay cuffed and shackled on a concrete
cot in the cell.
24
#*
One of those inmates advised he was so
25
upset he called his father.
I talked to his father.
He
Reporter:
23
advised that this inmate had called him and advised him
2 3
4
that he needed to get help to the jail because the

Sheriff was kicking the guy in the cell.
Q.
Now, you were
you heard
you were here
5 6 7
8
during the Sheriff's deposition; correct?

A. Yes, I was.
Q.
And there was some mention of some
Sheriff was asked a question about a posting that you

made. Let me pass this to you here.
A. Yes.
9
10
11
12 13
14
Q.
A.
Did you make that posting?

I did.
Q.
juror?
How did you get a statement of a grand
15 16
17
A.
I had one or more people who relayed to me
that they had talked to a grand juror who had advised

that the district attorney had only offered to show the
18 19
20 21
video of Darrin Ring being beaten on a small laptop or a
tablet computer and had been advised that the video was
not very good quality and you really couldn't see
anything.
22
23 24
In conjunction with that, I knew from my
experience the way the grand jury was handled that it

was done in a manner to produce a no true bill.
received a call from Scott Couch with Fox 17 News
And I
25
Reporter:
24
1
2
3
advising me that the TBI were upset about the way the
district attorney had handled the grand jury and wanted
a story done.
Scott asked me if I would be able to get a
5
6 7
grand juror who would be willing to come forward and

make a statement on the news, either anonymously or otherwise. I advised him that grand jurors could not
testify in regard to what was testified to in grand
9
10
11
12
13
jury, but that I would see if I could find someone who

would give a statement in regard to the way the DA
handled the grand jury.
Q.
A.
Who would that have been?

Who would what have been?
14
15
Q.
Who would have given a statement as to how
the DA handled the grand jury?
16
17
18
A.
Well, any grand juror that was willing to
come forward at that time and make a statement to Scott

Couch.
19
20 next exhibit.
MR. DAVIDSON:
Okay.
Let's make this the
21
22
23

BY MR. DAVIDSON:
8.)
24
jP^N
Q.
Okay.
Where is the statement that the
25
grand juror made?
Reporter:
25
A.
There is no written statement.
2
3
Q.
statement?
Who was the grand juror that made the
A.
I don't know the name of the grand juror.
5
6
7
8
The grand juror did not want their name used.

Q. Who was the person that told you a grand
juror had made the statement?

A. Would either have been Darrin Ring's
9
10
11
mother, Michelle McCarson, someone in the clerk's

office, someone with the City of New Johnsonville, and I
don't I really don't recall.
12
13
Q.
A.
Did you say Michelle Carson?

Michelle McCarson.
14
Q.
Who is she?
15
16
A.
She's a bonds lady, and I'm not sure what
else she does.
17
18
Q.
A.
And then somebody in the clerk's office?

Yeah, I'm saying it would have been one or
19
more of those.
I don't recall at this point who it was.
20 21
22
23
And they never gave me a name, just the verbal statement of what this grand juror had said.
Q. Okay. And something that important, you
don't remember who told you that?
24
J0^\ 25 answered.
MR. GRIFFITH:
Objection, asked and
Reporter:

26
JPN
BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
Q.
Correct?
A.
No, I don't
I don't recall the name of
4
5 6 7
8
9
the person.
They contacted me simply to tell me this is

And then
something that you might want to look into.
shortly after I received the call from Scott Couch that the TBI was asking for a story on the way the grand jury
was handled. They were upset about it. So that made me
believe there was something to it.
10
11 that
Q.
Now, I want to go back to the
where is
where is that exhibit, first exhibit to Mr.
12 13 14
15
the Sheriff's deposition? second, if I could. this video.
I need to look at that for a I want to go back to
Thank you.
It's your testimony, I want to make sure I
understand today, that nobody from the TBI or any other
16
17 18 19
20
governmental agency provided your office with any video

from the Waverly Police Department? A. That is correct. The only video that I
received was in discovery from Lisa Dunnagan, who was at

that time the assistant district attorney.
21 22
23
MR. DAVIDSON: client just a second.

MR.
Okay.
Let me talk to my
Okay?
Sure.
GRIFFITH:
24
25
(Whereupon, a break was taken from

1:44 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.)
Reporter:
27
i$pN
BY MR.
DAVIDSON:
2 3
4
5
Q.
I just have a few more questions.
Mr. Lockert, do you ever publish documents under the

website of Support Darrin Ring?
statements on that?
Did you ever make
6
7
A.
Q.
Did I make posts on it?

Yeah.
A.
I have posted on that site, but I have
9
10
nothing to do with that site, if that's what you're

asking.
11
Q.
Okay.
You never made any posts that you
12
j$pfc\
didn't put your name on, just basically made a post on

there?
13
14 15
A. Q.
Absolutely not. Okay.
Never.
16
17 name.
A.
I stand by everything I say and use my
18
Q.
I want to make sure I understand this
19
before we get out of here, that you're saying under oath
20
21
22
today that you never saw and have never seen the Waverly
PD camera cam of that night, recording?
A. I have not.
23
24
Q.
A.
Okay.
I have been told that some existed. I was
25
told that David Daniels with the City was very
Reporter:
28
1
2 3 4
cooperative with Mr. Etheridge excuse me, with

Mr. Griffith and David Raybin and had forwarded some to
them.
But the only video that I have seen and the
5
6 7
only video that I had seen when I made these remarks or posts were the one video that I asked the Sheriff to
review and I asked John Lee Williams, the County
attorney to review to try to get them to take some type of disciplinary action against the officers.
only video I'd seen.
9 10
11 12
That's the
Q.
Pack
And you also have testified that David
not David Pack, but Mr. Patrick

A. Mike Patrick.
13
14
Q.
is an attorney, told you that
15 16
17
Mr. Etheridge told him that the Sheriff was there on the scene at the time the tasing and the beatings took
place?
A. He told me that the Sheriff that John
18 19 20
21
Etheridge had told him the Sheriff was at the scene of

the Darrin Ring beating and that he may have actually
walked across camera at one point in time on the video.

Q. That's what John Etheridge Mr. Patrick
22
23
said John Etheridge told him?

A. Yes.
24 25
Q.
Okay.
All right.
Well, when we get these
Reporter:

29
1 2
videos run over to you, why don't you take a look at the
Waverly PD video.
A. Okay.
3
4 5
Q.
And when you have had a chance to view that

would you let your lawyer know
video, would you allow

it?
A. Yes.
6
7
8 9 10
11
MR. DAVIDSON:
Okay.
And would you let me
know when you've had a chance for him to review that

video?
MR.
GRIFFITH:
Yeah, but what's the
12 13
14 15
purpose?
MR. DAVIDSON: just an old man.
Well, just humor me.
I'm
I just want to kind of know when he's

may want to send you
ready, because I may want to ask
16
17
a written question about it, but I don't want to do that

if he hadn't seen the video.
18
19
MR. GRIFFITH:
Okay.
Yeah,
I'll be glad to
do it.
I just don't know what relevance it would have
20 21
22 23 24
to the allegations made in the complaint, but I'll do

it.
MR. DAVIDSON:
Yeah,
if you don't mind.
Okay.
All right.
I don't have any more questions.
25
Reporter:
1 2 3
4 5
EXAMINATION
BY MR.
GRIFFITH:
Q.
I just have one question.
Have you ever
made a statement about Sheriff Davis regarding the
Darrin Ring incident or any other incident that is

willfully false?
6
7 8
A.
No.
I carefully considered anything I
said.
The post that is the crux of the complaint was
based on a DA's office investigator telling me he was
10 11 12 13
14
present, based on the Sheriff himself telling me that he

was present, based on a deputy's report who showed him
present prior to tasing and leg strikes being administered, and my investigation as a whole including
talking to Darrin Ring who advised what Sheriff Davis
did to him.
MR.
you. FURTHER EXAMINATION BY MR. DAVIDSON:
15
16
17
GRIFFITH:
That's all
have.
Thank
18
19
20
Q.
Based on that I've got a couple follow-up
21
22 23 24 25
questions.
In looking at Exhibit No. 2 when I asked you
what you relied upon to make this statement, you don't

mention what Mr. Patrick told you in that, do you?
A.
No, because I can't tell you when

And I don't want to say it
Mr. Patrick told me that.
Reporter:
was before I made that post or that statement or my
2 3
4
comments on the media if it wasn't before and I just

I don't recall.
MR. DAVIDSON:
MR. GRIFFITH:
Okay.
All right.
5
6
7
Nothing further for me.
(Whereupon, the deposition was concluded at

1:55 p.m.)
FURTHER THE DEPONENT SAITH NOT
9 10
11 12
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20
21 22
23
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Reporter:
2 3
4 5 6
STATE OF TENNESSEE ) ) S.S. COUNTY OF DAVIDSON )
I, Roxann Harkins, Notary Public and Licensed

Court Reporter for the State of Tennessee at Large,
DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing deposition
was taken at the time and place set forth in the caption
8
9
hereof; that the deponent therein was duly sworn on oath

or affirmed to testify the truth; that the proceedings of said deposition were stenographically reported by me
in shorthand; and that the foregoing pages constitute a
10 11
12
true and correct transcription of said proceedings to

the best of my ability.
I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative
13
14
15
of, employee or attorney or counsel of any of the
16
17
parties hereto, nor do I have any interest in the

outcome or events of this action.
18 19
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23
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto affixed my
official signature this 20th day of August, 2012, at

Nashville, Tennessee.
Roxann Harkins, Notary Public State of Tennessee at Large
LCR#:
24
25
204
(Expires 6-30-2014)
My Commission Expires:
July 6, 2015
Reporter:

8-17-12 Jake Lockert

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1

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR HUMPHREYS COUNTY,

taken on behalf of the Plaintiff

August 17, 2012

BAIN, CLEETON, EVANS, HARKINS & RICHARDSON

Nashville, Tennessee 31201 (615) 255-6425

Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR

Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR

For the Plaintiff:

2400 Crestmoor Road Suite 107

Nashville, Tennessee 37215

For the Defendant:

JONATHAN L. GRIFFITH, ESQ.

Nashville, Tennessee 37219

No. 1....Facebook posting

No. 4....Waverly Police Department video

Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR

The Deposition of JAKE LOCKERT was taken by

N. Griffith, 415 West Main Street, Waverly, Tennessee,

at 1:06 p.m. on August 17, 2012, for all purposes under

All formalities as to notice, caption,

et cetera, are waived.

All objections, except as to the

form of the question, are reserved to the hearing.

It is agreed that Roxann Harkins, being a

Notary Public and Licensed Court Reporter in and for the

reading and signing of the completed deposition by the

Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR

called as a witness, after having been first duly sworn,

Sir, would you state your name for the

William Bradley Jake Lockert.

What do you do for a living?

District public defender for the 23rd

And how long have you been in that

Before that, what did you do?

In September of 1996 I became an assistant

district attorney and served in that capacity until

We1re here today about a lawsuit that my

client's filed against you regarding defamation in a

that complaint; is that correct?

Roxann Harkins, RPR,

So the questions I'm going to ask you today

primarily have to do with that.

First of all, do you

understand what the allegation is against you?

And what is that?

That I made a statement or a posting in

regard to the sheriff being at the scene of the Darrin

violated any laws that you're aware of?

And what would those laws have been?

Been violation of laws in regard to civil

rights of Darrin Ring, also in regard to criminal

from committing aggravated assault on Darrin Ring.

attached as an exhibit to the complaint.

And I'm going

to pass you a copy of this.

of Exhibit A to the complaint.

Did you post this?

is it the whole thing?

Roxann Harkins, RPR, CRR, LCR

This is the whole thing.

(Witness reading document.)

I'm sure I did.

I mean, I don't have independent