A Knoxville TN federal jury awards retired firefighter Christ Didymus Thomas $330.00 in compensatory damages for the unlawful search of his residence and seizure of his property. Since 2008, thousands of dollars worth of items seized by the MPD, have been returned to Thomas.
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| Police chief Gregg Breeden |
During the service installation, the phone service employee and Thomas engaged in conversation. Thomas told Sircy of his religious beliefs, including his religious use of marijuana. Sircy told Thomas about his uncle who he said grows marijuana.
According to the plaintiff (Thomas) he writes in that--- "I have the Deposition of the accused informant, Mark Sircy, by
Madisonville cop, James D. Bivens, and the Bivens deposition. There was,
as you could see, never an informant. Sircy denied Bivens statement and
states he even went to the police department to complain they had lied
about his involvement in their illegal activities against me. I am
certain you could also check with Mark. He'll tell you the truth.
It was all a lie created by the Monroe Sheriff's Dept and the
Madisonville Police Dept. Bivens including the Police Chief.. It was a
broad based conspiracy which included many legal officials and the DA.
I was warned by another news agency, Bivens has more than once, lied on
the stand to steal and jail innocent folks so they can steal their
property. Judge Dixon allows him to lie and get away with his lying
allegations. If you have access to a fax, should you desire, I could
fax you the Sircy and Bivens depositions for your review."
Thomas
Sircy claimed that Thomas had given him a bag which contained a bud of marijuana. Upon leaving the residence Sircy contacted a friend at the Madisonville TN police dept., Captain Dan Russell. Sircy did not tell Russell who gave him the marijuana.
Sircy testified that he did not talk to Det. Bivens at the time he contacted Captain Russell, nor did he, at any time, talk to Det. Bivens about marijuana allegedly obtained from the plaintiff or how he obtained it.
Based on hearsay the phone company installer had told Captain Russell, the defendant, Det. James Bivens went to the General Sessions Court of Monroe County and filled out an affidavit in support of his application for a search warrant...U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Phillips upheld an earlier state court ruling which declared the search warrant was invalid, because Bivens had made false statements in the application for the search warrant.
In an interview with the Monroe County Buzz in 2008, Thomas said he had legally changed his name from William Burton Thomas to Christ Didymus Thomas after experiencing a religious transformation. "Thomas said he used marijuana or 'incense' as he called it, for religious purposes, citing the Biblical book of Genesis where God created grass and every herb-yielding seed, and saw that it was good."
