Green recuses self from Lineweaver case

Juvenile Court's elected officials still at odds over files and arrest

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Vic Lineweaver

At Davidson County Juvenile Court today, Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green recused herself from hearing the case of Vic Linewaver and the missing files. Yup, it really is a bad "Encylopedia Brown"-type mystery.

Lineweaver, Davidson County's Juvenile Court Clerk, and Green are known to have been at odds with each other since the day Lineweaver was elected six years ago. To say that they have an adversarial relationship would be too kind to the both of them.

The animosity became public last year when Lineweaver was arrested at the direction of Juvenile Court referees Scott Rosenberg, William Griffin and Sophia Crawford for "willful civil contempt of a court order." The referees serve under the authority of Green.

At the time of the arrest, Tim Adgent, a Juvenile Court employee and a member of Green's senior staff, told NashvillePost.com that the arrest order was due to Lineweaver's repeated refusal to produce court documents. Adgent said the referees acted under the authority of Green and could not have made the move without her consent.

At today's hearing on the matter, Green recused herself at the request of Lineweaver's counsel and said that a special judge would be appointed by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. While the motion and the hearing were uneventful, there was some posturing that took place in front of a number of news media cameras.

Prior to today's court being called into session, juvenile court staff were discussing the first case on their docket, which was unrelated to the Lineweaver case. Green then entered the courtroom and complained on camera that she did not have the files that other court staff had been discussing and said that the "clerk's office hadn't delivered it."

She then exited the courtroom and said that she would reconvene when they had the missing files from the clerk's office. Less than two minutes later, she was back in the courtroom with the files.

Green also said that the Lineweaver case wasn't on the docket and the clerk's office must not have given her the files or made the proper motions. At the time, the attorneys in the case – James Stranch for Lineweaver and Phillip Robinson and Philip E. Smith against – were already in the courtroom.

After hearing the juvenile court cases on the docket, Green then took up the matter of Lineweaver and said again that all of the motions weren't in the file. Stranch then gave Green a copy of his motion and then pointed out that one Green's court officers was holding another copy of the same motions in his hand. Green replied, "Well, it's not in the file."

Stranch told assembled media after the hearing that it will be shown that there is "not going to be a basis that he [Lineweaver] should have been held.' Lineweaver simply told NashvillePost.com, "I want my name and this office's name cleared, 'cause what was done was wrong."