- Publication: The Athens Observer (Athens, Georgia)
- Author: Elton Manzione
- Original Publication Date: Thursday, March 28, 1996
Documents filed with the State Court of Athens-Clarke County on March 23 have termed files relating to the Jennifer Stone murder investigation “state secrets” and seek protection from having to produce those documents at a deposition in a pending civil case. Stone’s 1992 murder is still unsolved, and the case remains open.
The characterization of the investigation files as “state secrets” and “matters of state” is part of a motion for protective order filed by Assistant Athens-Clarke County Attorney Ellen Whitaker on behalf of Sgt. W.J. Smith. Smith is the lead investigator in the Stone probe.
Smith had been subpoenaed to give a deposition in the defamation suit brought by former schools Superintendent Carol Purvis against the Clarke County School District and several employees of the district, including former Superintendent John Balentine. Balentine had been scheduled for deposition March 23, but was unable to appear as the result of a snow storm blanketing the area of Kentucky where he now resides.
Smith was also scheduled to appear March 23, but filed the eleventh-hour motion for the protective order with the Clerk of Court’s office just over an hour after his scheduled 10 a.m. appearance time. Smith is the second person subpoenaed by Purvis’ attorney, Scott McLarty, who has filed a motion for protective order to keep from being questioned under oath. Former school board president Ed Tolley filed a similar motion earlier last week (see above story).
Smith’s motion, like Tolley’s, asserts he has no information relevant to the subject matter involved in the Purvis case.
McLarty’s subpoena sought Smith’s testimony as well as “any documents and/or files regarding any investigations relating to the death of Jennifer Stone.” McLarty had requested Tolley produce similar records.
Reportedly, the son of Superior Court Judge Joseph Gaines was one of the last persons to see Stone alive. Gaines was also the presiding judge at Purvis’ racketeering trial. Purvis’ conviction in the trial was overturned on appeal.
McLarty said he questions the validity of Smith’s and Tolley’s assertions they have no information in his case.
“I think it’s presumptuous of these witnesses to suggest they have no knowledge of matters I haven’t yet questioned them about,” McLarty said.
McLarty said his intent in questioning Smith and Tolley is to “uncover evidence of an intentional violation of Carol Purvis’ civil rights by Tolley, [District Attorney Harry] Gordon, Gaines, and perhaps the Clarke County Police Department.” McLarty had sought Gaines’ recusal from the racketeering trial and complained that Tolley had engaged in an improper communication with the judge during the trial.
McLarty said that the information is important to the defamation case because “only after the truth is out about each one’s role in the wrongful conviction and jailing of Dr. Purvis can the jury understand the true damage inflicted by the defamatory comments made by the defendants in this suit.”
Georgia law allows investigatory files of open criminal cases to be withheld from public disclosure, but those documents, according to several local attorneys, can be ordered produced in a suit with various conditions attached to safeguard their confidentiality.