March 24, 2017 - An incident occurred Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at the Shelby County Courthouse resulted in one courtroom being locked as a precaution and not the whole courthouse.
Christopher Jamar Cartwright of Shelbyville was scheduled to appear in the 123rd Judicial District Court of Judge LeAnn Kay Rafferty Wednesday morning. Upon entering the courthouse, he was instructed by Shelby County Deputy Danny Brown to empty items in his pockets before passing through the metal detector and being allowed to go upstairs to the District courtroom which is standard procedure.
Cartwright displayed an agitated behavior and was speaking loudly to Deputy Brown drawing the attention of others in the building. One employee who was traveling upstairs to the courtroom of Rafferty did instruct Courthouse Security, Bailiff Officer Walter Shofner, of the situation occurring downstairs between Deputy Brown and Cartwright.
Officer Shofner then proceeded downstairs with two additional deputies in the courtroom to assess the situation and before they arrived, Cartwright left the building.
According to Officer Shofner, he was later informed Judge Rafferty's courtroom was locked after the deputies left to go downstairs. However, the courthouse was not locked-down. Officer Shofner said, "We came to see what was going on and he left, got in the car and left. [He] left real fast, he was mad I guess. He was later stopped by some other departments for some other reasons, not because of what happened here."
Cartwright was arrested by the Center Police Department Sergeant Ricky King at 12:39pm on March 22, 2017 and he was transferred to the Shelby County Jail on March 23, 2017 for possession of a controlled substance.
Cartwright was to appear in court Wednesday morning for three indictments filed February 1, 2017 in the Judicial District Court of Shelby County.
Due to Cartwright not appearing in court Wednesday morning, three orders were filed forfeiting Cartwright's bonds and capias issued for arrest with a bond preset at $30,000 with a hearing required for each of the three indictments.
Two indictments were for Obstruction or Retaliation, third degree felony, alleging on February 26, 2016 Cartwright threatened to harm Trooper Dustin Ramos, as a public servant. The third indictment was for Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence, third degree felony, alleging on February 26, 2016 Cartwright during the arrest of an individual intentionally concealed or removed items from the vehicle with intent to impair its availability as possible evidence.
The courthouse was open the entire day other than vehicle registration being closed for hardware updates.
Judge Rafferty is on the Commissioners' Court Agenda for Monday, March 27 to address the Court about security issues.
