Image Credit: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Former Chattanooga police chief Celeste Murphy entered a plea of not guilty on Friday in response to the 17 charges filed against her.
According to attorney Alan Norton, Murphy waived her right to appear, instead sending her lawyers to answer to the charges at the Hamilton County Courthouse.
Murphy faces 14 felony charges and 3 misdemeanor charges, including illegal voter registration, falsifying documents, and perjury.
Public records show that Murphy signed documents claiming residency in both Chattanooga and Atlanta. While the Chattanooga city charter requires that the police chief be a Tennessee resident, Murphy continued to claim tax exemptions on a home in Georgia after she was hired.
Murphy also registered to vote in Tennessee, claiming two different Tennessee addresses as her residences. One of those homes is owned by the family of another Chattanooga police officer.
Following an investigation by the Chattanooga Times Free Press into her conflicting residency claims in March, Murphy updated her voter registration to a Southside apartment address. She issued a statement saying that publicly disclosing her residence could be a safety hazard for her due to her position.
Murphy was not initially placed on leave when the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation began investigating her residency. She resigned from her position as police chief the day before she was booked into the Hamilton County Jail.
Her next court date is scheduled for September 19.
3 Responses
Are citizens paying attention to anything in government? Is this part of the reason Chattanooga has been chosen as a SMART, “15 minute”, city? People are not paying attention? Is this the best they can do? Scary.
No doubt this woman was a DEI hire. Next time hire on merit and not on skin color or genitalia Mayor Kelly. I really hate you Democrats.
Smart City is an Oxy Moron when DEI hires are running things.
Beautiful City. Shame this has happened to the City.