Woodson v. Bing

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 30, 2024
Docket3:24-cv-00085
StatusUnknown

This text of Woodson v. Bing (Woodson v. Bing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodson v. Bing, (M.D. Tenn. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION

RICHARD KENNY WOODSON,

Plaintiff, Case No. 3:24-cv-00085

v. Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. Magistrate Judge Alistair E. Newbern CHRISTY BING et al.,

Defendants.

To: The Honorable Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., District Judge

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION Pro se Plaintiff Richard Kenny Woodson brought this action asserting claims arising out of his prosecution for first-degree murder and especially aggravated battery—charges on which he was found not guilty—and the resulting media coverage against Defendants Clarksville Police Department Detective Christy Bing, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kayla McBride, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge William R. Goodman, the State of Tennessee, online newspaper Clarksville Now, and the Clarksville Montgomery Justice System. (Doc. No. 1.) Clarksville Now, McBride, Goodman, and the State have moved to dismiss Woodson’s claims against them. (Doc. Nos. 4, 8, 11.) Woodson has not responded in opposition to the motions to dismiss. After the Court ordered Woodson to show cause why it should not dismiss his claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute (Doc. No. 14), Woodson filed a motion for leave to file an amended complaint. (Doc. No. 18.) No defendant has responded in opposition to Woodson’s motion for leave to amend. Woodson has not responded to the Court’s show-cause order. The Court referred this action to the Magistrate Judge for case management and to dispose or recommend disposition of any pretrial motions under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) and (B). (Doc.

No. 13.) For the reasons that follow, the Magistrate Judge will recommend that the Court dismiss this action sua sponte under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) because the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over Woodson’s claims, terminate the defendants’ motions to dismiss as moot, and deny Woodson’s motion for leave to amend his complaint without prejudice for failure to comply with the Court’s Local Rules. I. Background A. Factual Background This action arises out of Woodson’s prosecution in Montgomery County, Tennessee, for first-degree murder and especially aggravated burglary related to his alleged role in a deadly home invasion that took place in 2019.1 (Doc. Nos. 1, 1-1.) A jury found Woodson not guilty of all charges on January 30, 2023. (Id.) However, Woodson alleges that he “spent three (3) years of

[his] life behind bars” in pre-trial detention “as an innocent man” before “a jury of [his] own peers” returned the “not guilty verdict . . . .” (Doc. No. 1, PageID# 5, 6.)

1 Woodson attached to his complaint what appears to be partial screenshots of a news article published in Clarksville Now (Doc. No. 1-1). See Jordan Renfro, Home invasion slaying: Woodson found not guilty in robbery that left intruder, victim dead, Clarksville Now (Feb. 8, 2023), https://clarksvillenow.com/local/home-invasion-slaying-woodson-found-not-guilty-in-robbery- that-left-intruder-victim-dead/. The Court takes judicial notice of the complete article as context for Woodson’s claims. United States v. Allstate Ins. Co., 620 F. Supp. 3d 674, 685 (E.D. Mich. 2022) (taking judicial notice of news article); see also U.S. ex rel. Dingle v. BioPort Corp., 270 F. Supp. 2d 968, 972 (W.D. Mich. 2003) (finding it appropriate to take judicial notice of public documents from reliable sources on the internet). Although Woodson includes the State of Tennessee and the Clarksville Montgomery Justice System in the caption of his complaint, he does not list them as named defendants in the form complaint. (Doc. No. 1.) Woodson also does not include any allegations against the State or the Clarksville Montgomery Justice System in the body of his complaint. (Id.)

Woodson makes the following allegations against Bing, McBride, Goodman, and Clarksville Now in his statement of claim: 1) Detective Christy Bing – Detective Bing knowing[ly] put out false information to my wife, family and friends to try to convince them that I was guilty, because she had an assumption that I was guilty. [Ig]noring the evidence[,] she made up a story to support her version of events, even though I reported to her I was a victim of the robbery / crime as well. She used “[hearsay][ ]” from people that I did not even know to write statements against me. The recordings of witnesses from the initial interview were changed when statements were taken at a later time. Even the two codefend[a]nt[s], who admitted lying under oath, were granted probation even thou[gh] they admitted to the home invasion and one even admitted to shooting and killing the home[ ]owner ([m]y childhood friend), just to change their statements and testify against me. She had it in for me, because I refused to take a plea deal. She made th[r]eats towards me because I would not do and say what she wanted me to say. She mis[ ]represented the truth to p[u]rsue a sealed indictment for my arrest. She gave information to Clarksville Now linking me to the murders in the early stages of the inve[s]tigation. She did her best to slander my name turning the community against me, going as far as to put [m]y picture on a bill[ ]board. 2) DA Kayla McBride - After being assigned to my case and reviewing all the evidence, to include the coaching of the codefend[a]nts (as written in the transcripts) she ignored the facts that they were lying and had to be told what to say and yet she still pursued the lie. She willfully put witnesses on the stand (Sandra Longfellow) to out[ ]right lie (when 911 call revealed the truth). She had no regard for my life, even after the not guilty verdict came in and a jury of my own peers found me innocent, [ ] McBride went back to the news[ ]paper casting [doubt] on my name and the verdict, knowing this would have negative consequenc[ ]es for my family safety and my life. She reli[ti]gated the trial from a bias position which was posted in the paper (Clarksville Now). She knew this case should have never gone to trial. 3) Judge William R Goodman – The judge accepted an open plea from the two co- defendant[s], who were the actual offenders and murders and he gave them probation and was trying me for murder. He allowed hear[ ]say evidence to be admitted against me, but shut it down from witnesses testifying on my behalf. Even when it was obvious that the witnesses against me were lying and the evidence was being fab[r]icated, he permitted it and said we could bring it up on the appeal process, indicating a bias. I was not innocent until proven guilty, it was just the opposite. [Goodman] appeared to be unfair in his ruling, siding with [McBride] a majority of the time. 4) Clarksville Now - This [newspaper] put false information out about [me] that was not true (per the a[ ]rticle in the paper January 2, 2020)[.] They label[ed] me a su[ ]spect for a crime that I was a victim. They fail[ed] to do their due diligence in sources and fact finding. They were quick to repeat the lie with no men[t]ion of me being innocent until proven guilty. They misrepresented the truth and p[ ]ublished slanted information p[or]traying me as guilty. My family was threaten[ed], my children were confronted in school, made to feel ashame[d] and embarrassed because of what was published by this well[-]know[n] paper both in print and on[ ]line.

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Bluebook (online)
Woodson v. Bing, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodson-v-bing-tnmd-2024.