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Ouster Proceedings |
By
David Day
There has been much attention in the media lately on a national level
concerning potential impeachment of our president and on a local level
concerning ouster of the Putnam County Property Assessor. While the end
result of these proceedings, if successful, are quite similar, their nature
and origin are different.
Impeachment is generally of constitutional origin. Both the United
States and Tennessee Constitutions provide
for impeachment for specific offices and offenses.
On the other hand, removal from certain government offices are governed by
statute. The County Property Assessor is such an office. According to Tennessee
statute, individuals holding such offices of trust are subject to ouster or
removal if they commit certain statutory violations. These include such
things as knowing or wilful neglect office, public intoxication, gambling and
violation of a penal (criminal) statute involving moral turpitude.
Any ouster proceeding must be filed in court and trial occur prior to
removal. The trial can occur in either circuit, chancery or criminal court.
The elected official has the right to demand a jury to hear the case. If an
elected official is found to have committed a statutorily described
wrongdoing, the court can order the official removed.
If the grounds for ouster include criminal misconduct, the crime can be
proven in the ouster proceeding and be grounds for removal without affecting
the underlying criminal prosecution. The ouster statute does provide however,
that if the defendant is compelled to give testimony against himself at the
ouster hearing, he may be immune from prosecution in a later criminal
proceeding.
An ouster proceeding can be initiated by the attorney general or state
recorder, the district attorney general, the county attorney or 10 citizens
of the county owning real estate in the county.
Ouster proceedings are not common. I am confident that the citizens of Putnam
County hope that they will become
less common in our county. |
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