Honorable Ford Quillen
c/o Scott County Clerk of Courts
104 E. Jackson St.
Suite 2
Gate City, Virginia
24251
Date: April 20, 2009
To: Judge Ford Quillen
From: Larry Wayne King
Subject: Judicial Irregularities
Guardianship Hearing of Clarence and Athelene King, Lee County, Virginia
I am no longer represented by the Sturgill & Kennedy Law Offices.
This is an attempt to ensure my representatives from the Sturgill & Kennedy Law Offices, during the time they represented my sister, Barbara Lochner, and myself, presented critical pieces of information to you regarding potential perjury charges against Tammy Williams and Elizabeth King-Jones during those behind the scene chamber meetings. The Tammy Williams perjury incident occurred in Judge Tammy S. McElyea's court.
In attempting to obtain guardianship of our mother, Athelene King, in May, 2007, Elizabeth King-Jones enlisted Tammy Williams to be guardian of Athelene King because Elizabeth King-Jones lived out-of-state. It was determined that the oldest sibling, Barbara Lochner, who was living in California, was moving to Lee County by July 1. Judge McElyea, during the interim six weeks, made Mrs. Williams co-guardian. During the hearing to have Barbara Lochner made Athelene King's guardian, Mrs. Williams stated, under oath, that she visited Mrs. King's house every other day for six weeks and during the off days, she called. Judge McElyea, based on Mrs. Williams testimony, had her continue as co-guardianship with Barbara Lochner. There were five witnesses who knew that was a lie. One or more of the witness's was around Mrs. King 24-hours a day during the entire six weeks. Mrs. Williams visited one time during the six weeks and that was to cut Mrs. King's hair.
On two separate occasions, Judge McElyeas's court made last minute changes that prevented perjury testimony against Tammy Williams. The first was when all witnesses were seated outside the courtroom waiting to testify. The second was at Kinser's Law Offices with all the same witnesses waiting to be deposed. Neither time were they given the opportunity to testify. When we asked Jeff Sturgill, our attorney, what happened during the time the witness were outside the court room and the attorneys went into chambers, we were told Judge McElyea said, “Well, mistakes were made” and “all that is behind us now”. Judge McElyea, was a friend/acquaintance of Tammy Williams. Still, this behavior by Judge McElyeas ultimately cost the family 10's of $1,000 in attorney fees having Elizabeth placed as guardian of daddy in the same house as mother. The end result was that two weeks before mother passed away, Joe Rasnic, mother's ad litem, called and said that Dr. Scott Litton and he wanted mother out of the house, away from Elizabeth, or they would put her in a nursing home. The hazardous situation, while created by Elizabeth's behavior, was exacerbated byfact that the home health care company canceled their contract because they felt that Elizabeth posed a threat to the personal safety of their workers. Mother passed away in my house. My father continues to live in his house where Elizabeth has moved in. I have no knowledge of what she is doing with or to my father, but I do know that she has not taken him back to the neurologist -even though she was told to come back in 6 months- since August, 2007.
It wasn't your court, so once this is off the docket, I will file a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission and let them sort it out.
The following excerpts (copies of the full summaries are enclosed) are taken from medical summaries, by date, from my father's visits to his neurologists dating back to October, 2005. Also, shown below are 2 pages of a deposition of Elizabeth King-Jones where she stated that our father doesn't have Alzheimer's disease, which is in direct contradiction to his neurologists diagnosis. Needless to say, we believe Elizabeth's intent was to try and show our father was mentally capable of changing his will.
The following is a chronological time line of Clarence King's diagnoses of Alzheimer's:
October 6, 2005 – Original visit to Neurologist Daniel Garber, prompted by me calling Dr Molony, daddy's primary physician and reporting his multiple day disorientation . Referenced in Dr Garber's summary of April 4, 2006. (taken for testing by myself)
February, 2006 – Unknown to me (living next door to my parents) Elizabeth drove mother and daddy to George Cridlin and had daddy give her his sole POA and joint POA with me for mother.
April 4, 2006 - Visit summary of Clarence King by Daniel Garber, MD, Associated Neurologists of Kingsport, (referencing his original visit of October 6, 2005): progressive symptoms of mild vascular dementia and dementia of Alzheimer's for two to four years.
Dr Garber states, “I think that he will obviously have this condition for the rest of his life and it will continue to get worse.”
August 4, 2006 – Dr. Garber mentioned that his daughter (Elizabeth) is with him. Overall assessment of general medical condition, again diagnosing daddy's condition of “Dementia with components of senile dementia of Alzheimer's type and vascular. Multiple different issues concerning his dementia has been discussed.”
-Insert by lwk for informational purposes only-
The following is a description of Alzheimer's disease and a list of vascular dementia symptoms from the Alzheimer's Association web site:
A. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive and fatal brain disease. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, and it is fatal. Today it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
B. Symptoms of vascular dementia:
- Memory problems may or may not be a prominent symptom, depending on whether brain regions important in memory are affected.
- Confusion, which may get worse at night.
- Difficulty concentrating, planning, communicating and following instructions.
- Reduced ability to carry out daily activities.
- Physical symptoms associated with strokes, such as sudden weakness, difficulty speaking or confusion.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain may show characteristic abnormalities associated with vascular damage.
April, 2007 – Give or take 30 days, Elizabeth drove daddy to George Cridlin's office, stayed with him in the office and had daddy disinherit mother, Gail and myself and make her his sole heir.
May 28, 2007 – Kristie Nies, Ph.D, Clinical Psychologist, specializing in mental health, performed a neuropsych evaluation and she felt that daddy was “at increased accidental self injury and victimization secondary to cognitive dysfunction and recommended continuous provision and assistance.” (included in Dr. C.A. Pendola's summary of August 31, 2007)
August 31, 2007 – Visit summary by C. A. Pendola, M.D., Neurologist. Recapping Dr. Nies of May 28, 2007 confirming the report, that includes, “The daughter states that she is well aware of her recommendation. I once again review these with Mr. King and his daughter.”
Dr. Pendola's impressions include “Chronic dementia likely mixed with a combination of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia disease”.
In #4, Dr. Pendola asked for daddy to come back in six months. Needless to say, Elizabeth never took daddy back.
I verbally verified with the offices of Neurologists of Kingsport and Dr. Nies's office that copies of all summaries were sent to Dr. Molony's office.
December 3, 2007 – Deposition of Elizabeth King-Jones taken on December 3, 2007 in Jonesville, Virginia at Montgomery Kinser law offices. Exerts of Pages 12 & 13:
Q Have you noticed any difference in your dad's condition in between those interval?
A Well I, Ive noticed he's more frail than he was.
Q Anything else?
A His blood pressure is worse. He's had, well he was having some chest pains and I took him to a cardiologist when I was here in November.
Q Anything else?
A I'm not sure.
Q Okay. As far as cognitive abilities have you noticed anything there?
A Other than his memory, no, he does have a poor memory.
Q Have you talked to his doctors about it?
A Yes, I have.
Q Do you understand what his diagnosis is?
A Yes, I do.
Q What do you understand it to be?
A Well, I was told by the girl that did his neuropsychiatric test two years ago, she told us that he had some dementia but she reversed that diagnosis because he actually, he had another
neuropsychiatric test in May and his condition has improved. He has improved and with dementia you don't improve.
I was also told that he does not have Alzheimer's. Now he has some symptoms of each one of those things but she said this last time that what he seemed to have was bilateral brain dysfunction which basically affects the memory.
Q And who ------
A So he does have a poor memory.
Q Who is the she, who told you this?
A Christy Nies.
Q From?
A From Kingsport.
Q You understand her to be in a neurology office?
A Yes.
Since the above responses, under oath, seems to far exceed the judicial standard of “preponderance of evidence”, I would like for you to consider perjury charges against Elizabeth King-Jones.
I began this entire process May 14, 2007, with my visit to the Lee County Health and Human Services when Barbara and I were worried that Elizabeth was abusing our father. I was advised by Pamela Farr to file for guardianship, which we did. Because of the ensuing perjury
which the evidence here sets forth, my father has remained in this perilously situation and we have been helpless to remedy it. Perhaps if this issue were properly addressed our father's care would not be compromised.
