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District Attorney Craig Northcott and Alderman Jenna Amacher, represented by Larry Crain, of Crain Law Group in Brentwood, appeared before Judge Robert Carter at the Coffee County Justice Center on March 2 for the beginning of the trial challenging Amacher’s right to hold public office. The trail continued into Friday, March 3.

The basis for this trial is the claim by the office of the district attorney that Amacher vacated her residency in the city of Tullahoma after selling her property on Amhurst Drive in February of 2021. Six months after selling her property in Tullahoma, Amacher finalized a sale for a property on Ledford Mill Road, which is within the city limits.

Under the city charter, in order to run for either alderman or mayor of the city of Tullahoma, one must reside within the city limits. The city charter also indicates that an alderman and mayor must continue to reside in the city limits for the full term.

Upon first presenting his intent to file for Amacher’s removal during a Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting in October of 2022, Northcott stated that the alderman had resided at the property outside of the city limits for nearly 20 months of her initial three-year term as alderman.

The argument presented by the district attorney indicated that Amacher was not living or residing at the property on Ledford Mill Road, but rather on a family-owned property on Blue Creek Road, which is in Franklin County and not within the city limits of Tullahoma.

Amacher refutes this claim, citing that given she has no legal claim to the property on Blue Creek Road and that she owns the Ledford Mill Road, as well as a travel trailer that she has claimed as her temporary domicile on the property, she cannot be considered a permanent resident of the family property.

Part of Amacher’s personal, oral defense during the time leading up to the trial was Tennessee Code annotated 2-2-122, Principles for the Determination of Residence and the Factors Involved, which says that a person does not lose residency with the definite intent to return even if one or more years pass at that temporary location. One can move into a temporary residency to build a house, but that new structure would have to be within the city or county an elected official intends to represent.

The topic of Amacher’s residency has been a matter of debate since her move from Macon Manor in Feb. of  2021, six months after she took office. This move was prompted by a series of death threats following the release of a video of Amacher in late 2020, according to the alderman.

In court, Amacher provided the primary reason for her move, citing a desire for more land and claiming that she had purchased the Amhurst Drive property in order to renovate and improve the home for income. The funds she earned from the sale of this home and a previously-owned home in Manchester were used to purchase the property on Ledford Mill Road, in conjunction with a construction loan.

Leading up to the trial date, the phrase “intent paired with action” has repeatedly come up as a defense by Amacher for her being able to claim Ledford Mill Road as her residence despite there not being a permanent home or domicile at the property. This is in reference to the previously-mentioned Tennessee Code annotated 2-2-122.

During his questioning of Amacher during the trial, Northcott presented her federal tax return forms from the years 2016-2021, which indicated her gross and taxable income, as well as including the construction loan statements and bills of sale from construction materials. Only years 2019-2021 were read in court, for relevancy.

In each year read, the taxable income of Amacher did not exceed $20,000. According to Amacher, the majority of her construction loan was paid off through funds saved from the sale of both the Amhurst Drive property and the other previously-owned Manchester home.

These documents were provided in order to attempt to establish that Amacher did not have the means to continue immediate construction on her intended home on Ledford Mill Road.   

Amacher had additionally made the statement that she was unable to continue construction on her home due to damages to the property following the tornado that swept through the Tullahoma area in December of 2021. This was due to both debris on the land, as well as waiting for surveyance and approval for a disaster relief grant, which required the property to be inspected before the damages were removed.

Statements from Joseph “Joe Joe” Dobson, assistant superintendent for the Coffee County Highway Department, reflected that he had removed the fallen trees from the property in the span of four to five weeks, spanning from Dec. 10, 2021, to Jan. 17, 2022, as well as laying down gravel for a driveway. This was done through his private business, rather than in his capacity as assistant superintendent.

“When I got done there, I could’ve built me a home,” he said. “ started her a driveway up to where she showed me she was going to build a house. She bought gravel, and I don’t guess we knew it was going to cost that much. She said ‘stop,’ and that was it.”

Crain questioned whether Dobson had been aware of the inspections and surveyances that were required by the Farm Service Agency for the grant approval at the time of his work, which Dobson indicated he had not been aware of.

Upon being questioned by Carter, Dobson could not confirm the number of trees removed, but he stated that the construction site, while blocked by the downed trees before his work began, was clear and accessible after Jan. 17 of 2022.

A point of contention during the trial was the matter of a travel trailer that Amacher was claiming as her residence on the Ledford Mill Road property. Following the sale of her Amhurst Drive property in February of 2021, Amacher purchased the Ledford Mill Road property in August of 2021.

According to her statement, Amacher began the purchase of a travel trailer in June of 2021, but she did not take full, legal possession of the title until 2022. During this timeframe, she stayed on her mother’s property in Tullahoma, a family-owned home in Florida, as well as visiting South Carolina before coming to her family’s property on Blue Creek Road.

Shannon Duncan, Director of Student Services for Tullahoma City Schools (TCS), was brought before the court to elaborate on the current standing of Amacher’s two younger children, as far as school district residency and eligibility.

Duncan explained that she had been to the Ledford Mill Road property seven times over the course of August 2022 to December 2022, in order to determine whether the children were residing on the property with their primary care parent. As defined by the TCS, residency is limited to where the child in question spends the majority of their time and keeps their belongings and domicile, according to Duncan.

These visits only occurred during the school week, between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., as reported by Duncan, and she did not see Amacher nor her children on the property during any of these visits. Additionally, she reported that the trailer was only on the property during three of these visits.

“Initially, there was a travel trailer parked,” she said. “There were no utilities connected to that travel trailer. There were no cars. The steps to the travel trailer were pulled up. There were no lights. There were no toys, or welcome mat, or anything to show that people had been there or living there.”

During her December visits, Duncan reported that the trailer was no longer on the property.

Northcott’s line of questioning to Amacher, as well as to Jason Kennedy, a private investigator employed by the office of the district attorney, revealed that 56 packages had been ordered by and delivered to Amacher at the Blue Creek Road property.

Further questioning by Crain led to Amacher stating that the packages ranged from dog food, Christmas presents and refrigerated medication. She additionally stated that she had packages delivered to multiple addresses and locations throughout Tullahoma, as well as installing a mailbox in 2022 to deliver USPS mail to the Ledford Mill Road property.

The trial continued through the entire court business day on March 2, ending before Northcott’s cross-examination of Amacher. The trial was set to continue on March 3, with the intent to conclude on that date.