Public Defender Asks To Withdraw From Sullivan Aggravated-Rape Case

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sullivan County public defender William Kennedy wants out.

After months of a stormy relationship with client Doug Young, and following a jury trial in August in which Young was convicted of aggravated rape, Kennedy on Friday persuaded a judge to consider appointing another attorney for Young’s sentencing hearing.

Sentencing for Young, who faces between 15 and 25 years in prison, had been set for Friday. Kennedy informed Circuit Court Judge Robert H. Montgomery that Young wanted a different attorney, and that he had received “correspondence” that his client planned to file a bar complaint against him.

Young confirmed his dissatisfaction with Kennedy’s representation, telling Montgomery that Kennedy “did not go in the direction I wanted him to go in” during the two-day jury trial.

Still, Montgomery concluded it would not be “appropriate to relieve Mr. Kennedy for the purposes of this sentencing hearing.”

That was when Kennedy stepped in, announcing he would file a motion to withdraw, and that he expected Young to file for a new trial. His representation, he said, would be part of Young’s motion. Montgomery agreed to postpone the sentencing and set a hearing for Kennedy’s pending motion for Thursday.

It was not the first time Young has complained in public about his court-appointed defender. Young had retained a private attorney, Lynn Dougherty of Bristol, Tenn., who represented him during a preliminary hearing in January, but asked Montgomery to appoint a defender after he said his assets were frozen.

Young appeared with Kennedy before Montgomery on May 7, asking the judge to appoint a different attorney.

At that hearing, Kennedy divulged that his brother Randy – an attorney with whom he has not practiced – had represented Young’s ex-wife, Heather Moore, in a 2005 divorce. Young was charged with – and later convicted of – the aggravated rape of Moore.

Montgomery ruled that Kennedy did not have a conflict of interest, admonishing Young that his attorney was “one of the most experienced trial attorneys” in the public defender’s office.

Kennedy, for his part, acknowledged that he and Young “already had somewhat of a stormy relationship.”

That relationship took a turn for the worse after Young’s conviction in August.

During the jury trial, Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment and urged Young’s family members not to talk to reporters.

But Young himself reached out to the Herald Courier, wanting to call attention to what he viewed as deficiencies in Kennedy’s defense.

In a jailhouse interview on Sept. 22, Young showed a reporter transcripts from his preliminary hearing and jury trial. He had highlighted passages that he believed showed his ex-wife was inconsistent in her testimony about the time frame in which the rape occurred, and about which of her relatives showed up at the door of her house in Bristol, Tenn.

Once, she appeared to say two of her cousins came to the door while she and Young were inside, and another time she said only one did.

He also claimed that Moore had sent him an e-mail after the incident that had exculpatory value. The alleged e-mail was not brought up during the trial, though a probation officer in his report cited Young’s family members referring to an e-mail purportedly sent by Moore.

Young’s mother and sister said they did not have access to his computer, and Young himself said he did not know what had become of it.

A search warrant executed by Sullivan County authorities on Jan. 7 shows that officers seized a “Dell Computer Tower.”
“We were both trying to lose weight,” Young said of the e-mail. “It was a funny e-mail.”

Young faces several more charges of aggravated rape involving his ex-wife in January, as well as charges of especially aggravated kidnapping and burglary.
On Friday, Young’s family members who were present at the hearing left angry and tearful.

“For him to get a fair trial, he would have to get a change of venue,” said Kim Felty, his sister, as she stalked out of the courthouse.

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