CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Bradley County, Tennessee, woman facing a criminal trespassing charge stemming from her refusal to wear a mask inside a local medical business and refusing to leave told a judge Thursday she wanted a jury trial and was given an April 14 date for a preliminary hearing.
Defendant Jessica F. Hedgcock represented herself on Thursday.
Bradley County General Sessions Judge Sheridan Randolph told her for the hearing in April, “You need to consider whether you want to get a lawyer or not.”
“I’ve reached out to try to get an attorney and nobody has responded to my phone calls, and the one that did said my case was ‘petty.’ And my husband makes too much money for me to be able to get a state-appointed attorney,” said Hedgcock, who has five children.
The judge told her to “work on it some more in case you think you need [a lawyer].”
(READ MORE: 2 men arrested in Nashville for not wearing masks on flights)
Hedgcock, 34, was charged by the Cleveland Police Department on Feb. 4 with the misdemeanor punishable upon conviction by up to 30 days in jail or a $50 fine, according to authorities. Hedgcock was arraigned Feb. 7 on the charge.
Hedgcock said Wednesday in a telephone interview she had gone to Cleveland Imaging on Chambliss Avenue for an appointment Feb. 4 on a referral from her doctor.
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April hearing set for Cleveland, Tenn., woman charged with trespassing for refusing to wear mask
She said she was asked to wear a mask but was not loud or rude.
“I claim my rights to the fullest extent, and it is not a crime to breathe the air that God gave me,” she said.
Hedgcock said Wednesday her doctor told her masks are “not healthy for me,” and she contends she is exempt from mask requirements for religious reasons. She said she feels she had a right not to wear a mask anywhere.
(READ MORE: Teacher cheered ‘no mask wearing’ in song at Dalton schools)
According to the Feb. 4 Cleveland Police Department report on the incident, the initial 9:41 a.m. call was in response to a “possibly intoxicated subject” at the Chambliss Avenue imaging center where the director of operations, Bo Guffey, told the responding officer Hedgcock was asked to leave for not wearing a mask and had refused to leave.
“Mr. Guffey was advised that we are not able enforce any kind of mask rules, but if Ms. Hedgcock no longer has consent to remain on the property, then we can ask her to leave,” officer Bryan Reagan stated in the report. “When I made contact with Ms. Hedgcock, I advised her Mr. Guffey wanted her to leave the facility. Ms. Hedgcock refused to leave.”
Hedgcock was booked on the charge at the Bradley County Jail, Reagan stated.
After Thursday’s hearing, Hedgcock seemed concerned about how to issue subpoenas and other court-related preparations and paperwork.
She told a group of supporters who held signs showing support in front of the Bradley County courts building about the need for getting advice on how to sort out issues related to audio and video she wanted to be able to use and how to issue subpoenas.
“We’re just all rewriting the law, and that’s where we’ve gotten corrupt. We built in so many so more bills and laws that we’re not following the Constitution,” Hedgcock told her supporters. “And the writers of the Constitution said even if God doesn’t exist, these rights are inalienable, and they are yours to claim, and I claim them.”
Hedgcock said her message to Tennesseans is, “You’re free, so live like it.”
(READ MORE: Tennessee schools face strict hurdles for mask mandates under new bill)
Outside the courts building prior to the hearing, Hedgcock’s father, Joe Robinson, said he thought the case was “overkill.”
“She’s under the charge of criminal trespassing, and there’s a great disparity between people who trespass by breaking into stores and robbing versus a mother of five that has an appointment at a doctor’s office and it turns into criminal trespassing,” Robinson said. “I think that’s a great disparity.
“I think she just wants to be treated fairly,” he said. “She is doing this to be an example to her children to stand up for their freedom and also to stand up for people’s rights in general. She’s got the courage to do it.”
Teresa Ball, a Cleveland resident who was among those at the hearing to show support for Hedgcock, said “the state constitution and the federal constitution says that power is inherent in the people and for the people not to resist arbitrary power is absurd.”
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton.