Charges against Dubrule sent to grand jury

Several charges against a former doctor and political candidate were bound over to the action of a Dyer County grand jury on Friday.

Rosaire Michael Dubrule, 60, 850 Dan Willis Road, was arrested June 6 after reportedly driving erratically and nearly colliding with the Dyersburg police chief's unmarked pickup truck.

In a Dyersburg city court hearing Friday, substitute judge Jason Creasy said he believed there was enough probable cause to believe Dubrule is guilty of felony evading arrest, reckless driving, resisting arrest and violation of the implied consent law. He bound those charges over to the consideration of a grand jury. Creasy said he did not believe the district attorney's office had presented enough evidence to bind Dubrule over on a charge of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The judge dismissed that charge, but warned Dubrule that it could be presented to the grand jury anyway.

Before the hearing began, Assistant District Attorney Lance Webb said he would not prosecute an unrelated criminal trespassing charge. A key witness could not attend Friday's hearing. Webb said it is possible that the criminal trespassing charge will be presented to a grand jury.

Dubrule operated a medical clinic in Tiptonville until 2004. The clinic closed after state and federal agents executed a search warrant. Dubrule - who was accused of unprofessional conduct, gross malpractice, incompetence and improperly issuing prescription medicines - lost his medical license. A federal grand jury indicted him in August 2007 on one count of conspiring to distribute Schedule II and Schedule III controlled substances and 47 counts of illegally issuing prescription medicine. His wife, Kim Dubrule, also was indicted on the conspiracy charge. They are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Memphis on Dec. 18.

Dubrule registered as a candidate for the Democratic primary for the Tennessee House of Representative's seat in the 77th District. His campaign for the seat vacated by Rep. Philip Pinion was virtually non-existent, but he won 27 votes in Dyer, Obion and Lake counties.

Before Friday preliminary hearing began in city court, Dubrule told the judge he wasn't prepared for the hearing. Although the hearing was on the 9 a.m. docket, Dubrule said he thought the hearing was to begin at 4 p.m. The former doctor, who commented on being inappropriately dressed in shorts, asked if the hearing could be delayed another week.

Creasy declined the request since several witnesses has been subpoenaed.

Dyersburg Police Chief Terry Ledbetter, the first witness, testified that he and Investigator Cara Johnson were in his unmarked pickup truck about 1:15 p.m. June 6. They were headed north on Hamer Road, discussing a personnel matter that Johnson was investigating.

Ledbetter said a white car on Hurricane Hill was approaching the Hamer Road intersection so quickly that he knew the car would be unable to stop at the stop sign. The white car veered onto the gravel shoulder of Hamer Road and came to a stop. Ledbetter passed the car and continued driving north on Hamer Road. The car pulled back onto the roadway behind the truck and then passed the truck while going uphill in a no-passing zone, he said.

Ledbetter said he was worried that the driver of the car could cause a fatal wreck on the curvy two-lane road. Ledbetter turned on the truck's emergency police lights and siren, passed the car and set up a road block near Lexie Cobb Road.

Investigator Johnson said she jumped out of the passenger seat, held one hand out to signal a stop and used the other hand to point to the police badge on her belt. She said Dubrule looked, stopped, looked directly at her for a moment and then backed uphill to the first crossroad. He turned around and drove to the Tennessee Highway Patrol office on James H. Rice Road.

Ledbetter and Johnson both said Dubrule drove about 40-45 mph.

At the THP office, Johnson said Dubrule jumped out of his car hollering and asking for a police officer and complaining that he was being beaten. Johnson said she identified herself as a police officer and asked him to remain in his car. She said he refused to comply with anything she said.

Ledbetter said Dubrule resisted police attempts to handcuff him. So, police struck him three times on the back of his calves to subdue him and get him cuffed. He was placed in a squad car driven by Dyersburg Police Patrolman David Dodds.

Dubrule asked to speak to a state police officer. Tennessee Highway Patrol Officer Frank McLin, who is now retired, was inside the THP and walked outside. He said Dubrule was already in the squad car and was very upset. He said Dubrule was hollering and crying that the police were beating him, but it wasn't true.

McLin said he also asked a witness to provide a written statement.

Johnson said Dubrule was flailing his arms, mumbling and incoherent. "Everything about him - the way he walked and talked and moved - was erratic," she testified. She said no one could understand what he was saying.

Patrolman Dodds said Dubrule complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital for an examination. Two hours later, Dubrule was in the police station, refusing to submit to a sobriety test. Along the way, Dodds said, Dubrule made statements about his notoriety as a physician and his beliefs that the government was out to get him, that the government was stealing from him and that the government was responsible for Hurricane Katrina.

Johnson also testified that she searched Dubrule's car and found two bottles of prescription medicines. One had been issued to another person with the last name of Dubrule. The other was issued to Rosaire Dubrule two days earlier. According to the label, that bottle originally contained a hundred 50-milligram Tramadol pills. Johnson said she counted 68 pills in the bottle.

Dubrule's attorney, Cynthia Chandler-Snell of Humboldt, argued in closing remarks that Dubrule had exhibited bad judgment while driving, but she was not convinced by Friday's testimony that Dubrule understood he was being arrested. She said a key element for proving that a person is resisting arrest or evading arrest is that he understands officers are attempting to make an arrest. She urged the judge to consider that Dubrule was asking for the police when he stopped at the THP office and he believed that the government was out to get him.