Warrington found guilty of violation of order of protection

TAKES THE STAND – Christime Warrngton takes the stand in her defense in court on Wednesday, May 8 before Judge Mark Johnson. She was found guilty for violating an order of protection filed by her niece. Judge Johnson sentenced her to 11 months, 29 days with all time suspended except 10 day. She is to report to jail on Monday, May 20 at 9 a.m.

Christine Warrington was in court on Wednesday, May 8 facing charges of violating a court order of protection. Warrington is a Humboldt School Board member and former candidate for Tennessee state representative and Humboldt mayor.

Judge Mark Johnson heard the case and ruled that Warrington was guilty of violating the order of protection. He sentenced Warrington to 11 months 29 days in jail with all time suspended except 10 days.
The 28th District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case with assistant DAs Jacob London and Scott Kirk. Mitch Tollison was Warrington’s defense attorney.

London called Warrington’s niece, Chelsea Stewart, as his first witness to testify. She filed for an order of protection against her aunt. During testimony, Stewart said she filled the order on the Sunday after her grandmother’s (Warrington’s mother) funeral due to an incident that occurred at Emmanuel Baptist Church where Stewart is a Sunday school teacher and attends every Sunday and Wednesday night. The order of protection was filed in February 2024.

The violation of the order took place on Easter Sunday of this year when Stewart testified that Warrington came into the church late for the service and sat in the pew behind Stewart, her three children and three cousins. Stewart told the court that Warrington does not regularly attend the church services. Stewart also said she and her grandmother often invited Warrington to come to church, but Warrington’s reply was the church is a male chauvinist church and made fun
of the pastor, so Stewart stopped inviting her to attend.

Stewart was asked if there were other open pews in the church where Warrington could have sat other than the pew behind Stewart and her family. Stewart said the church was pretty packed due to being Easter but there were several other places to sit.

Attorney Tollison cross examined Stewart and asked how far away Warrington was from Stewart, to which Stewart said it was the pew behind her, about six or seven feet. Tollison noted that Warrington attended church there as a child, was baptized there and attended her mother’s funeral there in November of 2023.

Judge Johnson had a few questions of his own. He asked Stewart if she had seen Warrington at any church service from the date of her grandmother’s funeral in November 2023 until Easter Sunday of this year. Stewart said she had not seen her attending church.

Other witnesses were called to the stand for the prosecution, including Donna Warrington, the defendant’s cousin. Donna Warrington-Moore testified that she attended the Easter service in question. She was asked how often her cousin attended the church in the past few years. She said, probably three times. Donna Warrington was asked if her cousin attended this church regularly, to which she replied that she did as a child.

Another witness for the prosecution was William Sipes, Warrington’s step-father, as well as Humboldt Police Department’s Lt. Joshua Bomer. Lt. Bomer was the officer that came to the church after the alleged violation took place.

The prosecution had no other witnesses to call. Tollison called Jenna Denton-Thompson, Warrington’s sister, to the stand.

Frankie Warrington was also called to the stand. She is Warrington’s sister and Stewart’s mother. Crystal Wheatcroft was another witness for the defendant.

Warrington was the final person called to testify. Warrington said she began attending church at Emmanuel Baptist right after her father passed away and that her mother took the children there and dropped them off. She said she was baptized there at the age of 12.

Warrington said she also attended First Baptist Church while in high school before she went to college and returned to Humboldt 40 years later. Warrington said she felt the need to attend church that Easter Sunday since many of her family members would be there in hopes of bringing the family together.

Tollison asked Warrington if she had read the order of protection and asked if it states she cannot go to the church where Stewart attends. Warrington said the order does not. Her attorney also said the order does not specify a particular distance. He said the order states to not “go about” her niece. He argued that “go about” could mean in her face. Tollison asked Warrington if she thought she was violating the order of protection by sitting on the back pew of the church, to which Warrington answer she did not.

During cross examination, London questioned Warrington if she could have attended Easter service at her other church, the former First Baptist Church now know as The Church at Sugar Creek. Warrington was asked if she attended Emmanuel Baptist at any time from the time of the order of protection until Easter.

Warrington said there was a Valentine’s program she tried to attend but was unable to due to her 70 hour work week. Warrington said when she cannot attend in person, said she is tech savvy and tries to stream the service online as well as the church she attended in North Carolina for 14 years.

The prosecution argued that Warrington knew her niece would be at church on Easter since she attends every Sunday, teaches Bible study and attends every Wednesday night. Warrington admitted that there was a chance but also said sometimes the preacher dismisses the children for their service, which Stewart leads.
The prosecution said once Warrington saw her niece, she could have gotten up and left and streamed the service in the parking lot.

Warrington said she wanted to be in the church because that is what the Bible says. The prosecutor then stated that Warrington had already testified that she streams the service most of the time instead physically being in the church building.

Kirk made the prosecution’s closing statement with his summation of all the testimony given and the reasons the judge should make a guilty verdict. Tollison closed with his view of the case seeking a not guilty verdict. Both sides rested their cases.

During Judge Johnson statements as he made his decision, he said Warrington seemed to be a very intelligent lady and very eloquent with her testimony. Judge Johnson said he did not believe someone of her intelligence would be confused as to what a court order says and found her guilty. He said there were other places or means to attend church on that day.

Judge Johnson sentenced Warrington to 11 months 29 days in jail with all time suspended except 10 days. The judge also imposed a $2,000 fine plus court costs and ordered Warrington to report to jail on Monday, May 20 at 9 a.m. She will be placed on probation for the balance of her 11-29 sentence from May 20.

Warrington is to have no contact with the victim or her children or be in possession of a firearm. Judge Johnson said he would leave it up to the probation officer to determine if Warrington is in need of a mental health intake.

Warrington has the option to appeal Judge Johnson’s decision within 10 days of his ruling to the Gibson County Circuit Court. If she exercises that option, the DA office will present it to grand jury ruling. If the grand jury returns a true bill on August 5, her arraignment would be in Circuit Court on August 12.