Slatery drops opposition to opioid lawsuits by DAs; says no TN lawsuit in federal court
Attorney General Herbert Slatery has abandoned a legal effort to block district attorneys general from filing lawsuits against opioid manufacturers in a “ceremonial surrender” Thursday before Campbell County Circuit Court Judge John McAfee, reports the News Sentinel. And Slatery has decided against filing an opioid lawsuit on behalf of the state in federal court.
Northeast Tennessee DA dies on weekend trip to Nashville
Anthony “Tony” Clark of Unicoi County, district attorney general for the 1st Judicial District of Northeast Tennessee, died Sunday while on a trip with family to Nashville, reports the Johnson City Press. Police say he died of “natural causes” and had been scheduled to undergo a medical procedure in Nashville this week while others say he was also in the capitol city for an Eagles concert held Saturday.
Slatery moves to block local government lawsuits against opioid manufacturers
State Attorney General Herbert Slatery has moved to block a lawsuit filed against opioid manufacturers by three Northeast Tennessee counties, contending they don’t have legal authority to do so. A group of 14 district attorneys general say he’s wrong.
Report bashes Shelby County DA Amy Weirich for ‘misconduct;’ She bashes ‘grossly inaccurate’ report
A Harvard Law School project has ranked Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich highest in Tennessee for prosecutorial misconduct, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Researchers with the Fair Punishment Project reviewed court opinions involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in California, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee from Jan. 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2015.
“In the time period we reviewed, the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office had the highest number of misconduct findings—with more than a dozen—and the most reversals in Tennessee,” according to the report. (Note: The document is HERE.)
…Weirich disputed the report’s finding.
“This is a grossly inaccurate and incomplete account of these cases as seen through the eyes of a defense advocacy group,” Weirich said in a statement released by her office Thursday. “I became a prosecutor to hold the guilty accountable and to protect the innocent in every case, and that is what I have tried to do throughout my career. I will never apologize for trying to seek justice for victims of crime.”
… The Fair Punishment Project is a project of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice and Criminal Justice Institute, The Bronx Defenders and the Accountable Justice Collaborative at The Advocacy Fund.
DAs in three Northeast TN counties file lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
A lawsuit was filed against three opioid manufacturers by district attorneys general representing three Northeast Tennessee counties on Tuesday with a drug-addicted infant, designated as “Baby Doe,” also listed as a plaintiff, reports the Kingsport Times News.
It’s the first such lawsuit filed by governmental officials in Tennessee, though state Attorney General Herbert Slaterly has been publicly urged to sue by House Speaker Beth Harwell – Ohio’s attorney general already has – while officials in Shelby County and elsewhere have been talking up the idea. (Previous post HERE; Commercial Appeal story on the Shelby talk HERE.)
Trump picks DA Dunavant as U.S. Attorney General for West TN
Michael Dunavant, who has been a state district attorney since 2006, has been nominated by President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee
Dunavant, of Covingon, now serves as DA for Tennessee’s 25th Judicial District, which covers Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale, McNairy and Tipton counties.
Some info on Dunavant from a Jackson Sun report in 2014, when he was running for a new eight-year term as DA (he won with 20,931 votes to 10,748 for challenger D.J. Norton of McNairy County):
DUI enforcement cut by governor’s ‘open container’ proposal
As proposed, Gov. Bill Haslam’s transportation funding package would eliminate 57 positions dedicated to enforcing drunken driving laws by district attorneys general staff across the state. The Times-Free Press reports the governor is open to address the resulting concerns of prosecutors.
The provision in question in the governor’s legislation, which would also raise fuel taxes, would outlaw open containers of alcoholic beverages in cars on the road. Because Tennessee doesn’t already have an open container prohibition, $18 million in federal highway funds cannot be used for road construction and maintenance and instead goes to other programs – including $6.5 million now used for special DUI prosecutors, training and police overtime for DUI enforcement. With passage of the governor’s plan, all $18 million would be shifted to road construction.
“We’re aware of that,” the governor said last week. “We fund some DUI [enforcement], DAs through that. We’re willing to look at other ways to make sure that function gets paid for. We realize that’s critical.”
…Jerry Estes, former 10th Judicial District attorney general and now executive director of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, recently said DAs in 25 of the state’s 31 judicial districts rely on the funding. He said prosecutors are hoping to work something out.
“Our concern is 57 positions that would be lost if they’re not funded another way,” Estes said. “And what those 57 positions do, they’re very involved, of course, in prosecuting DUIs and vehicular homicides.”
Moreover, Estes said, the money also helps train sheriffs, police departments, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and other enforcement agencies to combat DUI and impaired driving.
“Tennessee’s DUI deaths on the highways have gone down greatly since these programs have been in place,” said Estes, who called them “very crucial” to that success.
…Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, a former prosecutor, said the $18 million, including the $6.5 million that now goes to prosecutors, needs to be replaced.
“If we can take $18 million out of the general fund and allocate that towards safety, specifically toward 57 positions in the district attorneys’ offices, officer overtime, roadblocks and advertising to combat intoxicated driving, I think that’s a great solution,” Lamberth said.
Haslam said “not having the open container law has meant that the federal government’s telling us how we can spend that $18 million.”
“I think we should choose how we spend that and then to decide do we want to fund DUI, DAs another way,” the governor said. “But in the meantime, money that should be going to roads should be going to roads.”
Nashville DA spokesman resigns after releasing rape report
Ken Whitehouse, a past political operative and reporter, has resigned his position as spokesman for Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk after being criticized by Nashville’s police chief for releasing a police report on a pending rape investigation.
A letter released by the prosecutor’s office and signed by Whitehouse says the spokesman resigned because he “violated user agreements between this office and other law enforcement agencies regarding access to data. I seriously regret the incident that occurred on December 16, 2016.”
On that day, according to a public memo from Police Chief Steve Anderson, Whitehouse logged in to the police department’s internal records system and released a report, which identified the name of a suspect and victim in a pending rape case reported at Bridgestone Arena, to WSMV Channel 4.
Anderson suggested Whitehouse should be fired, and assured the public his staff would never release the name of a sexual assault victim. Such information is public record, but law enforcement agencies often do not release it, citing their efforts to shield victims from repercussions for coming forward. WSMV responded to the chief, noting the information was public and the victim spoke willingly to the television station’s reporter.
Further, from WSMV: