Rodney Burns, Judge Tom Greenholtz and District Attorney Neal Pinkston
photo by Dennis Norwood
District Attorney Neal Pinkston said at a hearing Tuesday that an offer was made to drop a lawsuit filed against him by Gatlinburg detective Rodney Burns if he would dismiss two perjury counts against Burns.
The district attorney said he should not be disqualified from continuing to prosecute the case or else attorneys would begin suing him or the judge to get a new DA or trial judge in their case.
Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz said he was "greatly bothered" by the possibility of a "quid pro quo" - dropping the criminal case in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.
He dismissed several aspects of the motion to have DA Pinkston removed from the case, but he said he was still considering whether another prosecutor should be brought in since detective Burns brought an action against the DA in the state Claims Commission.
Judge Greenholtz said he will give a written opinion on the disqualification issue prior to another hearing on Sept. 20.
DA Pinkston said he will submit an affidavit from assistant district attorney Lance Pope, who he said was present during a "quid pro quo" discussion in the Burns case.
Bryan Delius, one of the lawyers for Burns, said he can also provide testimony on the "quid pro quo" issue from his legal assistant. He said he was present during a discussion with the prior Burns attorney, Jerry Summers of Chattanooga, that was on speaker phone.
Stephen Greer of Dunlap, another Burns attorney, saying there was "an appearance of impropriety" with DA Pinkston staying on the case. Mr. Greer said, "It's rather hard to understand why General Pinkston would fight this. Let's get another prosecutor appointed, get rid of this mess, and get back on a level playing field."
The defense also said it plans to call the district attorney as a witness related to a conversation he had with Burns.
Attorney Delius said the Pinkston office sent a press release about the case to numerous media outlets, including CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN, Deadspin and The Daily Beast.
DA Pinkston said his office put out one press release that was in response to one by the defense that blasted his office.
The defense also cited a large amount of publicity in the case. DA Pinkston said much of that is related to the case investigated by Burns that involved three Ooltewah High basketball players being charged with the rape and serious injury of a freshman player.
Rodney Burns huddles with attorneys Stephen Greer and Bryan Delius
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