A murder trial is postponed after a state audit found that the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office eavesdropped on attorneys using recording equipment placed throughout the office.
Judge Cynthia Chappell on Wednesday called off the upcoming trial of Calvin Atchison, accused of killing 30-year-old Velma Tharpe in North Nashville in the summer of 2000. NewsChannel5 first reported that the trial was postponed from its scheduled start date of October 7. .
The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office report released last week found that District Attorney Glenn Funk’s office regularly recorded audio and video of criminal defense attorneys without their knowledge while they were in the district attorney’s office, especially in a room where attorneys were presenting evidence in criminal cases.
The report was particularly troubling to Atchison’s attorney Ben Powers, who said audio recordings were specifically made without his knowledge. According to Powers, he and a private investigator are seen in a still image from a video recording included in the report. The caption states that investigators have found an audio recording of the defense team seen in the photo.
Powers asked the judge Monday to disqualify the district attorney’s office from prosecuting the case because of the “unethical tactics” prosecutors used to gather information.
“[T]The appearance of impropriety is so blatant, so organized, and so far-reaching that the only remedy is for the DA’s office to be disqualified from prosecuting Calvin Atchison’s case so that his rights remain intact and so that public confidence can be restored. wrote.
Chappell opted to postpone the trial and said she will schedule a hearing on the motion to disqualify the district attorney’s office.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he did not believe there was sufficient basis to prosecute Funk over the allegations in the report, but he reminded the county’s top prosecutor in a letter that the closure of the investigation did not absolve the office of “any ethical duties.” that may be implied by the underlying concerns.” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower have called for a special prosecutor to investigate any violations of the law by the district attorney’s office.
Atchison, 55, was charged in May 2021 after prosecutors determined the man who pleaded guilty years earlier did not actually commit the crime. Paul Shane Garrett pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2003 and was released from prison in 2011. All charges against Garrett were dropped in 2021, and he received a $1.2 million settlement in a lawsuit against Metro Nashville in early 2023.
Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMeAleft.
This article originally appeared in Nashville Tennessean: Murder trial postponed after Nashville DA secretly shoots defense team
