Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Stephen Crump allegedly had an extramarital affair that prompted him to commit prosecutorial misconduct in a murder trial, according to a motion that a Chattanooga attorney filed this month.
Bradley, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk counties make up the 10th Judicial District, according to the Office of the District Attorney General’s website.
Chattanooga attorney William Speek represents convicted murderer Miranda Cheatham. Speek, in a motion, said Crump and his employees had a conflict of interest and an appearance of impropriety in prosecuting Cheatham’s case.
A jury convicted Miranda Cheatham of second-degree murder for shooting and killing her husband in October 2016. Miranda Cheatham, though, claimed self-defense. Court officials sentenced her to 18 years in prison in April 2019. She filed for a new trial in July of this year, citing prosecutorial misconduct, according to Speek’s motion.
Speek said Crump intentionally suppressed evidence of his own wrongdoing by withholding a recording that police already had but that Crump never gave to Miranda Cheatham’s defense counsel.
“The recording at issue involves a conversation between John Loach (half-brother of decedent) and Dana Cheatham (sister of decedent). The conversation took place after the death of decedent, but before the conviction of Mrs. Cheatham,” Speek said in the motion.
“The recording outlines an affair between Dana Cheatham and D.A. Steve Crump and that Dana Cheatham was effectively threatening/blackmailing D.A. Crump to prosecute the case at issue and to obtain a conviction.”
According to the motion, Crump told the local media that he never heard the alleged recording and knew of it only because the Cleveland Police Department told him about it. Crump told police to do their own independent inquiry. But Cleveland Police officers dispute that and said they shared the content with him.
Crump told The Tennessee Star in an email Wednesday that he cannot comment fully on the case.
“The allegations contained in the filings are untrue. There was no inappropriate conduct of any kind by me or my office. There was no threat, coercion, extortion, or duress offered against me, anyone in my office or in law enforcement in this case by Dana Cheatham,” Crump said.
“Nor has any person ever done that in any case I have ever prosecuted. I have never heard the alleged recording in this matter and knew nothing of its contents until I read the pleading on a social media page. That page had access to the filing and had published it prior to my office receiving the pleading.”
Speek’s complaint also said Crump did legal work for Dana Cheatham in 2018 and this year.
“If D.A. Crump was being blackmailed to prosecute the case, then it is safe to say that justice and truth played no part in the process. Had the recording been produced before trial, Mrs. Cheatham’s defense team would have been able to investigate the claims therein and determined the impact they may have had on the prosecution’s handling of the case,” Speek said in his motion.
“D.A. Crump intentionally suppressed the recording either by omission or other acts.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
