SEVIERVILLE — In a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him, Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn argues all the charges against him should be tossed because of an issue with the grand jury that brought the charges.
Dunn pleaded not guilty on Thursday to the charges of civil rights intimidation, retaliation for past action, coercion of a state witness, civil rights intimidation, and two counts of official oppression. His attorney, David Raybin, also filed a motion to dismiss the charges on Thursday.
The charges were brought by a private citizen, Erik Cooper, who took his allegations directly to a specially called grand jury overseen by a special appointed judge, Don Ash. Raybin says Ash didn’t follow procedure in selecting a foreperson for the panel.
“When this ‘special’ grand jury was formed, the judge or the clerk directed the grand jurors to pick one of their number to be the foreperson," Raybin said.
“The presentment is void since the judge did not designate the foreperson as required by (state law),” he said.
Thursday marked the first time Dunn appeared in Sevier County courts since he was arrested on the charges on Aug. 27.
He didn’t comment on the situation outside court.
In the motion to dismiss, Raybin also argues that four counts from the indictment against Dunn — the charges of official misconduct, official oppression, official retaliation and conspiracy to commit official oppression — should be dismissed because they were past the statute of limitations when Cooper filed them.
The indictments indicate Cooper sought the charges as soon as he learned about the alleged wrongdoing, but Raybin argues in the motion that he was aware of them in time to file within the statute of limitation, noting he mentioned some of the same facts in a filing in federal court in 2024.
In civil court, Dunn is also facing a motion to disqualify him as district attorney through the public defender’s office, and a petition to oust him through a group of citizens including Cooper.
Sevier County Circuit Court Judge Jim Gass overruled the motion to disqualify Dunn, but Public Defender Rebecca Lee has appealed that decision.
There has not been any court action on the petition to ouster Dunn.
Assistant District Attorney William Brownlow Marsh was charged with official oppression and conspiracy to commit official oppression as part of the same indictment.
Like Dunn, he formally entered not guilty pleas to those charges on Thursday.
HIs attorney, Joe Costner, also filed motions to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that they also were filed past the statute of limitations.
In a second motion to dismiss, Costner offers an additional argument that the charges against Marsh are “fatally flawed.”
“These two counts seem to allege that Erik Cooper was subjected to an arrest that defendant Marsh knew was unlawful," he said. “The state offers no facts to explain this bare assertion and this assertion is false on its face.”
Judge William E. Lee Davies has been appointed to oversee the criminal proceedings, and will hear the motions to dismiss April 12.
Kelly Anne Shelton, one of the specially appointed district attorneys pro tem who will prosecute the case, told Davies they needed 120 days to complete their own investigation of the case.
“We were just appointed pro tem on Sept. 17, we have had no opportunity to do an investigation,” she said.
In a written statement he released Thursday, Cooper said he had “complete trust and confidence” in the prosecutors, who all came from outside the Fourth Judicial District where Dunn is DA.
“They should be permitted to continue investigating and prosecuting this case according to the evidence and the law, free from political influence and without unnecessary public interference,” Cooper said.
