Nashville DA Glenn Funk now faces a federal civil rights lawsuit over his office's handling of a high-profile domestic violence case.
In that lawsuit made public Friday, developer David Chase accuses Funk and assistant DA Katy Miller of threatening Chase with prison time to force him to dismiss a lawsuit against Metro Police.
At the same time, Chase also refiled his original civil rights lawsuit against Metro police -- the very same lawsuit that the DA insisted last year had to be dropped.
At the center of the two lawsuits are domestic violence charges filed against David Chase back in 2014 by a former girlfriend.
Chase had accused Metro police of overlooking evidence that the charges were fabricated -- and he had filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Funk has admitted that, even after the case fell apart, he had insisted that Chase had to drop his lawsuit before the criminal charges could be dismissed.
Now, in this new lawsuit against the DA and Assistant DA Katie Miller, Chase's lawyer calls that a civil rights violation.
"Even after being presented with undeniable and uncontroverted evidence ... the Defendants refused to dismiss charges against Mr. Chase and vowed to continue to maliciously prosecute him unless he dismissed his civil rights lawsuit against the police officers involved in this matter," the lawsuit says.
"Mr Chase was faced with potential and further deprivation of his liberty, felony convictions and a prison sentence if he did not dismiss his rightful claims against those officers involved.
"Under duress, certainly not voluntarily, and literally facing a possible prison sentence, Mr. Chase was forced to dismiss his Federal lawsuit."
A spokesperson for the DA's Office declined to comment.
"This office has not been served or seen any filings from Mr. Chase and therefore cannot comment at this time," spokesperson Ken Whitehouse said.
NOTE: Funk has filed a $200 million lawsuit against Phil Williams and our parent company, Scripps Media, over reports involving David Chase and his case. NewsChannel 5 stands by our reporting.
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