NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee's lead government watchdog is calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor for a second opinion on whether Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk or anyone in his office violated any laws.
Comptroller Jason Mumpower made those comments in an exclusive interview following his office's release of a scathing investigative report into Funk's office. Among the findings: Funk's office secretly recorded defense attorneys as they reviewed evidence inside the DA's suite, then shared those recordings with the prosecutors on those cases.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti had indicated his office would not prosecute Funk or anyone in his office although he did say there may have been ethical breaches in what the DA did.
"When you look at this report, when you look at what has happened in the District Attorney General's Office, you know, you don't even need to watch a full episode of 'Law and Order' to know that it was wrong," Mumpower said.
Related: Damning report confirms secret recordings of defense attorneys, others inside Nashville DA's office
The comptroller also expressed concern that Funk had created a culture that could endanger public safety.
"In my mind, as the reporting agent, the most egregious thing uncovered here is the culture in which they thought they could violate the Sixth Amendment rights of citizens, where they listen in or eavesdrop or wiretap what are sacred conversations, sacred to our system of justice in Tennessee and the United States," he continued.
The release of the report follows a TBI raid on the office in March 2023, following questions raised by NewsChannel 5 Investigates about security cameras equipped with microphones being used to record people's conversations in and around the DA's office without their knowledge.
According to the report, that included a room where defense attorneys were allowed to review evidence, not knowing that their conversations were being recorded and shared with the prosecutors on those cases.
"So are you afraid that criminal defendants may walk free as result of this situation?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Mumpower.
"I can't say that anybody is going to walk free," he answered. "But I don't think it's a stretch for anyone to think that any defense attorney who has spent any amount of time in that particular interview room is going to be racing to the courthouse to file for reconsideration on behalf of a client they represented."
Before the afternoon was up, Nashville Public Defender Martesha Johnson Moore issued a statement about the report.
"The allegations presented in this report indicate the type of 'systemic abuse of prosecutorial discretion' that rises to the level of ethical misconduct," Moore wrote in her statement.
She said her office would be calling on Funk to "promptly disclose to us all cases, both pending and closed, in which this surveillance occurred so that we make seek remedies, including recusals, where appropriate."
The report also confirms the findings of NewsChannel 5's undercover investigation in which we spotted DA employees working on Funk's 2022 re-election campaign on government time, taking those days off only after we began asking questions.
In the case of a holiday event held inside government offices, Funk gave investigators a document that said the signs were donated by a local sign company. However, the company denied knowing anything about such a donation.
"If that record is found to be not true — once it was given to investigators — it became a government record, so it's a potential fabrication of government record," Mumpower said.
"And that's a crime?"
"Yes."
Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti issued a letter saying he did not see enough evidence to guarantee a successful prosecution of Funk or anyone on his team.
The DA's office promptly issued a statement, declaring victory.
"This matter is now at an end," spokesperson Steve Hayslip said in an email. "As General Funk has always stated, neither he nor his office has committed any crimes or broken any law."
Mumpower's reaction?
"There is no letter that can absolve you of any crime."
The state comptroller said that because the AG's Office is not really set up to prosecute criminal cases, Funk ought to allow for the appointment of a special prosecutor to take a fresh look at the case.
"The right way to have this done — if he feels that way, if he feels that strongly — then there is absolutely no harm in recusing himself, asking for a district attorney pro temp, a special prosecutor, to go look at the evidence and then determine if a prosecution is warranted."
This is the second investigation involving Glenn Funk where the Tennessee Attorney General's Office declined to prosecute.
Back in 2015, NewsChannel 5 Investigates revealed that Funk had received what was essentially a state job — involving little actual work — in order to enhance his state pension.
The AG in that case, Herbert Slatery, agreed the deal likely broke the law, but he decided to not to prosecute after Glenn Funk paid the money back.
Below is a summary of NewsChannel 5’s recent investigations of the DA's Office:
Nov. 8, 2022: He's a $75,000-a-year government employee who gets paid with little evidence of what he's doing for the money. Week after week, he bills taxpayers for almost 20 hours a week, hours frequently listed in the middle of the night when no one else is around.
He's almost never recorded swiping through the office security system, logging into the computer system or sending an email.
Click here to read the story that kicked off this investigation.
Nov. 10, 2022: An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has uncovered new questions about whether employees in Nashville DA Glenn Funk's office crossed the line, using your tax dollars during last spring's campaign to help get the boss reelected.
That months-long investigation would eventually lead to damaging emails showing campaign work being done using office computers, as well as evidence of an attempt to recreate vacation requests for one employee who was volunteering for Funk's campaign.
Dec. 19, 2022: New photos and emails from inside Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk's office are renewing questions about whether government resources were used to help get the boss re-elected. The photos of assistant DA Sunny Eaton's desk show a stack of domestic violence dockets for cases that had been handled by Funk's challenger.
Read more about what our investigation uncovered here.
Feb. 9, 2023: District Attorney Glenn Funk's team installed listening devices in areas around the DA's office capable of picking up conversations of employees and visitors who are not warned about the audio monitoring, NewsChannel 5 has learned.
In a written statement, Funk's office insisted "there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for conversations in public places."
There’s more to the story that can be found here.
Feb. 20, 2023: How many listening devices were placed in and around Nashville DA Glenn Funk's office? New emails obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates are raising that question — even as Tennessee's attorney general opens a criminal investigation into Funk's office. The newly obtained emails raise the possibility that the eavesdropping could have been even more pervasive.
Click here to read more about those emails.
March 24, 2023: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents and technicians descended upon the offices of District Attorney General Glenn Funk as part of an on-going criminal investigation into the operations of the DA's office. About a dozen TBI personnel were seen going in and out of Funk's offices in downtown Nashville.
The full story can be found here.
May 2, 2023: When Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents descended upon the offices of Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk back in March, the DA issued a statement saying they were there following his "invitation." Now, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned agents were executing a search warrant issued by a Davidson County judge, authorizing them to look for evidence of criminal activity — meaning it was not a friendly visit as much as it was a raid.
You can read more about this development by clicking here.
June 28, 2023: So who's funding the political campaigns that affect you and your family? That's the question raised by our latest NewsChannel 5 investigation. That investigation discovered a number of questionable contributions that helped fuel Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk's re-election campaign. Funk's campaign says those discrepancies were all innocent mistakes.
Click here to read more about those questionable contributions.
Aug. 17, 2023: The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance voted to take no action regarding a series of questionable contributions to Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk's 2022 re-election campaign. Board members argued that there was nothing else for them to do since no one has filed a sworn complaint alleging any violations of campaign finance laws.
There’s more to the story here.
Sept. 19, 2023: An unprecedented raid of the Nashville District Attorney's Office in March included a search of DA Glenn Funk's own office — including his laptop, briefcase and other electronics — as TBI agents sought evidence of possible illegal wiretapping, according to newly unsealed court documents. Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Smith ordered the release of documents in response to a motion filed by NewsChannel 5.
This is what agents were seeking.
Feb. 23, 2024: Documents that Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk fought to keep secret raise new questions about eavesdropping in and around the DA's offices. Those documents, produced as a result of a months-long legal battle waged by NewsChannel 5, reveal there were more microphones — and more concern about conversations being monitored — than the DA admitted.
Click here to see what was in those documents.
Do you have information for our investigation? Email us: investigate@newschannel5.com
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