NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Former Nashville Judge Casey Moreland received a 44-month prison sentence Friday.
Moreland pleaded guilty
to five counts of relating to obstruction of justice, witness
tampering, and stealing money from an organization receiving federal
funds in late May.
According to Acting Assistant Attorney General
John Cochran, the FBI began investigating back in Jan. 2017 whether or
not Moreland offered sexual favors for favorable treatment as a General
Sessions Judge.
Moreland later admitted that he actively took steps to obstruct the
investigation in Feb. 2017 by paying a witness to sign a false affidavit
to recant her previous statements. The Department of Justice also said
Moreland planted drugs in the witness's car so she would be arrested and
her credibility would be destroyed.
He used a burned phone
registered to Raul Rodriguez to carry out these plans, working with
someone who would become in an information for the FBI.
Back in
March, Moreland faced more charges of tampering with a witness, victim,
or informant and destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in
a Federal investigation.
Moreland resigned in March 2017 amid an FBI investigation charging him with public corruption.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former Davidson County General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland is a convicted felon.
He pleaded guilty in federal court to five felony counts.
Moreland did not want to take his case to trial which was scheduled for next month.
He stood in front of a judge and admitted to crimes that will send him to prison for years.
Moreland came into the courtroom looking older than his sixty years.
He wore a green jail outfit and had a full gray beard.
He
spoke softly as he admitted to obstruction of justice, witness
tampering, stealing money from an organization that receives federal
funds, destroying documents and conspiracy to retaliate against a
witness.
U. S. Attorney Don Cochran said after the guilty plea that Moreland's behavior violated the public's trust.
"He was sworn to uphold the law instead of doing that he violated the oath and dishonored the robe he wore," Cochran said.
Prosecutors initially charged Moreland with ten criminal counts but he pleaded guilty to five.
One charge stemmed from undercover video taken by an FBI informant inside Moreland's home last year.
It captured Moreland talking about planting drugs on his former mistress in an attempt to discredit her.
Moreland's defense attorney Peter Strianse said with the evidence against Moreland it was the right decision not to go to trial.
Moreland also pleaded guilty to stealing cash from the Drug Court Foundation which he helped start.
Nan
Casey who worked along side Moreland has already pleaded guilty in the
case and provided undercover audio of Moreland talking about taking cash
from self paying clients at Drug Court.
Federal sentencing guidelines suggest Moreland could get up to four years in prison, but his attorney will argue for less.
He says Moreland has been kept in solitary confinement for his protection and his time in jail has taken a toll.
"Make no mistake Judge Moreland has felt the full force of this prosecution," Strianse said.
Prosecutors say they will push for a tough sentence, but it will be up to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw.
A federal grand jury in Tennessee has returned a superseding
indictment against a former Nashville judge on obstruction charges
stemming from an alleged scheme to embezzle cash from a nonprofit drug
treatment facility, the Department of Justice said.
Cason “Casey” Moreland, 60, was originally indicted in April 2017 on five counts of obstruction of justice.
The
superseding indictment returned Wednesday adds five new counts,
including two additional obstruction of justice counts, including
witness tampering and destruction of documents, two counts related to
theft from a program receiving federal funds and one one count of
committing an offense while on pretrial release.
Mr. Moreland was a
judge for the General Sessions Court of Metropolitan Nashville and
Davidson County. He heard civil, criminal and traffic cases as well as
presided over the General Sessions Drug Treatment Court, a specialized
court designed to provide alternatives to incarceration for low-level
defendants.
The Drug Treatment Court is supported by the nonprofit
Davidson County Drug Court Foundation. Prosecutors allege Mr. Moreland
began embezzling cash from the foundation in the spring of 2016. Mr.
Moreland is alleged to have directed to the Drug Court Foundation’s
director to deliver envelopes with the organization’s cash to him in
exchange for allowing the director her compensation according to court
documents.
The superseding indictment alleges that after learning of the
investigation, Mr. Moreland took steps to interfere with the
investigation. He is accused of ordering the Drug Court Foundation’s
director to destroy documents that would show the amount of cash that
had been paid to the Foundation and ultimately stolen by Moreland.
He
is also alleged to have attempted to tamper with a witness by
suggesting that she lie to the grand jury investigating his conduct,
according to court documents.
This case
was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by trial attorneys
Lauren Bell and Andrew Laing of the Department of Justice Criminal
Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecil
VanDevender of the Middle District of Tennessee.
Former Nashville judge Casey Moreland
will stay in jail while he awaits a trial on obstruction of justice
charges, a federal judge said Tuesday.
The
decision came days after authorities accused Moreland of making a
second attempt to throttle their ongoing corruption investigation.
Moreland was first charged with interfering in that
investigation last March, when investigators say he bribed a woman who
had made allegations against him.
His trial was set
for June 2018, but he was allowed to stay at home in the meantime,
wearing an ankle monitor. The terms of his release forbid him from
talking to any potential witnesses in the case against him.
Then,
on Thursday, the FBI released a stunning new criminal complaint that
included new allegations that Moreland had tampered with a witness as
recently as Feb. 13.
The
complaint said he worked with a woman, identified as "CS-1," to siphon
thousands of dollars away from the Davidson County Drug Court Foundation
over the course of years. After the FBI launched its investigation, the
complaint said, Moreland asked her to destroy evidence of the crime.
This
year, Moreland suggested ways the accomplice — who was working with the
FBI — could lie to a grand jury investigating the theft, according to
the complaint. Prosecutors worked with the woman to tape several
conversations with Moreland.
At a hearing on the
new charges, Moreland's defense attorney argued that U.S. Magistrate
Judge Joe Brown could allow Moreland to remain free on bail with
stricter rules
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecil W. VanDevender balked.
"You only get so many chances to have the benefit of the doubt," he said.
Brown
ultimately sided with prosecutors, although he left the door open to
reconsider of Moreland's mental health deteriorates. Moreland's wife
testified that he had battled depression and had been forgetful in
recent months, possibly showing signs of Alzheimer's Disease.
"You
can always ask for a reconsideration," Brown said. "It still remains a
very close case, it's just that I came down on the other side this
time."
Moreland is being held in Grayson County
Detention Center in Kentucky. He came to court Tuesday in a teal
jumpsuit with his legs in shackles and his hands cuffed behind his back.
Moreland's
attorney Peter Strianse said Brown's decision was disappointing if
predictable. But he used Tuesday's hearing, which ran about three hours,
to lay out the framework of a legal theory against the theft
allegations in the latest criminal complaint.
Authorities say "CS-1" and Moreland pocketed thousands of dollars in payments from patients the foundation's treatment center.
Strianse said federal authorities do not have jurisdiction to prosecute theft from the foundation.
"That money is in no way federal money," Strianse said. "There is no federal ownership of that money."
VanDevender
argued the federal investigation was valid because of a U.S. law
against theft from an organization that receives federal funds. Federal
grants go to the foundation, he said.
At least one other Nashville judge is entangled in the criminal allegations against Casey Moreland and is likely to be a witness in the case, officials say.
General
Sessions Presiding Judge Gale Robinson saw an affidavit Moreland
fabricated in an attempt to undercut reports Moreland traded legal
favors for sex, according to federal prosecutors.
Robinson,
who took over for Moreland after he resigned in April, saw the phony
statement and discussed it with Moreland before Moreland was arrested on
obstruction and witness tampering charges, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors and Moreland's lawyers sparred in a brief Tuesday afternoon hearing during which Moreland sought to have a GPS monitor removed before his trial in June.
A federal judge denied the request, but the hearing
revealed new details about the ongoing probe circling the embattled
judge and his life after the bench.
Robinson, a fellow judge and longtime friend of Moreland's, has been interviewed by the FBI, said Peter Strianse,
Moreland's lawyer. It's unclear if Robinson alerted the FBI about the
affidavit or spoke with investigators for another reason.
Robinson wouldn't answer questions from The Tennessean about his role.
"I’m not going to comment on any federal investigation or that federal case," he said Tuesday.
The
person who gave the woman the affidavit, James Pedigo, wore a wire for
the FBI to record some of his interactions with the woman. Pedigo, a
semi-pro wrestler known as "The Beast," already pleaded guilty to his
role.
Even after Moreland's release from jail in March, he tried to meet with
Robinson by going to Robinson's family's funeral home, prosecutors say.
They say those actions showed Moreland flouted a condition of his
probation that he have no contact with potential witnesses.
The ex-judge was put on GPS monitoring and home
confinement in March shortly after his arrest. He was later allowed to
visit his dying mother out-of-state and attend her funeral.
But
even U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Brown called the home confinement
liberal on Tuesday, after prosecutors said Moreland was able to leave
home for things like running errands.
And Moreland
was back to work as of about one week ago, said Strianse, who declined
to provide details about the ex-judge's employment except to say it's a
9-to-5 business job in Nashville.
If
convicted of each count, Moreland could face a maximum of 80 years in
prison and a fine of $1.25 million, prosecutors have said. However, it's
likely he would receive a shorter prison sentence as he has no criminal
history.
A
related public corruption investigation is ongoing, and it's unknown
when that will wrap up. Strianse argued that "phantom investigation"
makes it hard for Moreland to obey the condition that he not have
contact with potential witnesses.
"We're really hamstrung not knowing who the witnesses are," Strianse said.
Cecil
VanDevender, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that, given Moreland's
former profession, the ex-jurist is well aware of the potential
witnesses in the case.
"The person in the best position to know who the witnesses are is Mr. Moreland," he argued in court.
WSMV Channel 4 NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A complaint filed with the Board of Professional Responsibility about Judge Casey Moreland and attorney Bryan Lewis also included a mention of a 2010 solicitation of prostitution charge for an attorney who would go on to become a Williamson County judge.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A judge has granted Casey Moreland’s request to go out of state to see his elderly and ill mother who is in hospice care in Indiana.
According to the filing, Moreland, who remains under house arrest per the conditions of his release from custody, will visit with his mom at her Indiana home on Friday and Saturday of this week.
The document states he will leave with his wife and sister on Friday morning and return back to Nashville on Saturday.
While in Indiana, Moreland will stay at his mother’s home.
The former Nashville judge was indicted last Tuesday by a federal grand jury on five counts of obstruction of justice. He’s accused of taking steps to obstruct and interfere with an FBI investigation by devising a scheme to pay a material witness to take back her previous statements.
Moreland has since pleaded not guilty to those federal charges.
NASHVILLE, TN — Former Davidson County General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland is in line to receive a $4,588 monthly pension, plus insurance benefits, despite being under federal indictment, The Tennessean reports.
Even though he faces trial on three counts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering related to allegations he paid a woman $6,000 in an effort to get her to recant public allegations against him, Moreland could still receive taxpayer-funded benefits. Moreland resigned as one of the county's 11 General Sessions judges as part of a pre-trial release agreement.
Moreland — who can also receive medical insurance coverage and a $10,000 life insurance policy in addition to the pension
— would, under state law, forfeit his retirement benefits upon
conviction of "a felony arising out of that person's employment or
official capacity, constituting malfeasance in office." Metro Law
Director Jon Cooper told The Tennessean that Metro's employment benefits
board could revoke those benefits even without a conviction.
Here is how the FBI investigation of Davidson County General
Sessions Judge Casey Moreland unfolded, according to the criminal
complaint filed in U.S. District Court:
Jan. 25, 2017: FBI opens a federal criminal investigation into Moreland
Jan. 26, 2017: FBI interviews Natalie Amos, who said she began a sexual relationship with the judge in April 2016
Feb. 1, 2017: FBI attempts to interview Moreland. He declines and refers FBI agents to his attorney.
Feb. 3, 2017: Moreland resigns from General Sessions Drug Treatment Court and Cherished H.E.A.R.T.S program.
Feb. 15, 2017: Federal grand jury issues its first subpoena.
Mar. 1, 2017:
Moreland meets Confidential Source 1 (CS1) at his sister’s house,
asking that he enlist a mutual friend (CS2) to offer money to Natalie
Amos to sign an affidavit recounting her allegations. Moreland also asks
if CS1 knows an officer who might plant drugs on Amos to discredit her.
Mar. 2, 2017: Moreland tells CS1 he is concerned his phone are being monitored, discusses getting a “burner phone.”
Mar. 3, 2017: CS1 purchases a “burner phone” for Moreland in the name of "Raul Rodriguez."
Mar. 6, 2017: CS2 offers Amos money to sign an affidavit recanting her allegations. Amos reports the offer to the FBI.
Mar. 9, 2017: Moreland sends CS1 a photo of a large pile of cash to show the money was ready.
Mar. 10, 2017:
FBI confronts CS1. In hopes of leniency, he places a recorded call to
Moreland. The judge urges CS1 to go out with CS2 and Amos in an attempt
to get the affidavit signed.
Mar. 11, 2017: Working
with the FBI, CS1 meets with Moreland. The judge gives $5,100 to CS1,
along with an affidavit for Amos to sign. He advises CS1 to get Amos
“liquored up real good before you bring it up.”
Mar. 11, 2017: Moreland provides CS1 with an additional $1,000 for Amos.
Mar. 16, 2017: CS1 tells Moreland he has a law enforcement officer who can assist in planting drugs on Amos and initiating a traffic stop.
WSMV Channel 4 NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - If someone you care about has a problem with drugs and breaks the law, you'd want them to get help and a second chance.
But some are becoming skeptical about Davidson County’s General Sessions Drug Court, which, until recently, was run by Judge Casey Moreland.
Judge Michael Mondelli told Channel 4 he has lost confidence in drug court.
On Feb. 10, Mondelli sent an email to the district attorney’s office and the public defender’s office saying he has not approving any cases where a referral to drug court is involved.
The Channel 4 I-Team’s Nancy Amons recently went to sit in on a session of drug court, without a camera. Within a few minutes, drug court officials told all the defendants in the courtroom they could go home.
“These are trying times,” Nan Casey told the defendants before dismissing everyone from the courtroom.
WSMV Channel 4 NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - The Channel 4 I-Team has learned that a member of
the Davidson County General Sessions Drug Court treatment team also runs
eight halfway houses where judges send defendants for court-ordered
treatment.
The halfway houses are owned by a non-profit, which on paper, is
exceeding its projected budget thanks in part to rent paid by clients
sent by the court.
The eight halfway houses are on Harrington Avenue in Madison.
Most
houses have eight residents each. The clients are primarily people with
drug or alcohol charges who were sent there by a judge.
Before
Judge Casey Moreland stepped aside from his duties as general sessions’
drug court judge, this is where some of the people he sentenced ended
up.
The houses are owned or operated by a non-profit called Recovery Community, Inc. Lyn Noland is the executive director.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Undercover FBI video and audio recordings shed
light on the charges against Davidson County General Sessions Judge
Casey Moreland.
Federal prosecutors played the recordings in Moreland's preliminary hearing on Friday.
He is charged with obstruction of justice through bribery and witness tampering.
The
recordings show Moreland talking about planting drugs on his former
mistress and reveal his efforts to pay her in exchange for signing an
affidavit recanting parts of her story.
Moreland had no idea the man he was meeting in his home on March 16 was helping the FBI.
The
man had a video camera and told Moreland about a fictitious discussion
he had with a police officer who offered to plant drugs on Moreland's
former mistress, Natalie Amos.
Moreland asked, "What does he want?"
The informant responded,
"I don't know if he wants anything. He just... I think his thing is as
long as it don't come back to him. And I said "Don't worry about that.'"
Moreland asked, "Is he going to be the one to pull her over?"
The informant responded, "He'll be the one to pull her over. But he's just, his main thing is that it don't come back to me."
Judge Moreland then asked if the officer had a drug dog.
He also wanted to know where the officer worked.
"Who does he work for?" Moreland asked.
"He does something for the DEA and he works part time for another agency," the informant said.
Prosecutors emphasized there was never an officer who was going to plant drugs.
Toward
the end of their meeting, Moreland asked the informant if he still had
Amos' license plate number which Moreland had given him earlier.
The informant said, "I got it written down where nobody could see it. So yeah, I still got the tag number. So I got that."
Moreland said, "You ought to be able to find her with that."
The phone calls deal with Moreland trying to get Amos to sign an affidavit.
Through the same informant, Moreland offered her money if she would sign.
But the FBI pretended that Amos wanted to keep marking out parts of the affidavit.
"Tell her I have to have that," Moreland said on the phone.
The informant responded, "You gotta have that there was no sex in the office?"
"Right," Moreland answered.
Prosecutors say Moreland wound up paying $6,100 in exchange for Natalie Amos signing the affidavit.
They found the affidavit with Amos' fake signature in the possession of Moreland's attorney, Worrick Robinson.
"I
can't talk about the affidavit or anything surrounding the affidavit
other than what was discussed today in open court," Robinson said after
court Friday.
Moreland's other attorney, Peter Strianse, indicated the plan was to leak the affidavit to the media.
He claimed leaking a document to the media would not be obstruction of justice, which is a federal crime.
He said it may just be an example of poor judgment.
NASHVILLE — The federal government on Tuesday filed criminal charges against a Tennessee judge, alleging he tried to bribe a woman to recant her allegations against him.
General
Sessions Judge Casey Moreland, 59, was charged with attempting to
obstruct justice through bribery and witness tampering, Acting U.S.
Attorney for Middle Tennessee Jack Smith announced. Moreland was taken
into custody Tuesday morning and appeared in court Tuesday afternoon.
The
chains around Moreland's ankles, clanking on a tile floor, could be
heard even before he was led into the courtroom. U.S. Magistrate Judge
Joe Brown read the possible penalties Moreland is facing, including a
maximum 20-year prison term.
"Do you understand what you're charged with and the possible punishment?" Brown asked.
"Yes
sir," Moreland replied, seated in a button-down and khakis next to his
lawyer, Peter Strianse of Nashville. Asked for comment as he was leaving
the courtroom, Moreland did not respond.
Moreland will next appear in court Friday afternoon for a hearing to determine if he will remain in custody pending trial.
Moreland,
a judge since 1998, was the subject of an FBI investigation related to
allegations that he helped people he knew in exchange for things —
including sexual favors, travel and lodging. Among the allegations
documented in police reports and accounts were that he intervened in a
traffic stop for a woman he had a personal relationship with and waived
jail time for his future son-in-law.
According to the U.S.
Attorney's Office, Moreland tried to pay a woman thousands of dollars to
recant her allegations against him. That occurred after March 1, more
than one month after the FBI began an inquiry.
"The
allegations set forth in the indictment set forth egregious abuses of
power by a judge sitting here in Nashville," Smith said in a statement.
A
criminal complaint based on an affidavit of FBI Special Agent Mark
Shafer lays out the investigation, which used confidential sources who
are unnamed in the complaint.
A man, who initially lied to FBI agents about his role, later said he had schemed with Moreland.
According
to the affidavit, that man said the judge was concerned their calls
were being monitored, so he purchased for the judge a “burner phone,” a
temporary cellphone that is often associated with criminal activity.
On
March 11, while the confidential source was working for the FBI, he met
with Moreland. In that meeting, the man told the judge he had met with a
woman making public allegations against Moreland and that she would
sign an affidavit saying she had lied.
The meeting was recorded,
according to the FBI, and during it Moreland handed over the draft
affidavit, $5,100 cash and an explanation.
“This right here gets
me out of trouble,” Moreland said, according to the FBI documents.
Federal officials say Moreland instructed the man to get the woman
"liquored up real good" before asking her to sign the affidavit.
After
being told the woman wanted to make changes to it, Moreland handed over
another $1,000 to sign it as-is, federal officials said.
Moreland
also discussed a plan to have drugs planted on the woman, and then
discovered by police during a traffic stop he would orchestrate,
according to the complaint. Federal officials said the goal was to
destroy the woman's credibility.
Also Tuesday, as the charges were
being announced, Metro Councilman Jeremy Elrod filed a resolution
calling for Moreland's resignation. And Mayor Megan Barry said resigning
would "seem to be in the best interest" of residents who depend on the
integrity of the courts.
"Nashville deserves to have absolute
trust in our judiciary, and Casey Moreland, based upon the allegations
in the federal complaint, seems to have clearly violated that trust,"
Barry said in a statement.
Moreland is one of 11 General Sessions judges in Nashville. Each earns $170,000.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Davidson County Judge Casey Moreland was
arrested and formally charged Tuesday morning by federal authorities in
an ongoing investigation into his conduct.
While cuffed at the arms and legs, Moreland appeared in front of a
federal magistrate for an arraignment on charges of obstruction of
criminal investigations, tampering with a witness, victim, or an
informant and retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant in
Nashville.
During his initial appearance, the Davidson County judge replied
“Yes, sir” when asked if he understood the obstruction of justice
charges against him and the potential penalties.
Moreland, whose hands and feet were both cuffed Tuesday, will remain
in federal custody at a Grayson County, Kentucky, jail pending another
hearing on Friday.
News 2 spoke with his attorney, Peter Strianse, late Tuesday
afternoon who said, “He is obviously in a bit of a state of shock. You
know he certainly did not expect to be awoken by the FBI at 6 o’clock
this morning with a search warrant. So I think he is still reeling a bit
from all of that.”
He added, “He is like any person. He did not expect to be here today.
He certainly understood that he was under investigation, but he thought
that investigation would be like a lot of investigations – they would
look at it and look at it and made a determination if they have enough
to charge somebody.
This was really an abrupt way to start the day.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Moreland and
others on January 25 after allegations they violated federal
anti-corruption statutes by soliciting, accepting and extorting things
of value including sexual favors, from people he had close relationships
with in return for performing official acts that benefited those people
and their associates.
Moreland reportedly became aware of the investigation in early February when FBI agents attempted to interview him.
Federal documents also allege that earlier this month, Moreland took
steps to “obstruct and interfere with the federal investigation” by
attempting to pay a woman to recant her prior statements about him. (Click to Continue)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Davidson County General Sessions Judge Casey
Moreland was arrested Tuesday morning by FBI agents, accused of
attempting to obstruct a federal investigation.
A criminal
complaint filed in U.S. District Court accuses the 59-year-old Moreland
of attempting to bribe a witness in an on-going FBI investigation into
his conduct and suggesting that drugs be planted on that witness in an
attempt to discredit her.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith said the allegations amount to "egregious abuses of power by a judge sitting in Nashville."
"Such
an abuse of power," Smith added, "undermines the credibility of and
destroys the public's trust in the court system and strikes at the very
essence of our judicial branch of government."
The FBI investigation began January 25.
Moreland's
conduct had been the focus of a NewsChannel 5 investigation after a
police review of a young woman's suicide exposed his illicit affair with
one young woman and allegations that he had intervened in a criminal
case involving another woman who later committed suicide
Thousands of text messages obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates
reveal Moreland intervened in the traffic stop last June involving his
mistress, Natalie Amos. He also interceded in a criminal case involving
Amos to help her get out of fines that had been imposed against her.
Amos appears to have been the target of the bribery attempt, as well as the scheme to plant drugs in her vehicle.
The
Metro Police investigation into the suicide last May of the second
woman, Leigh Terry, brought up several disturbing allegations. One is
that Moreland had sex with a woman in his chambers in exchange for
favorable treatment in her DUI case.
"She told me right then that
she had sex with Casey Moreland in the chambers and that's what kept her
out of jail," Terry's friend, Roy Matlock, said during an interview
with Metro Police.
Prosecutors say the plan to ask that Moreland be held without bond.
Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Megan Barry released the following statement:
"Nashville
deserves to have absolute trust in our judiciary, and Casey Moreland,
based upon the allegations in the federal complaint, seems to have
clearly violated that trust. Like all Americans, Judge Moreland deserves
the chance to defend himself in court. However, resigning his position
now would seem to be in the best interest of the Nashvillians who depend
upon the integrity of our General Sessions Court judges to rule in a
fair and unbiased manner.”
It was General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland who entered a courtroom
in handcuffs on Tuesday, the chains binding his ankles clanking on the
tile floor of Nashville’s federal courthouse.
"Do you understand what you're charged with and the possible punishment?" federal Magistrate Judge Joe Brown asked him.
"Yes sir," 59-year-old Moreland replied, seated in a button-down
shirt and khakis next to his lawyer, Peter Strianse of Nashville. Asked
for comment as he was leaving the courtroom, Moreland did not respond.
An
FBI investigation of Moreland came to a head Tuesday, when federal
officials announced the judge had been charged. That prompted Mayor
Megan Barry to suggest the judge should resign, and Metro Council
members took an initial step to call for his departure.
Moreland
stands accused by the FBI of trying to bribe a woman to recant
allegations against him by offering her $6,100, and conspiring with a
confidential source to plant drugs on her in an apparent attempt to
smear her credibility.
"The allegations set forth in the
indictment set forth egregious abuses of power by a judge sitting here
in Nashville," acting U.S. Attorney for Middle Tennessee Jack Smith
announced in a Tuesday morning news conference.
Court documents
say Moreland was charged with attempting to obstruct justice through
bribery, witness tampering and retaliating against a witness. The
charges carry an up to 20-year prison sentence.
Strianse argued in
court Tuesday that federal law did not allow for the government to hold
Moreland in custody, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecil VanDevender
asked. Brown said Moreland would remain in custody at least until a
hearing set for Friday afternoon.
“He’s obviously in a bit of a
state of shock,” Strianse said of Moreland. “He certainly didn’t expect
to be awoken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this morning at 6
a.m. with a search warrant. They went to his sister’s home where he’s
been living.”
The FBI investigation into Moreland,
a judge since 1998, related to allegations that he helped people he
knew in exchange for benefits including sexual favors, travel and
lodging. Among the allegations documented in police reports and accounts
were that he intervened in a traffic stop for a woman he had a personal
relationship with and waived jail time for his future son-in-law.
In the next 30 days, embattled Nashville General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland
— with the guidance of his lawyer — will respond to state judicial
misconduct investigators probing the veteran jurist's relationships with
those in his courtroom.
Moreland was formally notified of the Board of Judicial Conduct investigation this week, his lawyer, Worrick Robinson, confirmed Friday.
"He
will be responding and cooperating," Robinson said. The formal
notification triggers a monthlong deadline for Moreland to deliver his
side of the story to ethics investigators, though the judicial oversight body said publicly a week prior it was investigating Moreland. The
announcement came after several Nashville news outlets, including The
Tennessean, reported on allegations in a police report that Moreland had
sexual relationships with women who appeared in his courtroom.
The
investigation of his actions, if it results in a finding of misconduct,
could lead to a settlement, private or public discipline or procedures
to remove Moreland, which requires the Tennessee General Assembly to
sign off.
It is rare the board opts for the most
severe sanction, which is recommending a judge be removed. According to
the Tennessee Constitution, then the Tennessee House and Senate must
each vote by a two-thirds majority to remove a judge.
Since 1971, the judicial conduct board has recommended only five judges be removed, according to state reports.
The
last time a judge was removed by the legislature was in the '90s. The
conduct board (then called the Court of the Judiciary) recommended the
removal of Dyersburg Chancellor David Lanier after Lanier was convicted
of federal charges related to “sexual assaults on named victims,”
administrative reports read.
According to media
reports, women who worked at the Dyersburg courthouse accused Lanier in
1992 of fondling them and pressuring them for sex. One woman who had a
child custody case before his court said he forced her to perform oral
sex after summoning her to his office.
The House and Senate each unanimously voted to remove Lanier.
A
state court history report says between 1991 and 2011, after discipline
was sought against a judge, the most common outcomes were private
discipline or the judge leaving office. Each occurred 46 times in that
time period. There also were 36 deferred discipline agreements, in which
judges resolve issues involving minor misconduct through treatment or
rehabilitation.
The
16-member Board of Judicial Conduct's goal, according to Tennessee law,
is to make inquiry into the "physical, mental and moral fitness of any
Tennessee judge."
Waiting for Moreland's
response to the ethics inquiry is Tim Discenza, the chief disciplinary
counsel for the conduct board since 2010. Before that he was a federal
prosecutor in Memphis for more than three decades.
If
his investigation leads to a public reprimand, state law says
notification will be sent to the General Assembly because Moreland has
received that same level of discipline before. In 2014, Moreland was publicly reprimanded for intervening in a domestic violence case at the request of Bryan Lewis, a Nashville lawyer and longtime friend of the judge.
Lewis and Moreland went on a trip together in April, which has prompted current scrutiny of the nearly 20-year judge.
A woman on the trip, 34-year-old Leigh Terry, committed suicide about a
week later, a police report says. Nashville police investigating her
death talked to two of Terry's friends who reported Terry had slept with
Moreland while she had a driving under the influence case in Moreland's
courtroom, the police report says.
Moreland's actions are now facing scrutiny from the FBI as well as judicial ethics investigators. Since the allegations surfaced, Moreland has taken a brief medical leave, stepped back from overseeing two specialty court programs while
seeking alcohol abuse treatment and resigned as presiding judge. He
continues to hear criminal cases assigned to his courtroom.
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Nashville has received a lot of praise for its drug court that offers substance abuse treatment as an alternative to jail.
For 14 years, General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland has overseen the court and its programs to keep people clean and sober.
The Channel 4 I-Team has received information that there may be multiple instances where Moreland has had too much to drink.
He’s been reported to Metro’s CrimeStopper program for getting into a vehicle when he appeared to be drunk.
Questions have been raised about whether on one occasion, his alleged drinking may have led to his own injury.
The
testimonials from those who appear in drug court are both
heart-wrenching and inspiring, written by people whose lives have turned
around when offered treatment over punishment.
Moreland has been in charge of the court for all of its 14 years.
Most
recently he’s drawn attention for a complaint made to the state board
that investigates allegations against judges. The complaint accuses him
of inappropriate conduct, granting favors and dismissing charges for
women he’s traveled and socialized with.
But there are other accusations that he is engaging in the very type of conduct he sees in addicted defendants.
In July, a 911 call from a Nashville restaurant reported a man had fallen down the stairs and was bleeding from his head.
Witnesses told the Channel 4 I-Team that Moreland took a serious fall at a local bar and restaurant last July.
His
companion that day was Natalie Amos, the woman who now says her tickets
and fines disappeared by special arrangement from Moreland.
The 911 caller did not know how the man had fallen down the stairs.
“We don’t really know,” the caller said. “Nobody was with him. We found him at the bottom of the stairs.”
No one saw Moreland fall that evening. His injuries were severe.
WSMV Channel 4 NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Text messages sent from Judge Casey Moreland while
he was on the bench, referring to defendants as “hos” and “junkies,”
raise concerns for one of the nation’s foremost experts on judicial
ethics.
Many of the texts cannot be reprinted because of sexually explicit content.
But
in our review of thousands of text message, the I-Team came upon texts
Moreland sent Amos while he was in court for cases of human trafficking,
prostitution and drug addiction.
In one series of texts, Amos sent a Bitmoji telling Moreland to pay attention to her.
He responds in a text reading, “Just been working! Sorry! My hos in court keep me busy.”
It’s
a derogatory term that Moreland used in another text, where he wrote to
Amos, “Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my busy days! Hos and junkies!”
The
I-Team showed the texts as well as all our previous investigations to
Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor Charlie Geyh, a
Carnegie fellow who has testified before the U.S. Senate as an expert on
judicial ethics.
"If you're using disparaging terms to
characterize people who appear before you on a pretty regular basis, it
suggests you harbor a bias against them that calls your impartiality
into question,” Geyh said.
The I-Team showed him how repeatedly,
Moreland texted Amos for personal reasons while he was holding court,
including cases where he was listening to information about a wire tape
and on a cocaine case.
At one point, Moreland sent her a picture of the defendants before him.
"The business of being on the telephone, in the middle of court proceedings, is itself a problem," Geyh said.
We also showed Geyh our investigation into Moreland’s involvement in Amos’ ticket and fines.
"I
think it's still very problematic,” he said. “Judges need to be mindful
of the power they exercise and not to use that power for their own
personal advantage."
After reviewing our investigations, Geyh said it is time for Moreland to rethink his career.
"If
all that is reported is true, this may not be a judge who is well
suited for the bench. I think the best bet is to step down,” Geyh said.
In
the preamble of the Tennessee Judicial Code, it reads, “Judges should
maintain the dignity of judicial office at all times, and avoid both
impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in their professional and
personal lives.”
In the attempt to once more try to speak with
Judge Moreland, the I-Team sent two emails, containing all of the texts,
to Moreland’s attorney. We are still waiting to hear back.
