A counter-suit asking $2 million in damages has been filed against the man who sued General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes and his daughter, Christina Starnes Evans, on grounds of malicious prosecution.
The Circuit Court suit in behalf of Ms. Starnes says she, her child and others were victims of emotion and physical abuse from her former boyfriend, Matthew Cunningham.
Cunningham had asked $250,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages in his complaint.
Also, attorney Lee Davis filed a motion for Judge Starnes asking that the Cunningham lawsuit be dismissed.
Attorney Davis said, "This lawsuit was brought by Mr. Cunningham to intimidate Christina Starnes and in an attempt to cloud the good name and reputation of her father Judge Gary Starnes. We have filed this motion to clear all legal allegations against Judge Gary Starnes. The allegations are without merit or any known legal basis. We have asked the court to dismiss this nuisance lawsuit."
After an investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Ms. Starnes was indicted in September on charges of filing a false report and aggravated perjury.
The original suit, filed by attorney Bob Batson, said Ms. Evans in October 2014 filed false charges against Cunningham and had him arrested on a claim that he had harmed her young son. It says Ms. Evans later made hundreds of text messages to Cunningham, acknowledging that the charges were false.
It says she wanted him to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault charges so that she would not face the more serious felony aggravated perjury charges.
The lawsuit claimed Judge Starnes urged his daughter to prosecute Cunningham as well as to get an order of protection against him.
The counter-suit, filed by attorneys John Cavett and Johnny Houston, asks $1 million compensatory damages and $1 million punitive damages.
It says Ms. Evans, because of alleged actions of Cunningham, was the victim of "battered spouse syndrome."
The counter-suit says she was "the victim of verbal, emotional, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Cunningham."
It claims he also abused her five-year-old son as well as his own two minor daughters.
The counter-suit says Cunningham would strike his nine-year-old daughter so hard that the child would quit breathing for a second.
It says he continually berated Ms. Evans about her weight and looks.
The counter-suit says he would hold her son upside down, frightening the child. He once did it from a porch two stories high, it was stated.
It says another time on a trip to Florida that Cunningham swatted her child so hard that it caused him to fall face first on the ground. It says when Ms. Evans told him to stop, he shoved her against a wall and started choking her.
It was claimed that the alleged actions of Cunningham caused Ms. Evans to be "severely damaged mentally, emotionally and physically."
The motion by attorney Davis says Judge Starnes "had no control over the prosecution of this case." It says it was initiated by his daughter, and the district attorney made the ultimate decision to prosecute.
He said Judge Starnes took no action in the case after a special prosecutor and special judge were appointed other than to be concerned for his daughter.
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here to read the motion.