Brian Chastain
Charges were dismissed Monday in the multiple-count child molestation case against Brian Chastain in the Superior Court of Catoosa County.
The charges were brought almost three years ago.
Attorney McCracken Poston of Ringgold said, “While the state’s motion to nolle prosequi (dismiss) stated it was ‘...based on the totality of the circumstances...’, it has long been public knowledge that an illicit relationship between Chastain’s wife and then-lead Detective Freddy Roden, that started in the first days of the case, raised many concerns about the investigation.
“Our District Attorneys Office does not ever shy away from aggressively prosecuting these cases, even questionable ones, so it says much that this case ended short of a jury trial.
“Our defense at trial was going to be that the accuser had just witnessed a close friend ‘getting rid’ of a stepfather she did not like by making very similar accusations. In that case, that girl’s mother and step-father quickly and quietly divorced, neither using lawyers, and this reinforced the notion that this was an option for her.
"This planted the seed in the accuser’s mind. Also, the stepfather in that case worked for a law enforcement agency and to my knowledge was never investigated.
“One of the specific allegations detailed a physical injury which was simply not supported by the evidence. Instead of this causing the investigator to question the accuser, the Detective just did not present that single discredited claim - a claim that was disproven by facts colors all other claims, and was a sign of credibility issues.
Attorney Poston said Chastain took and passed a polygraph denying all claims on all alleged issues. It was given by former FBI polygraph expert Richard Rackleff of Gainesville. Although polygraphs are not admissible at trial without agreement, it was another factor that the prosecution may have considered before moving to dismiss the case, attorney Poston said.
He stated, "The defense investigation early on revealed the illicit relationship between lead detective Roden and Chastain’s then-wife. We were at first preparing to detonate this at trial until a citizen confidante of Chastain’s then-wife confronted Roden and then told the prosecutor. But I began to be concerned when detectives were taking what turned out to be a total of 16 DNA swabs from my client. This was unprecedented in having that much of my client’s DNA in the hands of his wife’s lover, who was leading the investigation.”
Attorney Poston said he "feared the relationship blinded the detective and that DNA could be easily falsely planted had the relationship not been revealed."
Poston said he "knows that the District Attorneys Office was not aware of the illicit relationship until relatively late into the investigation, and certainly would have disclosed it before trial, but they may not have known just how all that DNA of my client was being handled, or mishandled.”