Dana Cheatham Pritchard
An out of town judge said he will rule within 90 cases on a motion seeking a new trial in a homicide case on grounds involving an alleged affair by 10th District District Attorney Steve Crump. DA Crump has denied the allegation.
Judge Don Ash heard several hours of testimony on Monday in Cleveland in the case of Miranda Cheatham, who is serving 18 years in prison for the Halloween 2016 murder of her husband, James "Tooter" Cheatham.
Chattanooga attorneys Bill Speek and Jonathan Turner said the allegation that the DA was having an affair with the half-sister of Tooter Cheatham, Dana Cheatham Pritchard, caused him to have a conflict of interest.
The judge heard a 34-minute tape that was secretly recorded by John Loach, half-brother of "Tooter" Cheatham. It was a conversation between Mr. Loach and Ms. Pritchard in which he started out by saying he had "pictures" of her and DA Crump together.
Ms. Pritchard proceeded to say on the tape that she did have an affair with DA Crump when he was her lawyer prior to him being elected district attorney. She also claimed to have threatened to go to DA Crump's wife if he did not proceed with prosecution of the murder case.
She also said she had performed massages for DA Crump and members of his family.
Questioned by special prosecutor John Zimmerman, Ms. Pritchard said she had spoken "lies" on the tape, saying that Mr. Loach had a gun with him and she was scared. She said, "I was saying whatever he wanted to hear."
She said any time she had been with DA Crump one of her family members or a friend had been with her.
She said at the time of the tape she was drinking alcohol and that was a bad combination with several strong medications she was on.
Ms. Pritchard said she has never spoken to Mr. Loach since that day. She said she blocked him from all her social media.
Despite her denials of statements on the tape, when questioned by attorney Speek twice, Ms. Pritchard said she had had a sexual relationship with DA Crump.
The defense called Caryn Bledsoe who on the tape John Loach had claimed was also having an affair with the district attorney. Attorney Speek asked her if she had a sexual relationship with DA Crump. Ms. Bledsoe was shaking her head no when the special prosecutor interjected, "This is getting Jerry Springerish." The witness was then allowed to step down.
Cleveland detective Daniel Gibbs said he took the case against Miranda Cheatham to the Grand Jury on June 21, 2017. He said he "learned later how popular she was in the community."
The detective said he found while interviewing family members that some favored her and others the victim. He said the couple's children sided with their mother.
He said that Mr. Loach dropped off the tape in an unannounced visit on May 31, 2017 - just before the indictment. He said it was a secret recording that contained allegations of an affair against DA Crump.
Detective Gibbs said he passed the tape "up the chain of command" in the Cleveland Police Department and, after it got to Chief Mark Gibson, the DA's office was called.
He said he did not listen to the tape, saying it "had nothing to do with the homicide." He said he did listen to it after the trial after a Cleveland attorney, who had been a political foe of DA Crump, asked for it, as did attorney Speek. It was released to attorney Speek under an Open Records request.
Detective Gibbs said he also told Coty Wamp, the lead prosecutor on the case, about the existence of the tape. He said, "She did not know what I was talking about. I told her what Loach told me. She was surprised."
He said a second copy of the tape was then made. And he said, "The chief (Gibson) told me that Crump was on the way over." He said this was two days before the case went to the Grand Jury.
Ms. Wamp, who is now special counsel to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, said she was made lead prosecutor on the case just three months before it went to trial. She said she was told about the tape, but said it had nothing to do with the homicide case.
She said whether to pass it on to the defense was a decision made before she became lead prosecutor.
John Loach said he was angry at DA Crump, believing he was stalling on prosecution of the murder of his half-brother.
He said he had gotten a call from then-Commissioner Jeff Yarber, telling him, " 'Hoop', you better do something. Caryn Bledsoe, Crump and them are trying to get her probation."
He also admitted, "I didn't have no pictures (of Ms. Pritchard and DA Crump). I was just trying to get her to talk to me."
The entire hearing was livestreamed by Mix 104.1 in Cleveland:
First Half in morning: https://fb.watch/v/2VQa1EVUg/
Second Half in afternoon: https://fb.watch/v/1UwK_upoe/