The attorneys for a woman convicted of second-degree murder are asking a judge to disqualify 10th Judicial District Attorney General Steve Crump’s entire office from the case after the chief prosecutor was accused of withholding evidence in order to hide an alleged affair for which he was purportedly being blackmailed into securing a conviction.
Chattanooga attorney Bill Speek’s motion comes on the heels of another motion that details a recording of a conversation between the siblings of James Cheatham, who was shot and killed in 2016 during a domestic dispute in Cleveland, Tennessee, on Halloween morning.
Cheatham’s wife, Miranda Cheatham, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison, though she’s maintained she was acting in self-defense.
In the recording, James Cheatham’s sister, Dana Cheatham, confesses to a prior affair with Crump and admits to threatening to “f—— his whole life up” by airing their alleged affair if “something didn’t happen soon.”
Miranda Cheatham’s defense is seeking an acquittal or at least a new trial, and they don’t want Crump’s office involved in any of it.