Tennessee prosecutors are opposing a motion for a state judge to recuse himself — after a county judge already did so — in the case against former Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy, who resigned after accusations of residency fraud.
A lawyer with the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference objected Tuesday to the recusal request Murphy’s defense lawyer, McCracken Poston, filed in court Monday. Poston is representing Murphy following an investigation into her former lawyer, Alan Christopher Norton, who pleaded guilty Oct. 10 to three counts of forgery.
Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson recused himself in December after Poston filed a motion to quash, which is asking the court to invalidate the 17-count indictment of criminal charges against his client. The motion centers on a challenge to the constitutionality of Hamilton County’s jury selection system, court records showed, making Murphy’s case the fourth in recent years to raise issues about the process.
The alleged systemic failure to provide juries in proportionate makeup to the Hamilton County population affects every citizen and every defendant in Hamilton County’s criminal courts, Poston wrote in a second motion also filed Monday. He asked for a delay of the next hearing.