Stacey Barchenger

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Former Metro Councilman Loniel Greene lied in court, and he won’t face criminal charges for it.

Greene was in court Wednesday for a second time, testifying that he was now being honest that he used someone else's $10,000 — not his own earnings — to get his cousin out of jail in a domestic violence case.

He confirmed that he made a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for Greene’s truthful testimony Wednesday and resignation from Metro Council, he would not face perjury or money laundering charges related to his first court appearance Jan. 6.

Prosecutors wanted Greene’s cousin, Tavares Buchanan, to go back to jail, arguing a judge should revoke his bond because he was still making threats to the woman police have accused him of beating up.

So they used evidence — jail phone calls between Greene and Buchanan and then Greene’s own testimony — to show Greene lied about the source of the money he used to post bond.

On Jan. 6, Greene told a judge the $10,000 he was posting to get Buchanan out of jail was his own money, according to court documents.

But on Wednesday, he admitted in court that was not true, and the money came from a stash at Buchanan’s mother’s house. He said he was only trying to help his family. He appeared in court with his attorneys, Ed Yarbrough and Alex Little of Bone McAllester Norton law firm in Nashville.

In a series of questions, Assistant District Attorney General Danielle Nellis asked Greene if he did say in the first court hearing that the money for the bond was his..

"I did," Greene replied.

"Was that true?" Nellis asked.

"It was not."

"Were you under oath at that time?"

"I was."

The rookie councilman represented District 1, which includes the Bordeaux and Joelton areas. He resigned Friday, one day after prosecutors filed court papers questioning his honesty in the January bond source hearing.

Loniel Greene resigns from Metro Council

In cross-examination with Justin Johnson, Buchanan's attorney, Greene denied trying to influence the woman, Sparkle Johnson, not to come to court. That was another allegation made by prosecutors in court papers filed last week.

Buchanan was arrested Dec. 30 and charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. Metro police detective Chad Young testified that Buchanan was arrested that day after leaving Greene's house.

Police seized three cellphones: one that was powered on found in Buchanan's pocket and two that were turned off and found in his car, Young testified. Young said Nashville detective Chad Gish uncovered videos on one of the phones that show the woman injured and naked with an expletive written on her forehead, and show a man that looks like Buchanan at the scene.

Those videos were taken the day after Christmas and before Buchanan was arrested, Young said.

Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn heard testimony from Greene and Young and said that Buchanan would remain out of custody, placed on house arrest and GPS monitoring.

The hearing on whether to revoke Buchanan's bond continues Tuesday. Johnson, the defense attorney, asked for the delay, saying he’d been hired only 36 hours before.

Fishburn warned that anyone — Greene included — trying to contact the woman could lead to contempt of court charges.

Greene on Wednesday gave his side of the story about the explicit language in the jail phone calls, and statements that he would "work on" the victim. He said he was the godfather of Buchanan's son. The boy's mother is the woman Buchanan is accused of abusing.

MORE: Listen to the jail phone calls here.

Greene said the woman had brought charges against Buchanan before, but always dropped them. He said the seriousness of the current charges against Buchanan made him worry Buchanan would hurt himself, and he had been counseling Buchanan and the woman.

"Your honor, what’s missing here is Mr. Buchanan and Ms. Johnson have had a toxic and violent relationship for years," Greene said.

He said he was not talking as a councilman or an attorney but as a cousin when he made those jail calls. He apologized for his language.

But Fishburn said Greene's tone in the calls did not fit his story that he was just trying to help the couple.

The "defendant never asked you to do something to influence victim in this case, is that your testimony?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honor," Greene replied.

Fishburn replied by reading a transcript, provided by prosecutors, of what Greene now admits he said in those calls, including the statements:

“Let me, let me work on her. Because s---, they gonna need her … let me work on her.”

“You just can’t try to just throw him up the river and then think that you gonna be accepted in the family, that just don’t work.”

“’Cuz this game you try to play. You try to play the system, mother f----- I am the system.”

Fishburn said that was Greene abusing his authority as a councilman.

Greene appeared in court to post his cousin's bond about two months after he was shot three times near a West Nashville gas station. Greene told police he followed someone he thought he recognized away from the gas station.

Many details of the interaction remain unclear.

Police have not been able to talk to their suspect, Brandon Hunt-Clark, who is in jail in Mississippi on an unrelated robbery charge.

Sharon Hurt to take over Loniel Greene's council duties



Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger

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