Stacey Barchenger

sbarchenger@tennessean.com

Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk wants the man he defeated in the 2014 election, Rob McGuire, to answer under oath if he's the source of information behind recent media reports Funk says are defaming.

Subpoenas were issued Monday in Funk's ongoing libel lawsuit against WTVF-NewsChannel 5 chief investigative reporter Phil Williams and the station's parent company, Scripps Media Inc. They're an additional step in Funk's attempt to identify who released information that was the basis of stories about a controversial deal Funk made with developer David Chase.

He wants McGuire and Brian Manookian, another lawyer, and their law firms to reveal all communication related to Funk or Chase that they had with any employee of any media organization since June 1, 2015. And Funk wants both to testify under oath about those interactions. Manookian and McGuire both represent people Chase is suing in a related case in Williamson County, where the information came from.

"We intend to find out who did this," said James Kay of Kay, Griffin, Enkema and Colbert in Nashville, whom Funk hired in this case. Kay said information was illegally released because a judge placed it under seal. Asked why only two of the several lawyers working in the Williamson case were subpoenaed, he said there were no concerns about the others.

"It’s important to Glenn because the depositions that were given to Mr. Williams, if you look at them in any detail whatsoever you will realize that in the entire testimony, there is none that he solicited a bribe or paid a bribe."

McGuire questioned the prosecutor's move, calling it disappointing.

"I don’t have these documents," he said. "I didn’t provide them to anybody. I’m not quite sure why he thinks I would. I’ve been publicly very supportive of his administration and have praised the prosecutors in his office as recently as last week on television. ... I’ll comply. It’s going to be a very uninteresting deposition I suspect."

McGuire left the prosecutors office in 2014 after he lost to Funk, a longtime criminal defense attorney, in the 2014 election. He now practices with three other former prosecutors at MMRS Law. He served as a legal analyst for WKRN News 2 during the recent rape retrial of a Vanderbilt University football player.

Manookian, of Cummings Manookian, did not mince words about the request.

"That an elected official would spend his time trying to chill communications to the press about his own official actions, in a case where he clearly misrepresented to the public the deal he struck in private with David Chase, is alarming," Manookian said. He said he had not yet received the subpoena, but said if Funk was asking "for things I gave to NewsChannel 5, he's not going to get anything."

Funk and his lawyer also have asked a judge to order Williams to reveal essentially all information and sources used in the reporting of two stories about a deal Funk made in a high-profile domestic violence case involving Chase. Williams objected to such a request, citing Tennessee's shield laws for journalists.

"He has the absolute right not to do that," Kay said. "He has chosen not to give up his source."

That's not stopping Funk, however.

The veteran newsman reported that Chase said in depositions or text messages he felt like he was being blackmailed by the district attorney.

After Williams' stories aired, Funk said that charges against Chase were dismissed because of issues with the credibility of the accuser and as part of that Chase agreed to drop a lawsuit against the Metro Nashville Police Department.

Late Thursday, Chase filed two new federal lawsuits. One is against Metro police for allegations of civil rights violations, use of excessive force, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery and defamation. A second lawsuit names Funk and an assistant district attorney, Katy Miller, alleging civil rights violations, failure to implement proper policies and procedures, defamation, negligence and civil conspiracy.

Glenn Funk's deal in David Chase case controversial, but legal

In the case against the television station, Funk denies any wrongdoing and alleges that Williams' reporting is libelous and defaming. He wants the stories retracted and the media company to pay millions in damages.

Williams set his sights on the district attorney and last year broke a story about Funk enrolling in a state retirement system before taking office, from which he benefited financially. The Tennessee attorney general launched an investigation and lawmakers questioned Funk's actions. The attorney general said Funk broke the law but did not pursue criminal charges, in part because Funk agreed to refund the benefits he received.

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