Knoxville officer who confessed groping woman on duty wants shot at clean record

A former Knoxville police officer who groped a woman while investigating a disturbance call at her home will ask a judge Thursday to give him a chance at wiping the crime off his record.

Jason Tyler Hughett, 39, resigned from the Knoxville Police Department amid a probe into the Sept. 19 sexual battery and, in December, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual battery and official oppression.

Plea deal

His defense attorney, Joshua Hedrick, bartered a plea deal with Assistant Knox County District Attorney General Ashley McDermott for a one-year sentence, with the right to ask Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee to give Hughett probation and judicial diversion.

Judicial diversion is specially designed for nonviolent, first-time offenders and allows the defendant – if he stays out of trouble during the probationary period – to have his record erased.

Could return to law enforcement

With no conviction on his record, Hughett could seek a law enforcement job in the future.

McGee has set a hearing on Hughett’s request for Thursday. Hedrick has filed copies of Hughett’s performance reviews in his nearly 13-year career at KPD in which the officer always garnered praise.

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee earlier this week filed a request for all records, including KPD’s internal affairs investigative file, and video footage related to the incident. That request is pending KPD review.

On-duty visit

KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk has said that on the night of Sept. 19, Hughett responded to a reported disturbance at a convenience store on Merchants Drive. The woman was reportedly the cause of the disturbance, DeBusk said.

Later that night, while he was still on duty, Hughett went to the woman's home, where the incident took place, DeBusk said.

Hughett touched the woman's inner thigh and buttocks "intentionally and by force," according to the information to which he pleaded guilty.

The woman, whose name is withheld from this story because USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee does not identify victims of sexual battery, reported the incident to KPD on Sept. 21, DeBusk said.

KPD suspended Hughett's police powers that day and assigned him to the Teleserve unit, where officers take police reports by phone, DeBusk said.

Police notified the Knox County District Attorney General's Office. Criminal and internal affairs investigations were launched.

Hughett took annual leave until he resigned on Oct. 11, DeBusk said.

Hughett will be required to register as a sex offender as a result of the plea, according to a notation in the court file.