Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Tennessee attorney Bill Gibson is the chief prosecutor from Cookeville, Tennessee. He is also the attorney that is now under fire for playing both sides of the fence. While he was assisting in the prosecution of a defendant for murder, he also gave advice to the same defendant and did all of this behind the back of the criminal defense attorney and the family of the victim.

An AP article reported:

Much of the conversations between the inmate and the longtime prosecutor are religious in nature and include discussions of faith and requests for prayers. Gibson said he wanted to send Adams Christmas presents while in jail and offered to call Adams' mother for him on Mother's Day.

But the letters from Gibson also warned Adams to keep their correspondence secret.

"I am taking a chance by writing to you without your attorney knowing it," he wrote in an undated letter. "It would mean a lot of trouble for me if you ever mentioned it."

Gibson provided advice to Adams regarding his case, urging him to not plead guilty to a first-degree murder charge.

Any prosecutor finding himself in a similar situation should recuse his office and ask for another prosecutor to be assigned to the case. How could something like this happen? Although some prosecutors could be accused of being over-zealous, has anyone ever seen a prosecutor sand bag for the defendant's benefit.

Tennessee lawyers should be disgusted by the allegations of unethical conduct of Mr. Gibson. These allegations discredit the legal profession and the criminal justice system.