Appeals court removes Tennessee judge from case with lawyer who revealed his secret arrest

[SheltieLover]

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2021/03/22/tennessee-appeals-court-pulls-judge-michael-binkley-casey-moreland-brian-manookian/4450016001/

Snip

Binkley had been caught in a prostitution sting in 2010, two years before he was elected to the bench. But one of Tennessee’s most powerful judges — former Davidson County General Sessions Court Judge Casey Moreland — erased all record of it.

Snip

Moreland was considered one of Nashville’s most powerful judges. The FBI would later reveal his dark side: trading court favors for sex, stealing money from the recovery court he founded and hosting trips with fellow judges and lawyers at which prostitutes were hired and marijuana was smoked.

Moreland’s dark side was still under wraps, though, when Binkley — then a lawyer who wanted to be a judge — was nabbed in a prostitution sting on Dickerson Avenue in 2010, according to records reviewed by Knox News.

Moreland erased all record of the charge against Binkley the very same day. With his secret safe, Binkley ran for election to the Williamson County bench in 2012 and won.

Much more at link, including info about the "judge" hitting lawyer Manookian with more than $700,000 in contemp fees after the judge threatened the lawyer saying "My day will come," just a month earlier.

The judge is also said to have filed various ethics complaints against the attorney.

And it appears the judge is ONLY being removed from ONE CASE!

More family values?

[Tanuki]

1. Family values indeed!

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/16/williamson-judge-defends-jeremy-durham-facebook/77353974/

"Williamson County judge spoke out in defense of an embattled state legislator on Facebook, at one point calling Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey "dumb as a rock," and said the lawmaker's decision to ask for leniency for a former pastor convicted of child porn possession showed "moral courage" and "guts."

Circuit Court Judge Michael W. Binkley posted the comments — which have since been deleted — on Friday night in response to another Facebook user's post of a Tennessean story in which Ramsey expressed concerns about House Majority Whip Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin.
....

The lawmaker has come under scrutiny for writing a letter on behalf of Joseph Todd Neill, a pastor at North Folk Baptist Church in Bedford County who pleaded guilty to the child pornography charge in 2014, according to federal court records.

Neill had "been involved with a then 16-year-old member of the church," and his phone containing the child porn was seized in the course of investigating that relationship. Neill was sentenced to a little more than three years in prison and 10 years of supervised release.
...

Public campaign finance documents show that Binkley and his wife each contributed $1,400 to Durham's campaign in June 2012.".. (more)

[SheltieLover]

2. Sickening!

This state is a nightmare!

I wonder if any of this is connected to recent FBI raids?