Bradley District Attorney to handle rape case
in Chattanooga tied to police officer
Steve Crump will drive into town from
Cleveland, Tenn., to prosecute the Chattanooga rape case that has one local
police officer's job in jeopardy.
Crump, the district attorney in Tennessee's
10th Judicial District, was asked to handle the case of James Leon Works Jr.
after prosecutors here recused themselves. Crump usually prosecutes cases in
Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties.
But Works' case required a district attorney
from outside Chattanooga because prosecutors here have a longstanding working
relationship with Karl Fields, the lead investigator on the Works case. Fields
is accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with the victim. The Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether Fields broke any laws while
investigating Works' case.
On Sept. 4, the alleged victim in the case
gave Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston a collection of text
messages from a man identifying himself as Karl Fields. In the messages sent
from June through August, the man asks the victim to send him naked pictures
and have sex with him.
The woman met Fields after she said Works
brutally beat her. For two days in May, she said, Works locked her in a
Chattanooga motel, punched her, kicked her, stomped her, dragged her by the
hair, forced her to take methamphetamine, raped her and urinated on her.
Chattanooga police arrested Works in June on
charges of aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, possession of
methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and rape. His attorney, public
defender Blake Murchison, did not return several calls seeking comment.
But during Works' court appearance Thursday
morning, Murchison told Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman
that Crump would be prosecuting the case from that point.
Crump was not at the hearing Thursday, but he
confirmed that he will be taking the case. He said the District Attorneys
General Conference -- the administrative office for all of Tennessee's local
prosecutors -- assigned him to the case late last week.
Crump said he will need some time to catch up
on the ins and outs of the investigation.
"I don't know anything about the case
yet," he said, "other than I've been asked [to prosecute it]."
Works is next due in court for a status
hearing on Nov. 3.
