Grand jury recommends Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell face charges for manipulating the rules when it comes to judges NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -A Nashville grand jury has dealt a major blow to two of Tennessees most powerful lawmakers. The grand jury is recommending Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell face charges for manipulating the rules when it comes to judges. Ramsey and Harwell have not been charged with anything at this point, it is simply a recommendation from the grand jury for the district attorney to consider. The issue here is how the state appoints and oversees judges. The Davidson County grand jury said it listened to several presentations from a collection of citizens and high-profile attorneys, including John Jay Hooker. The group laid out a case that Ramsey and Harwell are ignoring the law when making appointments to the states Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. That panel decides how well judges are doing their jobs. That commission is supposed to mirror the state in its makeup of women and minorities, but it does not. It is currently comprised of seven white men, one white woman and one African-American woman. The grand jury wrote, charges should be brought against Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell who willfully and arrogantly ignored the law regarding those appointments. One of the grand jurors wrote that she refused to sign the report because of the recommendation regarding Ramsey and Harwell. District Attorney Glenn Funks office said he has received the report and is reviewing it. Channel 4 News has reached out to Harwell and Ramseys offices for comment but has not heard back at this time. Stay with Channel 4 News and WSMV for more on this developing story. wsmv/story/26639963/grand-jury-recommends-ramsey-harwell-face-charges
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 23:22:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015