Two people attempting to take the law into their own hands have been found guilty of Especially Aggravated Kidnapping and Aggravated Assault. Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter, along with Assistant District Attorney Luis Casas presented the case last week on behalf of the state in Division VI Criminal Court. The suspects, Charles Johnson and Pauline Spalding, approached the victim in a Nashville grocery store parking lot on July 4th of 2018, holding guns and demanding the victim’s cell phone. The suspects were acting as if they were law enforcement officers searching for a specific person that they believed had been involved in drug activity, but it was a case of mistaken identity. The victim was not the person the two suspects were seeking. After taking photos of the victim’s phone and personal belongings, the two suspects left the scene and were later apprehended by Metro Police. Along with the aforementioned charges, they were also charged with Impersonating a Police Officer. The jury found both suspects guilty on all charges. Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter commended ADA Luis Casas and Metro Police for preparing a difficult case. Sentencing for Johnson and Spalding will be August 25th, 2022 in Criminal Court Division VI.
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Thank You to these long-time DA Employees
The Nashville District Attorney’s office recently said goodbye and ‘Happy Retirement’ to two long time employees.
Wilma Buchanan stepped down after serving an astounding 49 years in the DA’s office. ‘Ms. Wilma’, as she was affectionately called, began her tenure as a receptionist in 1973 and went on to serve in a variety of leadership roles for three different elected District Attorneys.
Also retiring recently was Assistant District Attorney Deb Smith. General Smith served the people of Nashville for 29 years in the DA’s office. She is credited with co-founding the Cherished Hearts program, which has helped hundreds of victims of human trafficking find a better life through this innovative, rehabilitative initiative. General Smith has served in countless leadership roles in the DA’s office, most recently as Team Leader for the General Sessions Division.
We thank both of these fine employees for their combined 78 years of service to the District Attorney’s office and the people of Nashville, and wish them a very happy retirement.
Waffle House Trial ends with 16 Guilty verdicts and Life Without Parole
Travis Reinking, who killed four people in 2018 when he opened fire with an assault-style rifle at a Waffle House in Tennessee, was sentenced Saturday, February 5th, 2022 to life in prison without parole. Reinking, 33, was found guilty the day before of all 16 counts, including eight first-degree murder charges.
District Attorney General Glenn Funk, and his team, have been preparing for the trial of Reinking for years. “This was a long process,” Funk said. “There’s a frustration anytime that a case takes four years to get to trial especially one that has this many causalities.” Frustration fueled the prosecution who poured over evidence despite disruptions and delays. “Mr. Reinking changed lawyers. He had to have mental health evaluations. Then we’re almost ready for trial and COVID rolls in,” recalled Funk.
The 10-day-long trial focused less on if Reinking pulled the trigger, as he was seen on surveillance camera doing so, but instead, his mental state. “This was one of the rare cases that when the report came back, at first, the words that were used made it appear that they were saying that Travis Reinking could not understand the wrongfulness of his act,” said Funk. “Which is why we study these reports and don’t just look at what does the headline say.” In doing so, Funk said the finding revealed multiple layers of planning. “In 2017 [Reinking] had said he wanted to commit a mass shooting and that when he did the shooting he was planning to make people think he was insane at the time. Before he drove to the Waffle House, he had packed an escape bag that not only included a gun and more ammunition but also included some silver bars that he would be able to exchange for cash on the road so he wouldn’t have a trace of a credit card. After he got done, he went home. He took a shower. He changed clothes. He rearmed himself and he went and hid and tried to get out of the area,” Funk explained. “He clearly knew the wrongfulness of this mass murder.” The jury heard from relatives of the four people who were killed. The four victims were all under 30 years old.
The two fatally shot outside the restaurant in Antioch, southeast of downtown Nashville, were Waffle House employee Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29, and customer Joe R. Perez, 20. Inside, the gunman killed two more people: 23-year-old Akilah DaSilva, a student pursuing a musical engineering career, and 21-year-old DeEbony Groves, a college senior majoring in social work who had been out with her sorority sisters that night.
Funk also applauded the victims, and their families, for facing the gunman who changed their lives forever. ‘They all had courage. They had strength. They had perseverance. They had character,” Funk said.
The Nashville District Attorney says the guilty verdict is a message to all of Nashville. “We want to make sure that anybody who thinks that they can have a weapon, shoot someone else, get away with it because either the prosecutor’s office isn’t going to be focused on violent crime or because they think it will be excused by some mental health condition that they may or may not have,” Funk assured. “This behavior will not be tolerated.”
Nashville DA Says He Won’t Enforce Abortion Law 9/24/2020
“With regard to reproductive issues, the criminal law must not be used by the State to exercise control over a woman’s body,” Funk writes. “As long as I am the elected District Attorney for the 20th Judicial District, I will not prosecute any woman who chooses to have a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy or any medical doctor who performs this procedure at the request of their patient.
A Nashville Defense Attorney Takes Over the DA’s Conviction Review Unit 8/5/2020
Eaton says she sees District Attorney Glenn Funk as a part of the movement of progressive prosecutors who have come into office in recent years and have turned away from the old way of doing things. Funk has, for instance, worked with the public defender’
Prosecutor reviewing Nashville riot, vandalism charges believes in protesting ‘unjust’ system 6/9/2020
These Prosecutors Promised Change. Their Power Is Being Stripped Away. 11/25/2019
Tennessee church shooter sentenced to life without parole 5/28/2019
https://apnews.com/f56b445a4e54468caff28c1844c55aa4
Tags: Church Shooter, Emanuel Samson
Assistant District Attorney Nominated to ATHENA Awards 2/20/2019
Tags: Assistant District Attorney Nominated to ATHENA Awards Young Professional
Gun owners who don’t secure their arms are doing society a disservice 2/19/2018
To make Nashville a safer city, it will take more than law enforcement incarcerating criminals after violence occurs. It is just as important that citizens take proactive, common-sense steps to prevent violence from being committed.
Tags: Guns, ADA Jenny Charles