NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The lawyer defending a police officer charged with homicide says the district attorney has "functionally declared war on police," due to the DA's comments during a court hearing on Saturday.
Decommissioned Metro Nashville police officer Andrew Delke faces criminal homicide charges in the shooting death of Daniel Hambrick. On Monday, General Sessions Judge Melissa Blackburn ruled there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury after hearing arguments Friday and Saturday.
David Raybin, who is defending Delke, made the comments today following the judge's decision. "By making such inflammatory comments have no place in this city, but more importantly in a courtroom. By making that statement the district attorney, district attorney Glenn Funk, has functionally declared war on our police, because all of our officers are trained in an identical fashion. Let me be clear, Nashville police officers are not Nazis."
His comments were a direct refute to Funk, who said during closing arguments Saturday, "Judge my understanding of what some of what Mr. Raybin was saying, is that his defense is Andrew Delke was following his training, the same defense that were used in Nuremburg, that Lt. Calley used in Vietnam, and now Andrew Delke is propounding in this court. But even their witness, Sgt. Allen, said it was Delke's decisions that led to the pulling of that trigger and the shooting of Daniel Hambrick in the back and his killing."
You can watch both statements, beginning with Funk's, in the video above.
District Attorney Glenn Funk responded to Raybin's statement Monday saying:
Mr. Raybin stated today that the District Attorney has “declared war on the police department.” Nothing could be further from the truth. This office respects and supports the Metro Nashville Police Department. Contrary to Mr. Raybin’s statement, General Funk’s comments during the preliminary hearing were that individuals are accountable for their actions and cannot assign blame to their superiors or the department as a whole. This case is about Andrew Delke and his actions, not the MNPD.
