NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Federal prosecutors said they have evidence that the chief of staff to then-House Speaker Glen Casada fabricated evidence that was used in 2019 in an attempt to jail a young Black activist.
Documents filed in preparation for this week's federal fraud trial of Casada and longtime aide Cade Cothren show that prosecutors are prepared to potentially introduce evidence regarding at least one email that Cothren provided to authorities in an effort to accuse Justin Jones of violating a court's no-contact order.
Jones, now a state representative, was a student activist in 2019.
"Evidence indicates that Cothren had falsified the dates on the emails," prosecutors wrote in a disclosure filed in the case.
Casada, 65, and Cothren, 38, are charged in a 20-count indictment that accuses them of engaging in a bribery and kickback scheme in conjunction with a deal to provide state-funded constituent mailing services for members of the House Republican Caucus.
The controversy over the altered email may be relevant, prosecutors wrote, because it "involved common schemes or plans" similar to the accusations that Cothren faces in the criminal trial. He is accused of fabricating tax documents for a fictional person that was supposedly behind a company that got state business.
Questions about that 2019 email were first uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
That year, then-Speaker Glen Casada found himself at the center of a tumultuous legislative session with Jones and other student activists leading a wave of protests.
After Jones threw a cup of some sort of liquid onto Casada’s elevator, he was arrested and ordered to have no contact with the speaker's office.
Cothren, then Casada’s chief of staff, later filed a complaint with the Nashville DA's office, accusing Jones of violating the terms of his release. As evidence, he provided a photo of an email sent by Jones with the date of March 1st — just one day after the no-contact order.
But Jones had the original email. The real date, February 25th, was before his arrest.
"It was done to put me in jail, which is scary that somebody in such a public office, an office that swears to uphold the state constitution, and office that is in charge of a $38 billion budget is doing something like this. I mean it's shameful," Jones said at the time.
When NewsChannel 5 tried to get answers from Casada, he claimed to be in the dark.
"I know nothing of that," he answered.
Still, we pressed. "How did that happen?"
"I know nothing of that. Nothing."
And Cothren refused to say as we pushed him for an explanation.
"Did you send the altered email to the DA's office?" we asked, as Cothren ignored the question. "It's a simple yes or no question. How did the email end up at the DA's office."
Among the discrepancies we uncovered, in the real email, the date appeared on the second line. But, in Cothren's pic, the bogus date appeared under the email addresses.
"The screenshot of the email truncated the email so that the only date showing was the false date – I have an issue with that," Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
A special prosecutor appointed to review allegations about the email, Craig Northcutt of Coffee County, was facing his own controversies.
Asked in open court about the email, Northcutt said he found no wrongdoing.
Instead, he blamed the media.
"I can't help the misinformation and frankly lies that have been disseminated by the media in this. I can't change that," Northcutt said.
In other matters, the government said it is prepared to admit details about the racist and sexist text messaging scandal that led to the pair's downfall "if the defense offers evidence or argument that the tests and allegations were immaterial."
RELATED:
May 2, 2019: Did House Speaker's office attempt to frame activist?
May 7, 2019: How did dates change, spaces appear in emails from House Speaker's office?
July 25, 2019: Special prosecutor sees 'no crime' in Casada email probe