A few recorded phone calls could cost embattled Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold big time.
Lawyers trying to oust Arnold from office are using his own words hoping to convince a judge to suspend him without pay.
The sheriff watched the court hearing in Nashville from his cell in Kentucky via closed circuit TV.
It wasn't what he saw, but what he heard that made an impact.
"All I do is sit in this God forsaken room and think and think and think," said Arnold in one of several recorded phone conversation clips played by lawyers for citizens wanting Arnold ousted from office
"He has misconducted himself in office and he does not have the ability to run the office," said attorney Michelle Blaylock-Howser.
The ouster lawyers said the clips show Arnold trying to coerce his wife into changing her story about an alleged domestic incident.
The allegation led a judge to revoke Arnold's pre-trial release landing him behind bars while he awaits his corruption trial next year.
Here is one exchange between Arnold and his wife:
Arnond: "You wanted me to be in here."
Megan: " What are you talking about? What are you talking about? No, I don't."
Arnold: "Your statement. You can get me out of here."
Megan: " Robert. No. That's not what I wanted."
"I'm not happy with those conversations. I wish they didn't exist," said Arnold's attorney Tom Dundon.
He still argued there are not legal grounds to suspend Arnold without pay, but even the judge expressed concern.
"The court quite honestly is struggling with how a sheriff can do his job while incarcerated and how a sheriff maintains the high trust he owes the citizens of this county," said judge William Young.
He is expected to issue a decision on whether to suspend Arnold without pay later this week.
Whether he is suspended or not, sheriff Arnold will remain in the federal detention in Kentucky until his February corruption trial.
