Phone records released last month show Tennessee head coach Butch Jones spoke with police multiple times on the day two of his players were accused of sexual assault.
In turn, according to an extensive report from The Tennessean, Jones and an assistant reached out to the players – Jones to linebacker A.J. Johnson and the unnamed assistant to cornerback Michael Williams – to inform them of the impending investigation.
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The conversations between Jones and law enforcement officials, including Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch, could be a violation of state law, The Tennessean’s report says. In a statement released March 30, Rausch said calls of the sort were a matter of “professional courtesy.”
From The Tennessean:
Contrary to police best practices, potentially threatening the integrity of the investigation and in possible violation of state law, Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch and a detective made “professional courtesy” calls to Tennessee head football coach Butch Jones about the investigation — a practice Rausch says is common when police investigate alleged crimes involving an athlete at Tennessee.
Courtesy calls from police to prominent individuals and major institutions in a community are common, but typically not done in the initial stages of an investigation. Concerns arise if details about an investigation are shared before an arrest is made, which can hinder a case. Law enforcement experts not involved in the case say providing advance notice can give suspects time to clean up evidence and align stories for police. In this case, it gave the accused players the time to make a series of calls to each other, to potential witnesses, and to obtain lawyers, according to sources.
The calls may also have violated state law, according to a statement issued by the Knox County district attorney in response to an inquiry by The Tennessean.
Cell phone records show Jones was informed of the allegations 8:20 a.m. on Nov. 16, 2014. Jones was alerted by KPD detective Sam Brown, who is a “liaison to the football team,” approximately five hours after the alleged incident was reported to authorities via a 911 call.
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That sparked a number of phone calls. From The Tennessean:
Jones then called Johnson at 8:22 a.m., according to cell phone records. An assistant coach contacted Williams, according to sources. It is unclear from the cell phone records obtained by The Tennessean how the assistant coach learned of the police investigation.
Rausch called Jones at 8:38 a.m. — the first of four calls between the Knoxville police chief and the head UT football coach that day. Law enforcement experts not associated with the investigation called the calls “unusual” and said they were cause for concern.
Later that day, “between noon and 12:15 p.m.,” the report says, police showed up at Johnson’s apartment, the scene of the alleged incident. And at around 6 p.m., police returned with a search warrant.
Johnson and Jones remained in regular contact throughout; Jones also spoke with Rausch “15 more times in the next 72 hours.” However, Jones’ phone records “list no calls to or from Williams that day or at any point in the following two-week span.”
Jones’ phone logs also show calls to a local attorney.
Jones’ phone records also reveal three calls beginning at 3:39 p.m. on the day of the alleged rape to Knoxville attorney Wilson Ritchie. Ritchie’s nephew, Wayne Ritchie, later represented Johnson in his campus disciplinary process.
Wayne Ritchie’s law firm, Ritchie, Dillard, Davies & Johnson, is representing Johnson in the criminal trial.
Johnson and Williams were suspended indefinitely by the program a day after the allegation surfaced. Both have pleaded not guilty and are expected to appear in court for separate trials this summer.
According to the report, Johnson and Williams spoke with one another between learning of the investigation from coaches and hearing from police. Communication of this nature could potentially impact the investigation, the report says.
From The Tennessean:
The four-hour gap between learning of the rape investigation from their coaches and when police contacted Johnson gave Williams and Johnson time to talk with each other and their friends — which they did, according to sources.
It was unclear from sources and cell phone records when police first contacted Williams. However, his attorney David Eldridge called a detective working the investigation on Nov. 16, the day of the alleged assault, sources told The Tennessean. Police did not formally interview Williams until Nov. 26 — the day after they interviewed Johnson.
Retired Metro Nashville Police Department Cmdr. Bob Nash, who oversaw the department’s sex crimes unit for several years, said detectives often use a “controlled” phone call during an investigation and that may have been jeopardized because of the four-hour lapse before police contacted the suspects.
In a controlled call, the accuser will call the accused person while police secretly listen on the line to hear if anything incriminating is said. Nash said detectives try to search the alleged crime scene for evidence before the accused person has a chance to clean up. He also said that in cases where multiple people are accused, detectives want to quickly interview them separately before they can talk to get their stories straight.
“When you give suspects that four-hour heads up, there’s a chance for evidence to be disposed of, or cleaned, or for the whole scene to be changed,” Nash said. “There’s all kinds of things that potentially got messed up because of this.”
For more Tennessee news, visit VolQuest.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
