Report: Communication between Butch Jones, police may have violated state law
Tennessee coach Butch Jones was alerted by police that former Vols A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams were under investigation for an alleged rape in 2014.
According to Nate Rau and Anita Wadhwani of The Tennessean, that may be a violation of state law.
The report, which references phone records and sources with knowledge of the situation, states that there were actually several conversations between the Knoxville police department and Jones. The records also show that police chief David Rausch contacted Johnson prior to being questioned by police.
According to the Tennesseean, Rausch classified the calls to Jones as “professional courtesy” calls although they could potentially jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. However, Rausch said those type of calls were commonplace when investigating alleged crimes involving student-athletes at Tennessee.
Still, the calls were made in the beginning stages of the investigation, which is not common.
Johnson and Williams are facing charges of aggravated rape and aiding and abetting aggravated rape. Their trials are currently on hold due to an appellate court’s approval of a pretrial appeal.
Important to note that any violation of state law (if actually a violation) would be on the part of the police–not Jones or the coaching staff. Also important to note is that the referenced phone records do not indicate what was discussed, only that a phone call occurred.
So lets just continue riding the denial train since there is still no way to prove that Jones tried to influence the investigation, called the person who tried to help the alleged victim a traitor, and encouraged his hit-squad teammates to attach him.
A coach calling his players? How dare he. Other than the timing of this particular call, there’s very little that could be considered “convincing evidence,” and certainly none that is beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s not a matter of denial. It’s a matter of these reports, allegations, and other media hit pieces (this isn’t one…yet) establishing absolutely nothing definitive. Which is precisely what I pointed out in my original comment. How dare I point out facts, which seems to be something no one surrounding these stories cares to hear.
The most interesting report so far is in regards to Bowle’s testimony and the fact that the phone timeline matches what he said under oath.
No one has questioned the timeline of events Bowles presented. They question what was said, especially since he has contradicted himself. Also, the statement Jones made about the whole situation has not yet been contradicted. So the fact that this timeline doesn’t contradict Bowle’s statements of the timeline doesn’t really mean much… What’s important is what was said–not really so much when something was said. And as of yet, there’s no proof to establish what was discussed or not discussed.
It will definetly be a he/she said vs he said, it is doubtful anything concrete will come from the phone records, but what the Bowle’s statement does provide is validity where those close to the program tried to smear the guy and discredit him in the past.
You have no proof of that whatsoever. You would rather a coach not make any phone calls…maybe go fishing and worry about it in a few weeks?
It’s on the police for sure, but it’s still raises questions about how intertwined the football program might be with the police department.
The same as almost every other football team in the country, most of which liaison with local police. There’s nothing wrong with having lines of communication like this.
Actually, according to the law in TN, I’d say it is illegal. At least that is what this article and others like are trying to say. By reaching out to butch the police broke state law. So I’d say there is plenty wrong with lines of communication like this.
Mythic, if that were the case the two UGA players would not have been arrested on a felony for shooting a BB gun.
Actually, Hyru, you’re missing the point of the article. One, it has not yet been determined to be illegal. Two, it wouldn’t be illegal because a line of communication/liaison like this exists. What would be potentially illegal is that the police contacted Butch Jones before there was official police communication between the department and the suspects of the investigation. The only illegality being suggested regards the timing of the communication, as it relates to when the suspects were arrested/charged–not that communication like this ever occurs. There’s nothing illegal having a liaison like this. Perhaps other states have laws against these sorts of liaisons–Tennessee does not.
This situation with TN doesn’t smell right, but it’s getting twisted seven ways to Sunday with half ass ‘reporting’ on (opinion) blogs.
I’ll agree most colleges have an informal channel for courtesy communication with the sports programs, and this is not some “OOOHHH, Gotcha!” situation with the phone calls. There may be a violation, but it’s common. At least TN isn’t at the F$U level of in-bred protectionism that Tallahassee PD seems to have. There’s a serious level of corruption that needs to be uprooted. Here? Probably some stupid mistakes by several involved, but these ‘phone calls’ aren’t major, IMO.
The police that alerted Jones should be terminated for incompetence. They took an oath when hired. They violated the oath.
When you call a player a traitor, it’s called influencing a witness.
Dude, why don’t you crawl back under your rock. Pretty obvious you are a POS troll with nothing else to do except badmouthing your betters.
You, Belichek’sNutsack, and your girlfriend Gr3gory can all go have your evening circle-jerk and leave the adults in peace.
That’s cute, some meth head loser living in the eighth gayest city in the US who goes by the handle of “Vol Man” is attempting to make a gay joke to mask his true feelings. Speaking of trolling way to avoid the topic at hand, nice try at a deflection.
Why do UTk fans always refer to homoerotic acts? All the time on here with the circle jerks. The checkerboard every week has a thread about bleached corn holes and butt s3x. Just get it over with and let the team run out of a giant paper towel tube led by ole lemiwincks into the sh*t field
No doubt Jones offered to throw in a couple of sideline passes to the UT games if the Policeman could make this situation go away
And your proof of this is…?
His proof? That he’s a massive troll.
There is no violation of State Law. I’m an experienced attorney. To reprint that nonsense is unprofessional at best.
That’s Anita Wadhwani’s M.O. She also reported on an NRA convention last year, and her report tried to make a link between gun owners and child trafficking. She’s a troll with a writing job.
Jones immediately suspended both players once this all came out (Johnson was the best player on the team at the time). How is Jones at fault if he was called and he suspended the players anyways???
I don’t think the suggestion is that Jones is at fault–if that is the suggestion, it is wrong. Jones did nothing illegal, and his quick action to suspend the players under investigation (which is normal for his coaching administration since he joined Tennessee) should be commended. Jones did nothing illegal. The suggestion is that the police, by communicating with Jones prior to officially communicating with the suspects or their attorneys, MAY have violated the law. However, there’s been no real condemnation that their action was illegal. Rather just media reports and a few statements by the local DA, which has not opened an investigation into the alleged misconduct.