SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. District Attorney General James Bruce Jimmy Dunn, the longtime top prosecutor for Sevier, Cocke, Jefferson, and Grainger counties, was booked into the Sevier County Jail on Thursday, August 27, on multiple felony charges tied to a grand jury presentment returned a day earlier. Jail records list Dunn, 79, of Newport, as facing two counts of official oppression, plus official misconduct, retaliation for past action, coercion of a state witness, and civil rights intimidation.

He was booked at 4:18 p.m. and released at 4:51 p.m. Records show no bond amount. Deputy District Attorney General William Brownlow Marsh was booked the same afternoon on two counts of official oppression and was likewise released without a listed bond. The charges arise from a Sevier County grand jury presentment connected to the May 1, 2023, arrest of Erik Cooper, a Gatlinburg area litigation consultant who has spent years in conflict with the Fourth Judicial District Attorney General’s Office.

Cooper appeared before a special grand jury session on Wednesday, August 26, and presented his allegations himself. Court records described by local news outlets say Special Judge Don R. Ash oversaw that session and that Stephen Crump, executive director of the Tennessee District Attorney Generals Conference, served as district attorney pro tem and prepared the presentment at the panel’s request.

According to those court documents, the presentment alleges Dunn directed Marsh to obtain an arrest document from a prior case against Cooper before Cooper’s scheduled grand jury appearance. The documents allege the warrant, or capias, was incomplete because a judge had not yet set a bond. Marsh is accused of returning to the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, obtaining a copy after telling a deputy clerk it was only for his file, and giving that incomplete paper to Dunn.

Dunn is then accused of supplying it to Sevier County Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Wilds for execution. The presentment further alleges Dunn confirmed the plan with the deputy before Cooper entered the grand jury room and that Cooper was taken into custody as he left. The grand jury documents describe the 2023 arrest as retaliation meant to silence and intimidate Cooper after he accused Assistant District Attorney Ronald Crockett Newcomb of official misconduct and after Cooper repeatedly sought to appear before grand jurors.

The presentment also alleges the arrest blocked Cooper from presenting other claims and that facts about the warrant were concealed for years. Those statements are accusations in charging papers. They have not been proven in court. Dunn did not return calls or messages seeking comment after the booking.

No public statement from an attorney for Dunn or Marsh was available in the days immediately after the arrests. No court date had been announced. Dunn was first elected district attorney general in 2006 after more than 16 years as an assistant prosecutor. He won additional terms in 2014 and 2022.

In July he announced he would leave office on August 31, citing a desire to spend time with family and cutting short a term that otherwise ran through 2028. Governor Bill Lee is expected to appoint an interim successor because Dunn’s departure came after the ordinary election calendar for the seat. Cooper, who has also been involved in public records litigation over how the local grand jury accepted citizen complaints, released a written statement after the presentment became public.

He called the day a sad one for residents of the four county district and said a grand jury decision to accuse prosecutors of criminal conduct should concern every citizen. He said there was nothing to celebrate and that the duty now was to find the truth and protect the rights of everyone involved. Cooper has said his broader dispute with the office began after he tried to present allegations related to the 2016 Gatlinburg wildfires.

Those earlier claims are Cooper’s account and are separate from the charges now pending against Dunn and Marsh. Tennessee law treats official oppression as a crime in which a public servant, acting under color of office, knowingly subjects a person to unlawful arrest or detention or interferes with legal rights. Official misconduct covers an unauthorized exercise of official power. The remaining counts address alleged efforts to retaliate against, coerce, or intimidate a witness or a person exercising legal rights.

Dunn and Marsh are presumed innocent unless a court finds otherwise.