Cason "Casey" Moreland, Obstruction of Justice through Bribery and Witness Tampering, Tennessee 2023

A Tennessee general sessions judge has been charged with attempting to obstruct justice through bribery and witness tampering, according to a federal complaint filed in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Cason "Casey" Moreland, 59, of Nashville, was charged with obstruction of justice and witness tampering in a complaint filed on March 11, 2023.

Moreland was arrested this morning and is expected to make his initial appearance later this afternoon.

According to the complaint, Moreland allegedly violated federal anti-corruption statutes by soliciting, accepting and extorting things of value in return for performing official acts that benefitted those persons and their associates.

The complaint alleges that Moreland became aware of the FBI’s investigation on Feb. 1, 2017, when agents attempted to interview him.

Moreland allegedly took steps to obstruct and interfere with the federal investigation by attempting to have the witness sign an affidavit recanting prior statements about Moreland.

The complaint alleges that Moreland devised a scheme to pay several thousand dollars to the witness in exchange for changing that witness’s statements about Moreland.

Moreland is also accused of attempting to orchestrate a traffic stop where the witness would be arrested for drugs that had been previously planted on the witness.

Moreland allegedly instructed another individual to use a burner phone purchased under a fictitious name and speak through an intermediary when corresponding with the witness.

The complaint also alleges that on March 11, 2017, Moreland gave the other individual an affidavit, written as though the witness had authored it and paid the other individual $5,100 cash to insure that his fingerprints would not be on the affidavit.

Moreland allegedly provided an additional $1,000 cash to pay the witness to sign the affidavit.

The court and criminal justice system function justly only if the public has confidence in their independence and impartiality.

Abuses of power like the one charged in this case erode that confidence.

A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of a crime, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/tennessee-general-sessions-judge-charged-attempting-obstruct-justice-through-bribery-and