Judge Needed for Rutherford Sheriff Robert Arnold's Ouster Trial

MURFREESBORO, TN — Help wanted: one judge. Gavel required. Lack of conflict a must.

Every judge in Rutherford County has recused him or herself from hearing the ouster case against embattled and jailed sheriff Robert Arnold, the Daily News Journal reports.

Thus, Chancellor Howard Wilson, in whose court the case that seeks to boot Arnold from office was field, is required to find a judge from a neighboring judicial district to hear the case. If he's unable to do so, he hands the process off to the Administrative Office of the Courts in Nashville, which, as a matter of course, finds a senior judge — typically someone who has retired from the bench — to hear the case.

It's not an unexpected turn of events. As the chief law enforcement officer of the county, Arnold would have had business in all of the Rutherford County courtrooms and as someone well-connected politically, there may be other ties to sitting judges. In Wilson's case, he told the DNJ, the attorney who filed the lawsuit for the 12 Rutherford County plaintiffs works at a firm with Wilson's former associate.

Arnold remains jailed at a Kentucky facility while he awaits trial in February on the JailCigs corruption case.

Image via Rutherford County Sheriff's Department