Newcomb Seeks to Appear Before Grand Jury
August 20, 2026, 5:53 p.m.
Filing Comes Four Days Before Citizen Erik Cooper Intends to
Seek Newcomb’s Indictment Under Tennessee’s Citizen
Grand Jury Access Statute, While Two Related Grand
Jury Access Cases Await Appellate Decisions
SEVIERVILLE, TN - Ronald Crockett Newcomb, an assistant district attorney and applicant for appointment as District Attorney General for Tennessee's Fourth Judicial District, filed a request Thursday seeking permission to appear before the same Sevier County Grand Jury before which private citizen Erik Cooper intends to present evidence on August 24, 2026, alleging that Newcomb committed criminal offenses during an earlier grand jury proceeding.
Newcomb's filing, titled Request by Ronald C. Newcomb to Appear Before the August 24, 2026 Sevier County Grand Jury or Any Subsequent Grand Jury Regarding the Captioned or Related Matters, comes while Governor Bill Lee is considering applicants to succeed retiring Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn. Newcomb, an assistant district attorney general since 2008, has applied for the appointment to replace Dunn.
Cooper intends to appear before the Sevier County Grand Jury on August 24 pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-12-104, a Tennessee statute permitting a person with knowledge or proof of a public offense triable or indictable in the county to testify before the grand jury.
Cooper intends to present evidence alleging that Newcomb committed criminal offenses during Cooper's March 27, 2023 appearance before a Sevier County grand jury panel. The alleged offenses include felonies. No indictment has been returned, and the allegations have not been adjudicated.
Newcomb's request now raises an unusual question: whether the person who is the subject of a private citizen's anticipated grand jury presentation may, after obtaining advance notice of that presentation, obtain his own appearance before the grand jury considering the allegations.
“Mr. Newcomb is not categorically prohibited from testifying before a grand jury simply because he is the person accused,” Cooper said. “But that is not the question his filing presents. The question is whether the target of a citizen's grand jury presentation can obtain advance notice and then make a preemptive or competing presentation before the same grand jury determines whether probable cause exists.”
Cooper previously challenged procedures used in Sevier County for citizen grand-jury appearances, including a written application, scheduling notice, and “Waiver of Constitutional Rights.” In July 2023, the court ruled that the application and scheduling procedures were not authorized by § 40-12-104 and subsequently prohibited use of the Waiver. Cooper contends those procedures had obstructed citizen access to Sevier County grand juries for years.
Tennessee Law Provides Citizen Access to the Grand Jury
Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-12-104 provides that “[a]ny person having knowledge or proof of the commission of a public offense triable or indictable in the county may testify before the grand jury.”
The statute is part of a Tennessee procedure permitting private citizens—not only prosecutors or law enforcement officers—to bring evidence of alleged criminal conduct directly to the grand jury.
Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 6 gives grand juries broad authority to investigate indictable offenses and obtain witnesses. Tennessee authority also recognizes that a potential defendant is not categorically prohibited from appearing and giving evidence before a grand jury.
But Cooper contends that neither § 40-12-104 nor Rule 6 creates an affirmative right for the target of another citizen's presentation to attend that citizen's testimony, intervene in the presentation, cross-examine or rebut the citizen, or demand a competing presentation before the grand jury decides whether probable cause exists.
Cooper points to Willis v. Johnson, No. E2017-02225-COA-R3-CV, 2018 WL 4696885 (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 1, 2018), Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 92-53, Tenn. R. Crim. P. 6(j), and Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-12-104 as among the authorities governing citizen and witness access to Tennessee grand juries.
Allegations Arise From Cooper's 2023 Grand Jury Appearance
The dispute traces to Cooper's March 27, 2023 appearance before a Sevier County grand jury panel pursuant to § 40-12-104.
According to Cooper's court filings, Newcomb required Cooper to execute a document identified as a “Waiver of Constitutional Rights” before Cooper would be permitted to proceed with his presentation. Cooper declined to sign the document without first obtaining legal advice.
“Why would any citizen ever waive a constitutional right to exercise a legal right?” Cooper said. “It makes no sense.”
Cooper alleges that Newcomb then instructed or caused the three-member grand jury panel to vote on whether Cooper would be permitted to proceed without signing the Waiver. Cooper was not permitted to provide his anticipated testimony that day.
Those events and other alleged conduct during the March 27 proceeding form part of the evidence Cooper intends to present to the August 24 Grand Jury.
Significantly, Cooper alleges that the sitting Sevier County grand jury foreperson, Jim Medlin, personally witnessed the March 27, 2023 events that Cooper now seeks again to report as criminal conduct.
That circumstance, combined with Newcomb's position within the District Attorney General's Office that ordinarily interacts with and advises the grand jury, prompted Cooper to seek judicial intervention before his August 24 appearance.
New Lawsuit Seeks an Unconflicted Grand Jury Process
On August 18, Cooper filed a Petition for Judicial Interpretation and Declaratory Relief in Sevier County Circuit Court, styled In Re: Sevier County Grand Jury / Erik Cooper, Petitioner to Appear Before the Sevier County Grand Jury, No. 2026-CV-517-I.
The Petition asks the court to determine how Cooper's August 24 presentation can proceed where the regular grand jury foreperson, Medlin, allegedly possesses firsthand knowledge of the conduct to be presented and the allegations concern an assistant prosecutor, Newcomb, employed within the prosecutorial office that ordinarily interacts with the grand jury.
A copy of the Petition was transmitted to District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn on August 18.
On August 19, the judges of Tennessee's Fourth Judicial District recused themselves from hearing the Petition. The matter is awaiting assignment to a specially designated judge.
On August 20, Newcomb filed his Request seeking permission to appear before the August 24 Grand Jury or a subsequent grand jury concerning the matters identified in Cooper's case.
“The timing deserves scrutiny,” Cooper said. “My Petition was provided to the District Attorney General's Office on August 18. Two days later, the individual whose alleged conduct is to be presented to the grand jury filed a request seeking his own appearance concerning those matters.”
Cooper said the court—not the Governor or either litigant—will determine the legal issues raised by Newcomb's filing.
Newcomb Is Seeking Appointment as District Attorney General
The grand jury dispute is unfolding as Governor Bill Lee considers candidates for appointment as District Attorney General for Tennessee's Fourth Judicial District.
Newcomb has applied for the appointment.
Cooper previously provided information to Governor Lee concerning Newcomb's involvement in the March 27, 2023 grand jury proceeding and other disputes involving citizen access under § 40-12-104.
Cooper provided additional written notice to the Governor on August 18 concerning his anticipated August 24 grand jury presentation involving Newcomb.
Following Newcomb's filing Thursday, Cooper provided the Governor with another written notice and copies of the relevant court filings.
“This is now more than a historical question about what happened in 2023,” Cooper said. “Governor Lee is presently considering Mr. Newcomb for appointment as the chief prosecutor of the Fourth Judicial District while Mr. Newcomb is simultaneously the subject of an anticipated grand jury presentation alleging criminal conduct committed during a grand jury proceeding. Four days before that presentation, Mr. Newcomb has asked to appear before the grand jury considering those matters. The Governor and the public should know that.”
Two Related Grand Jury Access Cases Await Appellate Decisions
The August 24 dispute occurs against the backdrop of two separate Tennessee Court of Appeals cases involving Cooper's efforts to invoke Tennessee’s citizen grand jury procedure under § 40-12-104.
In Case No. E2025-00522-COA-R3-CV, In Re Sevier County Grand Jury / Erik Cooper, Cooper's appeal concerns, among other issues, whether procedural barriers not contained in § 40-12-104 may restrict a citizen's ability to invoke Tennessee's grand jury access procedure, as well as questions concerning mootness and whether a continuing controversy remains.
A second appeal, Case No. E2025-00383-COA-R3-CV, arises from another § 40-12-104 proceeding and presents issues concerning unresolved declaratory relief, grand jury access, conflicts involving the grand jury foreperson and prosecutor, and the independence of the grand jury when governmental officials involved in the process possess alleged conflicts.
Both appeals have proceeded to oral argument and await decisions from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Cooper maintains that the recurring disputes demonstrate the need for definitive appellate guidance concerning the operation of Tennessee's citizen grand-jury access law.
“For more than three years, the central question has remained remarkably simple,” Cooper said. “When the Tennessee Legislature says that a citizen with knowledge or proof of an indictable or triable offense may take that evidence to the grand jury, what governmental officials may stand between that citizen and the grand jury, and what conditions may they impose that the Legislature itself did not?”
August 24 Grand Jury Appearance
Cooper presently intends to appear before the Sevier County Grand Jury on Monday, August 24, 2026, subject to the pending court proceedings and any orders entered before that date.
Cooper intends to ask the grand jury to consider evidence concerning alleged criminal conduct by Newcomb and determine whether probable cause exists to return an indictment.
Whether Newcomb will also be permitted to appear before that grand jury is now among the issues presented by his August 20 filing.
No indictment has been returned against Newcomb. The allegations described in Cooper's filings are allegations and have not been adjudicated.
Documents Available Here: https://tinyurl.com/33jy9yd3
