Turnover continues in Nashville DA's office

More than a quarter of the assistant prosecutors in the Davidson County District Attorney's Office have left in the past year, taking about 220 years of combined experience in the office with them.

At least 17 assistant district attorneys have left, 11 of whom had worked in the office a decade or more, according to an analysis of human resources data conducted by The Tennessean. At least six were in leadership positions.

Turnover is expected when there is a leadership change in public office, said David LaBahn, president of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. So when 26-year Nashville District Attorney Victor "Torry" Johnson III did not run for re-election last year, and a candidate from outside the office won the race, changes were expected.

Seven assistant district attorneys announced they would leave after Glenn Funk, a long-time criminal defense attorney, won the election in May 2014 but before he took office in September. The turnover then continued once Funk took over with more attorneys leaving — for a variety of reasons — and taking their experience with them.

Some prosecutors who left are expressing concerns about the effect the departures could have on the office, particularly with training.

Funk said his hires are as qualified as those who have left. He said those that he's hired bring with them more than 280 years of combined experience and diverse backgrounds. A handful of the new hires are recent law school graduates, while others have been attorneys for more than three decades. Many have experience as prosecutors, but others were defense attorneys before joining the office.

Funk said they bring new perspectives and talents — and that mix of experience was intentional.

"I think that a prosecutor's office needs to have a combination of career prosecutors and folks who have been able to represent either side," he said. "We don't want a prosecutor's office that only has a one-dimensional view and experience."

LaBahn, with the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said there was no average amount of turnover when there are leadership changes in an office. He said the prosecutors' office in Brooklyn, N.Y., had a high amount of turnover after the last election, which he defined as more than 10 percent.

Speaking generally, he said factors that could influence turnover could include whether winning candidates come from inside the office and how hotly contested the election is. And, he said, the longer the previous district attorney stays in office, the more turnover can be expected.

Despite the departures, the Nashville office is still stacked with veteran prosecutors.

At least 24 of about 60 prosecutors still in the office have been there 10 years or more, according to the data analysis. Six have been there 30 years or more.

But the longest tenured of those, Tom Thurman, announced his plans to retire soon after the end of the high-profile case involving former Vanderbilt University football players accused of rape. Thurman has worked in the office nearly 38 years.

When contacted by The Tennessean, several departed prosecutors expressed concern about what they see as a shift in training opportunities in the office.

Brian Holmgren, who was fired by Funk in March, said he was concerned that inside-the-office mentoring had been compromised by the turnover. Neither Funk nor Holmgren have said the reason for Holmgren's firing, but it came a day before Funk announced cases under Holmgren's supervision had allegedly not been worked on.

Holmgren said he was a law clerk in the office in the mid-80s. He later returned to work there for 15 years.

"I got to see very early on what the opportunity to be trained by very seasoned lawyers was," he said.

He said he is concerned the longer-serving assistant prosecutors will not be able to adequately help the volume of new hires and new attorneys transition to the office.

"You have a limited amount of time, and you have to devote some of that to training and mentorship," Holmgren said. "Historically, we didn't have to train in this volume."

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.

By the numbers

60

Number of prosecutors in the Nashville District Attorney's Office

17

Number of prosecutors who have left since Glenn Funk's election in May 2014.

220

Combined years of experience for the departing attorneys