KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The attorneys for ex-Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner filed several motions Monday including some to dismiss the federal case against him altogether.
Baumgartner was charged in May on seven counts of federal misprision of a felony. A federal grand jury indicted him in connection to a probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
That probe revealed that Baumgartner was buying prescription pain pills from Chris Gibson, a convicted felon on probation in Baumgartner's criminal court.
The probe also found that Judge Baumgartner began obtaining his drugs by doctor shopping, then started buying them from Gibson.
Baumgartner became involved with Deena Castleman, one of his Drug Court graduates, in a relationship that included sex, pill sharing and paying some of her bills, according to the TBI.
The federal indictment accuses Baumgartner of lying about Castleman and their drug conspiracy to: an Anderson County criminal court judge, the staff of Mercy Medical in 2009, a Knox County General Sessions Court judge, a housing director at the YWCA, a Knox County Juvenile Court magistrate and a Knox County assistant district attorney general.
In March 2011, Baumgartner pleaded guilty to official misconduct and resigned from the bench.
His attorneys claim in the first motion to dismiss his case that prosecutors have failed to allege an offense because the ex-judge is not accused of lying to federal authority figures.
In the second motion to dismiss the case, his attorneys say the prosecution is violating the Tenth Amendment by requiring a state official to enforce federal law or risk federal prosecution.
The defense also seeks to suppress tracking data from a GPS tracking device government agents installed on Baumgartner's 2008 Buick Lucerne in case prosecutors decide to use it at trial. A motion says the device was removed after 18 days and it may have been installed without a warrant.
Another defense motion seeks to suppress Baumgartner's medical records from two doctors. Although prosecutors have said they won't use the records at trial, the defense claims the TBI subpoenas lacked information to make them lawful.
A black Buick sedan registered to Baumgartner is the subject of another motion to suppress evidence. His attorneys claim that a government agent photographed it in the City County Building parking garage without a warrant.
The defense also requests hearings on its motions to suppress evidence.
If the case against Baumgartner proceeds, his trial is scheduled to start on October 23. He is represented by attorneys Don Bosch and Ann Short.
Richard Baumgartner in June
