Nashville district attorney appointed special prosecutor in case
Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk has been appointed special prosecutor in the shooting death of Alvin Motley Jr.
The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference made the appointment, the Shelby County office announced Monday morning.
Head prosecutor Amy Weirich said in a statement Thursday that her office was recusing itself from the case because of an employee's possible connection to the shooting.
Motley was shot and killed on Aug. 7 at the Kroger Fuel Center, 6600 Poplar Ave., near the East Memphis and Germantown line. Prominent national civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the Motley family.
Gregory Livingston, a security guard at Kroger, faces a seconddegree murder charge in the killing of Motley.
A police report said that Livingston was working security at a Kroger gas station in East Memphis and argued
with Motley over loud music playing in a car. The police report says surveillance video shows Motley was holding a beer can and a lit cigarette when he approached the guard, who then shot him.
An investigator for the Shelby County prosecutor's office had an off-duty security job and might be a witness in the investigation, Weirich's office said in a statement.
She said the employee has been put on leave for not disclosing the information sooner.
Funk brought first charges against on-duty Nashville police officer
Funk was sworn in as district attorney in August 2014.
In 2018, Funk's office filed criminal homicide charges against a white police officer, Andrew Delke, who shot and killed a Black man, Daniel Hambrick, who was running away during a foot chase. Delke was the first Nashville officer to be charged after shooting someone on duty.
Delke, 27, was indicted on a count of first-degree murder. He was scheduled to go on trial in mid-july, but it was announced July 1 that he would plead guilty to manslaughter.
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino