NASHVILLE (AP) — Two well-known Middle Tennessee attorneys have been charged with extortion after being accused of having a client arrested when she didn't give in to pressure to pay them more in legal fees.
Clarksville attorneys Fletcher Long and Carrie Gasaway are each charged with one count of extortion, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. They were arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Wednesday after surrendering to authorities. Both were released on their own recognizance.
Gasaway, 43, is married to Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge John H. Gasaway. Long has represented clients in several high-profile criminal cases, including most recently, a former Vanderbilt football player accused in a gang rape in a dorm on campus.
A phone message left at Carrie Gasaway's office was not returned.
Long, who is 45 and lives in Adams, told The Associated Press that he will be vindicated.
"We're going to set it for as fast a trial as we can get," Long said. "We cannot wait to present our defense."
He said he and Gasaway are no longer in the same firm.
Gasaway and Long were charged following a two-year investigation into how one of their former clients who came to them for help was arrested.
The woman went to the firm of Gasaway, Long and Associates in October of 2010 for legal services regarding her father's will, the TBI said. Both sides, according to the TBI, came to an agreement about what fees the client would pay.
Authorities say that Carrie Gasaway asked the woman to sign a contract to pay an additional $50,000 after the will was read, but the client refused. Carrie Gasaway and Long are accused of making continued demands for the additional payment and then obtaining an arrest warrant for the victim with a $75,000 bond.
The woman, who is not named by the TBI, was able to get an attorney and have her bond reduced to $2,500 so she could get out of jail.
The TBI began investigating the lawyers in February of 2012 at the request of Montgomery County District Attorney General John Carney. The case was presented to the Montgomery County grand jury on March 5.