Detective Rodney Burns back in Chattanooga court over Ooltewah perjury charge

UPDATE: The Gatlinburg detective charged with lying on the stand during the Ooltewah rape scandal appeared in court this morning.
Rodney Burns faces two counts of aggravated perjury.

Tuesday when detective Burns stepped in front of Judge Greeholtz, it was not to discuss the perjury allegations that have been made against him… The focus was on who would prosecute the case……

“We are in uncharted water here.”

Burns sat rocking in his chair as his attorneys asked the judge to force District Attorney Neal Pinkston to remove himself from this case…..

“It is our position that there is no way that Mr. Pinkston, who is now the subject of a civil suit for money damages in claim commission, can now come into this court and claim that he is not somehow tainted.”

District Attorney General Neal Pinkston asked the TBI to investigate after alleging Burns’ testimony in court differed from police reports he filed while investigating the Ooltewah case.

Before Burns was officially indicted for perjury, he filed a lawsuit saying Pinkston’s statements had harmed his reputation.

Pinkston responded to the attorneys notion that he was biased in this case by presenting the judge with a scenario….

“There is no conflict of interest. I guess under this theory if you say something today that Mr. Burns or Mr. Delius doesn’t like, perhaps they can sue you, then move to recuse you from this case.”

Attorneys representing Burns also argued that they would like to call the District Attorney as a witness in the case, but with the judge questioning if he was a necessary witness, the motion was ultimately denied ….

“If it turns out that the testimony cannot otherwise be stipulated, the court will be happy to reconsider that but will respectfully deny it at this point.”

Judge Tom Greenholtz says he’ll take the case under advisement ….Detective Burns will be back in court on September 20th … Burns’ attorneys declined to comment citing the media being a big factor in the case

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The Gatlinburg detective charged with lying on the stand during the Ooltewah rape scandal appeared in court Tuesday morning.

Rodney Burns faces two counts of aggravated perjury.

District Attorney General Neal Pinkston accused him of perjury when he testified about his investigation of the Ooltewah High school rape case.

News 12’s Jamal Williams joins us now live from the Hamilton County Courthouse with what happened in court.