Antioch Metro Council Hopeful Under Indictment

NASHVILLE, TN — Local attorney Jack Byrd wants to replace Sam Coleman, now a General Sessions judge, on the Metro Council, but he also has to answer an indictment in Giles County.

The Giles County District Attorney says Byrd, who worked as a reserve officer in Lynnville before that town dissolved the reserve officer program, threatened to release a recording of an alderman making homophobic comments during last year's Pride Festival in Nashville if the alderman didn't reinstate the program. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Byrd told WSMV that he simply brought the alderman's comment to the attention of Lynnville's mayor.

"I mean, I have the right to free speech. I can say what I want to say. You're an elected official, and I can more than, at any point, express, I don't think what you're doing is ethical. I think it's a disgrace to this town and that's all that was said," Byrd told the station.

In 2015, Byrd was fired by the Davidson County Sheriff's Department for “giving an ultimatum designed to ‘blackmail, coerce, or intimidate an administrator' into changing his schedule." This came after Byrd went to the media, alleging that top sheriff's officials had pressured employees into writing their council members to support the relocation and consolidation of DCSO operations to South Nashville.

Byrd and the DCSO eventually settled and Byrd was allowed to retire in good standing.

He is due in court in Giles County June 27.

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