Bradley County TN is the most densely populated part of the the TN 10th judicial district, which means it is sort of a bellwether of future trends.
When a 12-count felony indictment was handed down by a Bradley County grand jury in 2018, he was vacationing with his family at Disneyworld in Florida. He continuously 'sniveled and whined' blaming others: the county commissioners, the TBI, and the news media outlets. Even though charges against Watson were dismissed, he was not re-elected. After losing re-election, his glamorous wife filed for divorce and remarried: a few months later, she died from complications of the COVID-19/coronavirus. Former County Commissioner Dan Rawls shared his opinion on the Watson case dismissal.
The mishandling of the Watson prosecution was one of the first major failures of former DA Steve Crump; he had grown to be close/friendly with the sheriff and would recuse himself from the case, which was decided by an outside prosecutor. Another major failure was resigning as DA shortly after being re-elected, and then moving out of town.
Nearby Unicoi County DA Tony Clark was in a similar situation as former DA Crump: a grand jury indicted the local sheriff--he said that even though the sheriff was a friend, he had to perform his duties as prescribed by law. Watch Video
