In 2010, a female defendant and her mother had first alleged that Doug Godbee had solicited sex from the daughter in exchange of a favorable outcome on a criminal case being handled by Godbee as the then assistant prosecutor of the 3rd Judicial District.
Following the allegations, in September 2010, an investigation into Godbee's conduct began, and ultimately, a case was filed against Godbee in April, 2011. Godbee was indicted by a Hawkins County grand jury. At least ten victims of Godbee came forward during the investigation with accusations of Godbee soliciting sex in exchange of leniency in their criminal cases.
Since then, the number of victims coming forward have increased to 14, and in some cases there have been allegations that Godbee also solicited sex from close relatives of the defendants, including some of their mothers. A spate of civil suits have been filed against Godbee following the scandal.
However, the case went back and forth, first to the Criminal Court of Appeals in Tennessee and then being remanded back to the Circuit Court in Jefferson County. Ultimately, Godbee was convicted in the Circuit Court.
Godbee did not plead guilty to the charges of sex for leniency and other charges, but he pleaded ‘no contest.'
While the disbarment was on the professional practice side of things, which was in the hands of the Supreme Court, the Circuit Court ordered two years probation along with community service, therapy, and a psychosexual evaluation on the 'sex for leniency' complaints. If he follows the terms of the sentence properly for one year, the rest of the term can be on unsupervised probation.
