NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The foreman of a Nashville grand jury that recommended charges be filed against the speakers of the Tennessee House and Senate says the panel was dissuaded by a prosecutor from issuing an indictment.

The panel last week recommended the charges against House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville and fellow Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville for failing to appoint an adequate number of women and minorities to a commission that decides whether Tennessee’s appeals judges keep their jobs.

Foreman: Prosecutor dissuaded speakers’ indictment

Arnett Bodenhamer, the grand jury foreman, told The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/1rLYbps ) the panel was advised by Assistant District Attorney Rodney Faulk that it couldn’t bring an indictment against the speakers on its own.

WSMV Nashville http://www.wsmv.com/story/26678330/foreman-prosecutor-dissuaded-speakers-indictment

Faulk told the paper that he “would never have told” the grand jurors that they couldn’t bring an indictment.