Hung Up On Third Charge
posted February 17, 2006
A Federal Court jury reported at 6 p.m. Friday that it had reached two verdicts in the William Cotton bribery trial. However, the jury was hung up on a third charge and went home Friday evening.
Judge Allan Edgar told the jury to continue deliberating on the third charge, and they will resume at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The jury had verdicts on a bribery conspiracy charge and on the county commissioner accepting a bribe payment in Nashville. The jury was hung up on a charge of receiving a bribe payment at the Southside Grill.
Jurors said they want to again listen to a tape dealing with the Southside Grill meeting.
The jury deliberated two hours Thursday afternoon, then went home for the night. The panel had another hour of talks on Friday morning before asking to once again view a video of a Nashville meeting that shows money passed to lobbyist Charles Love and Cotton. Love took the money and said he would give it to Cotton later.
The panel on Friday morning asked to have one of the tapes in the case replayed. It involved Cotton and Love talking about setting up an office at a Cotton-owned building for the E-Cycle Management firm that turned out to be a bogus firm operated by the FBI. On Friday afternoon, the jury came out again to re-listen to another tape.
Prosecutor John MacCoon told the jury of seven men and five women that the County Commission member "betrayed the public trust. He chose to act out of greed and self-interest instead of the public interest."
But attorney Hank Hill said there was "no proof Mr. Cotton ever got any money or was willing to take money."
The defense called only a single witness - FBI Agt. Brian Burns, who had testified earlier for the government. He was used to put on a couple of short taped conversations between Cotton and former County School Board member Charles Love.
The case is the first one in the FBI's "Operation Tennessee Waltz" public corruption sting to go to trial.
The charges carry up to 20 years in federal prison. Since Cotton has no criminal record, his sentencing range would be about three years if convicted, attorneys said. He is charged with bribery conspiracy and two counts of attempted bribery.
Love earlier pleaded guilty to bribery charges and is awaiting sentencing. He resigned from the School Board, while Cotton has stayed on the County Commission and has qualified to seek re-election.
Prosecutor MacCoon showed the jury a transcript of a secretly-recorded conversation between Cotton and Love and also a video in which a bundle of cash is handed to Love as Cotton sits at the table with him at a meeting in Nashville.
The prosecutor said, "Transcripts and tapes don't lie. You are there when the conspiracy is happening."
He pointed to a tape in which Cotton lectures Love on accepting an envelope of cash at a table at the Southside Grill. The prosecutor said Cotton was talking about being careful, not about rejecting bribes.
He said at the table in Nashville, Cotton saw the money being passed and said, "I'm cool with it." Prosecutor MacCoon said, "An honest man would have said, 'What the heck is going on here?'"
Attorney Hill said the government was relying on "innuendoes and supposition. They are short on actual facts and actual proof."
On an assertion that the defense could have called Love as a witness, he said, "We don't have to prove anything. Don't let them shift the burden to us."
He said Cotton was interested in the E-Cycle proposal because he thought it was a good deal for the county. He said County Mayor Claude Ramsey was also convinced of the benefits of E-Cycle.
Attorney Hill said, "It was Love who was getting the money - stealing hand over foot. He used Cotton as a dupe to steal money from the government. Love was his own bagman. He tricks the government and he tricks Mr. Cotton."
Charles Atchley, another prosecutor in the case, said attorney Hill "wants to paint Love as the bad guy. Yeah, he's the bad guy. He's a criminal just like Mr. Cotton."
He told the jury, "There's plenty, plenty of evidence to convict him of every charge. Convict him because he is absolutely guilty."
Attorney Hill had wanted to call a witness to tell about Love's tenure as executive director of the Urban League when he first came to Chattanooga from Little Rock, Ark. However, Judge Edgar did not allow that evidence in.
The attorney said he wanted to call Joanie Sompayrac, who he said was treasurer of the Urban League at the time and who asked for an audit.
He said the audit showed that Love had "stolen approximately $100,000 from people who were supposed to be his friends and allies."
Attorney Hill said the audit showed that Love had access to two American Express credit cards, but that he had not informed anyone of the second card and he would shred the bill and receipts when they came in.
He said no criminal charges were brought against Love in the case, though he did step down from the Urban League post.
Outside the presence of the jury, Judge Edgar asked attorney Hill if the defense position in the case is that Cotton did not receive any bribe money paid by FBI agents posing as officials of E-Cycle Management.
Attorney Hill said, "I don't know where the money went. The government hasn't proved that Mr. Cotton got any of it."
Witnesses said they would give money to Love in the presence of Cotton, and a short time later Cotton would call to thank them.
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