An attorney for former Murray County Magistrate Bryant Cochran said there was no proof that he ordered anyone to plant evidence on the car of a woman who said she spurned his sexual advances.
Attorney Page Pate of Atlanta urged leniency for Cochran, who is due to be sentenced by Federal Judge Harold Murphy in Rome, Ga., on Wednesday.
The attorney said, "The government was never able to show that Mr. Cochran gave any direction, advice or specific suggestion" to have drugs placed under a vehicle occupied by Angela Garmley.
He said two sheriff department employees and the former Cochran maintenance man all denied that he ordered planting of the drugs.
A jury last December found Cochran guilty on all six sex and corruption counts that he faced.
The attorney said the 45-year-old Cochran is not a lawyer and does not even have a college degree. He said his last job before he was elected magistrate was inspecting trailers for the county tag office.
He said his only prior offense was a no contest plea to DUI in 1989.
Attorney Pate said Cochran "has already suffered considerably as a result of this conviction. Aside from his status as a convicted felon and the loss of his reputation in the community, he lost his wife of over 20 years and now has to schedule visitation with his three young children."
He said his father died of a heart attack while the case against him was going on. He said Cochran is now the sole caregiver of his disabled mother and currently lives with her in Chatsworth.