Mayor Brent Lambert
Judge Andrew Friberg on Thursday night declared a mistrial in the case against County Commissioner Tim Boyd after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Jurors before dinner said in a note that eight had voted guilty and four not guilty.
The judge said a retrial might occur in early 2019.
Judge Friberg earlier said he did not find all the necessary elements of extortion in evidence against Commissioner Boyd. However, he said the case could still go to the jury on attempted extortion.
Both extortion and attempted extortion are felonies. If convicted of either, Commissioner Boyd would not be able to continue in office.
Extortion carries a penalty of two to four years in prison, while attempted extortion carries one to two years.
Judge Friberg, of Bradley County, said all the elements were not present for proof that Commissioner Boyd made a specific threat against East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert.
Mayor Lambert testified Thursday that he "felt very threatened" by a call from County Commissioner Boyd during this year's District 8 County Commission race.
Mayor Lambert said he was concerned "for me, for my family, and for my employer. I was shocked."
On cross-examination, attorney Lee Davis put the focus on Mayor Lambert's acceptance of five $1,000 campaign donations 12 days after a special called meeting of the East Ridge City Council approved a $4.6 million construction estimate for improvements at Exit One. Three of the donors were principals in Exit One LLC - Ethan and Matt Wood and John Healy. Other checks that all arrived on the same day were from Emerson Russell and Terry Watts.
Mayor Lambert said his father, who is his campaign treasurer, accepted the checks at an East Ridge bank. Then a check was written to Mayor Lambert's personal account. He said that was to pay off part of an earlier $9,100 campaign loan he had made. He said he got that $9,100 from a joint account he has with his parents.
Attorney Davis noted that Exit One LLC got a no-bid contract to do the development near Camp Jordan Park on land the city had obtained from TDOT for $130,000. He said the developers got the land for the same amount East Ridge paid.
He also pointed out that the Lambert attorney, John Anderson, served as East Ridge city attorney, then afterward handled some matters for Exit One LLC.
Attorney Davis also questioned Mayor Lambert about a press conference he held in which he played secretly recorded tapes in which Commissioner Boyd said if he did not pull out of the race he would release damaging information about him. The attorney noted that the Lambert campaign also put out mailers focused on Commissioner Boyd's indictment and calling him "corrupt and sleazy."
Tim Boyd won the election in May over Brent Lambert in May with 67 percent of the vote despite his arrest.
First, he said former state Rep. Ken Meyer contacted him and recommended that he not run. Then he said he was contacted by attorney Allen McCallie, who said he had "gotten a strange call" from Commissioner Boyd. Attorney McCallie handles some legal matters for the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, where Mayor Lambert is vice president and the chief operating officer.
The jury heard three recordings of Boyd-Lambert conversations. Mayor Lambert said he recorded the calls because "I wanted to protect myself."
Mayor Lambert said he called Commissioner Boyd early the next morning after the McCallie call. On the tape, Commissioner Boyd said he had information "that looks very suspect and certainly unethical." He said, "It's not going to look good for you, Brent. I would like for you to pull out rather than expose it. If you drop out of the race, all of this goes away."
He added, "If you stay in the race, it's not going to be pretty. It's no holds barred."
Mayor Lambert said after the call "I couldn't believe what I had just heard. There are things when you are running for office that you don't do and this is one of them."
He said he and attorney Anderson met with the TBI a few days later. He said he was with agents when a second call was placed to Commissioner Boyd. He said that call went to voice mail, but he recorded a return call from Commissioner Boyd later that day.
In the second call, Mayor Lambert asked was it possible if he did drop out that someone in the Boyd group might "go rogue" and release it anyway. Commissioner Boyd said, "I'll tell my team the deals off. Don't even think about it."
Commissioner Boyd said his advisors told him the information showed Mayor Lambert "as an extremely unethical businessman." He said one stated, "This is as juicy as it gets. I can't wait to turn it loose."
The commissioner confided that this will be his final term and said Mayor Lambert might then consider taking over.
In the third and final call, Mayor Lambert said he did not believe he had done anything wrong and was going ahead with the race.
In that call, Commissioner Boyd said Criminal Court Clerk (and former East Ridge Mayor) Vince Dean "has a vendetta against me." He said he had revealed that Mr. Dean "almost doubled his budget" and "now he wants to get me out at whatever cost."
Mr. Dean was the first to sign the Lambert petition to face off against Commissioner Boyd.
Mayor Lambert said of Mr. Dean, "Every time he is in Mr. Boyd's presence he has a tape recorder with him."
The jury heard a fourth tape that had been turned over to the TBI by Mr. Dean. It was of an exchange at a meeting of the Pachyderm Club in which Commissioner Boyd was asked why he had "threatened" Mayor Lambert. Commissioner Boyd told club members the receipt of the five $1,000 checks at a time the mayor was not campaigning and for a debt several years old "doesn't pass the smell test."
Mayor Lambert said he went on the offensive late in the campaign "because I was getting absolutely destroyed in the media." He said both sides of the Times Free Press editorial page blasted him, and he said a cartoon asked if East Ridge citizens wanted to vote for someone who committed extortion or someone who took bribes.
Mayor Lambert said the only fundraiser for the campaign was planned for a dining car trip at the Railroad Museum. But he said none of those he invited, including former Rep. Meyer, could come. He said he wound up filing the tables with friends and he covered the cost.
Commissioner Boyd opted not to testify.
The defense called only one witness - former state Rep. Ken Meyer who has led several Boyd campaigns.
He said he met Tim Boyd 50 years ago when he was a nine-year-old swimming at the East Ridge pool and Tim Boyd was the lifeguard. He said after returning from Washington to his hometown he got back in touch with Commissioner Boyd via Facebook.
Mr. Meyer said when he decided to get into politics "I helped coach him and we have worked very closely together the last eight years."
He said in 2014 it was unusual that both former Commissioner Curtis Adams and Mayor Lambert challenged incumbent Boyd. He said, "I am used to the party supporting the incumbent. He had been doing a good job."
Then, when he learned that Mayor Lambert, planned another try to oust incumbent Boyd, he said he was more concerned. He said, "The odds were very low that he was going to defeat an incumbent." He said he felt they were much lower when he found out about the $5,000 in contributions.
He said the gifts "were very odd - coming all on the same day from five people who live outside of East Ridge and 12 days after this big project was approved. It doesn't take much to connect the dots."
He said those making the contributions "are making a lot of money (on the East Ridge project). I mean a lot of money."
Mr. Meyer said those in the Boyd camp had no ill will toward Mayor Lambert, but said they debated how to get word to him that it was not in his best interest to run at this time. He said they discussed "how do we tell him what he's about to get hit with?"
He said he was dismayed that the Lambert campaign "had a campaign strategy from Day 1 of trying to embarrass Tim by taking incredibly cheap shots."
Mr. Meyer said, "Criminalizing political activity is a dangerous path to go down." The judge told the jury to disregard that remark after DA Pinkston objected.
Ken Meyer