The trial date in the case in which former House Speaker Glen Casada and aide Cade Cothren are charged with bribery and kickbacks, wire fraud and money laundering has been moved to March 5, 2024. It had been set to start Oct. 3.
Attorneys in the case said, "During the course of the execution of search warrants, the United States seized a number of computers. Those computers were made available to defense for inspection. The United States completed digital extractions of some of those computers. Upon defense counsel’s request, the United States endeavored to make copies of those digital extractions for defense counsel. That process was time consuming, and hard drives containing those digital extractions were recently produced. The extractions are voluminous, approximately 500 GB. Defense counsel needs additional time to review the extractions."
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks with former state Rep. Robin Smith as the star witness for the government.
She resigned from the state House after facing federal wire fraud charges. Her sentencing on her guilty plea to wire fraud has been delayed until the conclusion of the Casada/Cothren trial that will be conducted by Federal Judge Eli Richardson in Nashville.
The initial setting of the trial had it at Oct. 25, 2022.
Authorities said in November 2019 that Casada aide Cothren set up a firm called Phoenix Consulting that was said to be headed by Matthew Phoenix, which in fact was a fictitious name and the actual operator of the firm was Cothren.
The firm was set up to get payments from a program in which legislators could use up to $3,000 each per year for mailings to constituents, the government says.