Another brief trial update: more coming

I’ll be out collecting campaign yard signs today, but will definitely do a catch up on the trial before the weekend is out.

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The prosecution has rested in the corruption trial of former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford. Testimony and evidence presented in the first eight days of proceedings have drawn a picture of a conspiracy which endured over several years involving extortion, mail fraud and money laundering connected to illegal gambling in Buncombe, Cleveland, Haywood, Macon and Rutherford Counties. Prosecution witnesses have included gambling operators, machine owners, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, a waitress and a CPA.

Medford and co-defendant Guy Penland have remained largely impassive throughout, with the former sheriff gazing straight ahead and Penland casting a dazed look all around the room. The former sheriff appears to studiously avoid eye contact with his former employee. Defense attorneys Stephen Lindsay, Victoria Jayne and Paul Bidwell have made very little apparent headway in attempts to undercut the witnesses veracity or the evidence introduced, though of course, that will be up to the jury to decide, and the defense won’t conclude its case until about May 14.

Several of those involved reported handing sums of cash as high as $5,000 to Medford, while others explained money laundering operations that included forged signatures on checks and conversion of illegal cash campaign donations to money orders for reporting purposes. Video poker machines which were imported to the state illegally were registered in Buncombe County and then operated illegally, by offering cash payouts instead of the maximum of $10 in store merchandise prescribed by law.

The most surprising testimony has been somewhat tangential to the government’s case. Three witnesses offered evidence that Henderson Amusement, one of several gaming machine providers in the region, had not only paid off Buncombe sheriff’s personnel but had paid the Haywood County Sheriff $3,300 per month for a period of years. That news has rocked Haywood, and Sheriff Tom Alexander has been summoned by the grand jury.

Two witnesses testified to the accuracy of a document that reported delivery of $1,000 in cash to Buncombe County Commissioners during the 2004 election cycle. No names there, but that amount of cash could not have been a legal contribution even if spread around to all 9 candidates in that year’s race, since cash donations were capped at $100 at that time.

After the prosecution finished, the defense entered a plea for dismissal of all charges. This is a standard procedure and requires the judge to rule as to whether sufficient evidence has been offered to permit the jury to decide guilt or innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Judge Tim Ellis ruled that the evidence is sufficient to proceed on all ten counts facing the pair.
Medford attorneys Lindsay and Jayne began their defense with testimony from current Buncombe Sheriff Van Duncan, former department attorney Julie Kepple, former sheriff’s secretary Rhonda House and former deputy Jerry Miller. Miller provided the juiciest surprise of the week-long proceedings, telling the court that he received warning from a close friend , “a high-ranking Democrat,” that Medford was being investigated and warned his boss three years ago.

Miller’s career includes 24 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the the Western North Carolina District before joining Medford’s ranks. He stated that he warned Medford, who “blew up” and then told me “he didn’t want me standing in the way when the bomb went off.” Miller said he learned that sheriffs could entirely ban video poker in their counties, though gaming operators had sued at least one county where that occurred, and so informed his boss. This opened the way for Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards to inquire whether Medford had, in fact, removed any machines. “No,” was Miller’s response.

The revelation also throws open the question of what, if anything, Medford did during those three years to prepare for the likely eventuality that prosecutors would come knocking. Given the amount of cash that changed hands in the multi-million dollar gambling business in Buncombe County, there would seem to be plenty of room for squirreling away retirement funds in a barn or a closet or under a rock.

Defense will continue to present its case on Monday, May 12, with concluding arguments anticipated by about May 16.

Breaking news: Buncombe Commish implicated in Medford trial

One last note before I head to the trial today. I didn’t mention this earlier because I thought it would be viewed as “political.”

The Henderson Amusement financial records introduced into evidence by Anna Deaton and corroborated by Jerry Pennington showed a cash outlay of $1,000 to the Buncombe County Commissioners race in 2004. I haven’t seen that reported elsewhere and I haven’t had time this week to obtain the campaign finance records from that race. You heard it here first.

I should note that while Mountain Xpress referred to this as a “legal donation” in its coverage, there is no way that $1,000 in cash could have been legally contributed to commission candidates in the 2004 election. The cash limit at the time was $100 (which is why Medford’s campaign reported dozens of $100 cash donations in the 2002 election, for example.) There were only 9 candidates in that race, so no matter how you split the money, someone received more than the limit.

The candidates were Mark Crawford, Republican; David Gantt, Democrat; Mike Harrison, Republican; Mike Morgan, Republican; Carol Weir Peterson, Democrat; Bill Reynolds, Republican; Bill Stanley, Democrat; and David Young, Democrat. Ed Hay and Nathan Ramsey were candidates for chair. Wonder who got the cash?

Very short update on Medford trial

I’m still covering the trial, though I had to duck out an hour early Wednesday for a board meeting of Biblioworks.org, a charitable foundation I work with which builds and supports rural libraries in Bolivia.

The prosecution ought to finish its case today and the defense will almost certainly start. Tomorrow Judge Tim Ellis will be back in his Virginia court room, so no session here amd I’ll do a complete run-down of this week’s sessions.

The most interesting part of today’s proceeding is likely to be video footage filmed in Rutherford County after the November 2006 election. The meeting was captured with a hidden camera. The defense tried to block use of the film, arguing that the conspiracy depicted in the footage is not directly related to events in Buncombe County and that, in any event, Medford had been voted out and therefore had no power to continue any alleged conspiracy in any meaningful way. The prosecution successfully argued that a conspiracy can continue even when participants are jailed, because conspiracy can include failure to divulge information or continuing attempts to hide previous activity, and also that the conspiracy in Rutherford was part of a region-wide network which included several counties, and that conspirators need not be aware of all other members of a conspiracy in order to be implicated.

Election wrap-up

Thank you so very much! Yep, we lost, but only by .8 percent of the votes cast. Unseating incumbents is extremely difficult and we came pretty close. We proved once again, if proof is needed, that under current campaign finance laws the race is almost invariably won at the bank, not in debate.

Holly Jones and K. Ray Bailey, who both finished ahead of incumbents Peterson and Stanley, both out-spent our campaign by approximately 2.5/1 (final numbers won’t be reported for several weeks.)

16,440 people voted for this grassroots candidate in his first try for elected office. To take the financial analysis one step further, it appears that Holly’s votes cost her about $1 each, Bailey’s about $1.30 each, and mine about 60 cents each. That’s the difference between a media campaign and a grassroots effort. That’s what your feet on the ground, your talking and leafletting, your requests for yard signs and your contributions made happen. (And by this I mean to take nothing from the two winners.)

Let’s all push for local campaign finance reform to make voter-owned elections a reality in Buncombe and Asheville in the near future.

If you have an Obama sign, I suggest you keep it for the fall campaign. If you have a Bothwell sign, it will be picked up by whomever delivered it, or you can return it to 54 Fulton Street, in Asheville. E-mail me if you need directions.

I’m asking my volunteers to collect the signs they planted and any strays you spot. Also, please help Holly and Keith by collecting their signs and returning them to me. I’ll get them back to the other campaigns.

Again, thanks so much for the outpouring of support, the kind words, the great ideas and the funds. I am honored to have represented you and your hopes for Buncombe in this race and look forward to working for our common goals in the future.

-Cecil Bothwell

Day five: Penland gets pummeled

Not much time to post this morning. Out until midnight delivering yard signs to precincts and have an appointment at 7 a.m. to start my campaign day (before heading in to the courtroom at 10 a.m. — the start has been delayed to give jurors time to vote.)

So, only some high points here.

Medford attorney Victoria Jane continued her cross-x of Henderson secretary Anna Deaton. The Macon County Sheriff’s Office had received a check according to Deaton. (This non-factoid was picked up later in the day by raunch radio, establishing once again that right wing broadcasters are more interested in ratings than accuracy). Before the lunch break, Asst. U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards used his questioning of Henderson salesman Jerry Pennington to establish that the payment to the Macon department was unrelated to gambling, illegal gambling, or any illicit activity whatsoever. Edwards took special care during the lunch break to report the real reporters in the court room and direct our attention once again to the testimony we had all just heard. He said, “I’m not adding anything to the testimony. But you heard it. I don’t want the Macon sheriff to have a heart attack.”

The other hugely significant testimony from both Deaton and Pennington involved payments to the Haywood County Sheriff. He was not mentioned by name, but Henderson records introduced as evidence and corroborated by both witnesses indicate monthly payments to Haywood of $100 per poker machine, or $3,300 per month, over several years, in return for being permitted to operate machines in the county.

Whether or not the Haywood department knew that machines were being operated illegally, the payments themselves, if accurate, are a felony violation of the law.

Overall, Guy Penland was the biggest loser in Monday’s session, being tied by Deaton and Pennington to payoffs, to running of license plates for Pennington, for soliciting store owners to participate in illegal gambling, for issuance and reissuance of false law enforcement credentials to Pennington, etc.

However, former Chief Deputy George Stewart was named as recipient of payoffs for the first time, and the money map around Medford grew denser as well. Off to the polls. More detail, probably tomorrow. Go vote!

Tom Hanks on history and Obama

Beware: Celebrity Endorsement

Robo calls traced to Clinton supporter

Deceptive robo-calls which have reportedly targeted black voters in North Carolina have been traced to Women’s Voices Women Vote, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit. Women’s Voices founder and President Page Gardner has made substantial contributions to the Clinton campaign.

The calls suggest that one cannot vote unless one returns a signed statement to be found in a registration packet that the listener received in the mail. Women’s Voices has been implicated in similar illegal voter suppression efforts in multiple states across the country. The NC NAACP has filed a formal complaint with Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Numerous voters in WNC have reported getting the deceptive calls.

For more, click here.

Moyers right about Wright

Day four: The wicket gets stickier for Medford

I ought to note here that due to time constraints I have been reporting the testimony of government witnesses without going into the cross examination by defense attorneys. They are indeed quizzing and questioning, but through the week and to the end of the day on Friday they scored no big points in their attempt to undercut the veracity of the witnesses or relevance of the evidence. If such occurs I will report it, and I will stick with this trial through the end, now estimated by Judge Tim Ellis to be on or about May 15.

Friday’s session started out with the judge revisiting a question raised on Thursday by juror #30 (the jurors are identified only by their original numbers in the 69-member pool). Number 30 had voiced concern because he was familiar with a name that had come up on Wednesday. The name is associated with the case, though that person will not be a witness and is not a subject of the current proceedings. In voire dire (i.e. direct questioning by the judge) on Thursday, juror #30 had explained some social contact with the named person and both the prosecution and defense had weighed the concern and agreed to postpone possible removal. Following the further discussion at the outset of Friday’s session and another voire dire, that juror was excused.

Judge Ellis explained to the juror that he had acted appropriately and honorably and that the dismissal was to prevent any possible suggestion that the aquaintanceship had colored a decision and to prevent the juror from feeling any personal qualms about the effect of a decision on his acquaintance. So, we’re down to one alternate.

Johnny Harrison returned to the stand Friday morning and Medford attorney Victoria Jane resumed her cross examination. She queried Harrison about his practice of keeping a bank bag full of cash in the trunk of his cruiser and cashing checks when Medford needed money beyond the available. Her questions reestablished Harrison’s previous testimony that he, Guy Penland and Ronnie “Butch” Davis routinely signed Bobby Medford’s name to checks before cashing them. Harrison repeated his assertion that it was done with Medford’s approval.

Jane also elicited testimony that Harrison and the department had closed down two video poker locations which had been the source of frequent complaints and which were not paying protection money.

As I predicted following the opening argument by Medford attorney Stephen Lindsay, Jane had Harrison confirm that he is married to former sheriff Harry Clay’s widow. It looks like one line of defense will be to link the crimes committed during Medford’s tenure to the notoriously corrupt Clay, in an effort to paint Medford as a hapless administrator whose underlings were carrying out their schemes without his knowledge.

Jane also tried to paint Harrison’s testimony as tainted by the plea deal he signed, suggesting that he was cooperating with the prosecutors in order to get a lighter sentence. Harrsion responded, “Ma’m, I pled guilty because I am guilty and I would appreciate any consideration I might receive.”

She talked about his Myrtle Beach home and said, “Your ability to enjoy the beach in your later years will be somewhat restricted if you are in jail.”

He replied, “Ma’m, you’ve got that one hundred percent right.” Later he added, “It’s hard for me to sit up here and say what I’ve done, to say what Bobby has done, to say what Guy has done, to talk about what Frank Orr has done. But it is the truth.”

In redirect, U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards asked Harrison to read the section of his plea agreement which stipulated that if any of his testimony were to prove false, that the entire agreement would be void.

Guy Penland’s attorney, Paul Bidwell helped the prosecution along when he elicted further details about Harrison’s channeling of funds to Medford which he in turn distributed to his family members. “He took care of them as well as he could.” This further corroborates what several of my sources have told me over the years, that Medford’s family would gather round in the sheriff’s office for distribution of funds. No one has questioned his generosity.

Because Bidwell opened that can of worms, Edwards returned to it in redirect and elicited further information about money to the family.

Taken all together, Harrison’s testimony drew a picture of many payoffs by several machine operators over many years, in unreported cash transactions, to Medford, Penland, Orr and himself.

At 11:45 a.m. the prosecution called Nick Anagnostopoulos to the stand. Anagnostopoulos is the owner of George’s Mini Mart, one of two stores that routinely cashed Medford’s checks for several years. He testified about the check cashing arrangement and his illegal operation of video poker machines owned by the Hot Dog King, Demetre Theodosis (already convicted on illegal gaming charges).

Anagnostopoulos said that Medford occasionally cashed his own checks at the store, and would call ahead to make sure there was enough cash on hand, though he always waited in the car and had a female companion actually conduct the transaction. The prosecution offered photos of numerous checks and bank records to underscored the testimony. Occasionally Medford wrote bad checks , according to Anagnostopoulos, and Harrison would cover them with cash.

Anagnostopoulos testified that he and Theodosis had attended a meeting with Medford when the 2000 gaming law went into effect and that Medford told them both “If you don’t cause problems for me, I won’t cause problems for you.” He interpreted that as a green light on illegal operation of the machines.

The next prosecution witness was Robert Robinson, a communications specialist with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department who took and routinely recorded a phone call from Guy Penland to run the plate on a car. Penland and Jerry Pennington, an employee of Henderson Amusement (a video poker operation) had staked out a location where an undercover officer was investigating illegal gambling. Penland’s call revealed that the car was in fact that of an undercover agent. According to the prosecution this not only tipped off the criminals but could have endangered the agent’s life.

Robinson noted that Medford issued a memo following revelation of Penland’s action to the effect that the communications department was to refrain from running any more tags for Penland.

Jackie Shepherd was next up for the prosecution.

(More on that a little later, I’ve got to work on my campaign for a couple of hours.)

(Well, it’s now Sunday morning. But I’ll continue this post since that will offer more continuity on Friday’s session than starting a new post.)

Jackie Willis Shepherd, who has already pled guilty to running an illegal gambling operation, may be cast as the most noble of those who’ve pled. His bargain was to confess and testify for the prosecution if the government dropped charges against his son and step-son. “I said this is my responsibility. take my sons off the list and I’ll plead guilty.” Whatever one might think about his crimes, his sons owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.

Shepherd testified that he got into the video poker business in 1999, when he took the business away from his son. “He was into drugs and wasn’t tending to business, and he stole some money from me.” He said he formed Western Amusement corporation to run the gaming in 2000, and brought in a partner from South Carolina named Keith Comer. Comer paid $75,000 for his half of the business ($50,000 cash and a $25,000 note to Shepherd repaid with machine profits.)

Shepherd said they ran the machine operation until June 28, 2007 when they were raided and the machines were seized. Asked by the prosecution if he made illegal cash payouts he responded, “I did. If we knew the person who was playing, we paid them.”

Asked how he got involved with Medford, Shepherd said, “I heard in 1993 that [Sheriff] Charlie Long was watching my son’s gambling operation.”

Shepherd said that in preparation for the election campaign he hired a tailor to make Medford suits and “I hired a speech lady to help him talk to crowds.” He said he put $20,000 to $30,000 into the 1994 campaign. Asked why he spent so much money, Shepherd replied, “We needed some changes in the county. We needed him to go in and clean up the county.”

The two had a falling out in 1997 and Shepherd sat out the 1998 and 2002 elections, according to his testimony.

Shepherd also said that Kay Carter, who worked for both the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department and one of Shepherd’s convenience stores, also made cash payouts to video poker players, “If she knew them.”

Shepherd also testified to making cash payments to Medford on several occasions, sometimes characterized as “loans.” Did he pay you back? “No.” Why? “He wasn’t botherin’ my poker machines.” He also said his stores had cashed bad checks for Medford which were later covered by Carter or Medford’s secretary Sharon Stewart.

Finally he affirmed that he had received a phone call from Ronnie “Butch” Davis on Nov. 14, 2006, alerting him to the bust of the Theodosis Hot Dog King locations. (Records showed that multiple phone calls went out from the sheriff’s department that day to numerous gaming operators, presumably informing them of the bust.)

In cross examination, Lindsay made a point of noting that one of Medford’s sons had had drug problems as well, and said, “And you talked about it?”

“About my son,” Shepherd replied, “Not his.”

Just before 3 p.m., Linda Clontz, of the N.C. Department of Corrections took the stand. Clontz, who said she has known Medford for 30 years, oversees the community service/alternative sentencing program in Buncombe.

Her testimony concerned the community service of Jerry Pennington, the “salesman” for Henderson Amusement (concerning which matter, Harrison had previously testified that he signed off on service that was never done).

Clontz said she had been disturbed about the entire arrangement from the beginning. It was almost unheard of for a court to order a change of venue for service (from Cleveland County to Buncombe). It was entirely unheard of for a person to perform service in a county in which he was not a resident, and Pennington’s address was Kings Mountain. Then, when she received the completed form from Penland, with Harrison’s initials and signature, she was suspicious that the hours had not actually been served. “Just intuition,” she testified, “So I called Bobby Medford to express my displeasure and suspicion.”

The final witness for the week was Anna Deaton, an employee of Henderson Amusement whose work included transcription of hand written notes from Jerry Pennington into a computer database, as well as maintenance of paper files. Though she now works for Henderson in Spartanburg, from 2003 until May 17, 2007 she worked at the company’s Kings Mountain location.

Deaton led the prosecution through her files, which included three filing boxes of detailed notes about payoffs to Medford, Penland, Harrison and others. In addition she testified that Penland had once driven her to the Haywood County Sheriff’s office to get machines registered there.

Proceedings adjourned at about 4:15 p.m.because Judge Ellis needed to catch a plane. Court will reconvene at 9 a.m. Monday. It was also announced that Tuesday’s start will be delayed until 10 a.m. to permit jurors time to vote.

Medford trial, day three

Three government witnesses appeared during Thursday’s proceedings in the trial of former Buncombe Sheriff Bobby Medford.

First up was Eddie Caldwell, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association, a non-profit group comprised of all 100 county sheriffs in the state. The group handles education, advocacy and policy coordination among the state’s sheriffs.

Caldwell noted that the office of sheriff is the oldest office in the state, a carry-over from English common law. He explained sheriffs’ duties and the video poker laws enacted in 2000 (which legalized it) and 2006 (which phased it out).

Next FBI Agent Drew Grafton took the stand to outline evidence seized from the home of Ronnie “Butch” Davis in a raid on Feb.22, 2007. (Davis was a co-defendant of Medford, Penland and Harrison, and has already pled guilty in the case.) Grafton reported seizure of $18,000 in cash (wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed above a duct), bank deposit slips, other financial records, notebookds, a Rolodex and a video poker machine.

At 2:55 former Buncombe County Lt. Johnny Harrison took the stand. Harrison has also pled guilty in the case.

Harrison, who was responsible for registration of video poker machines from 2001 through 2005, detailed his registration of illegal machines, acceptance of pay-offs from machine operators as directed by Medford, his work organizing semi-annual Medford Golf Classic events and receipt of funds from participants, his coordination of meetings between Medford and gambling operators, etc.

Harrison asserted that Medford told him that golf tournament receipts did not need to be reported in non-election years. (In election cycles the money went to the campaign and was reported to the Board of Elections.) In off years Harrison kept the money in the trunk of his patrol car and doled it out to Medford upon request. Harrison also testified that he, Guy Penland and others, routinely forged Medford’s signature on checks cashed at George’s Mini Mart and Bi-Lo stores. The Bi-Lo locations were used because they employed long-time Medford confidant Homer Honeycutt —first the Bi-Lo on Leicester Highway, later the Weaverville location.

Harrison said Medford told him not to cash checks at banks. During his testimony Harrison detailed financial transactions with Garren Amusement, Western Amusement, Mountain Music, Hot Dog King, Henderson Amusement and other video poker operators and locations.

He also testified that  Imran Alam (who has also pled guilty), a convenience store owner, had come to him with complaints about Henderson Amusement which allegedly was failing to provide timely service for poker machines at his stores and was allegedly shortchanging Alam on the split of gambling proceeds. Harrison said Medford initially refused to permit switching companies, but that Alam insisted on meeting with the sheriff.

Following a lunch date arranged by Harrison, he said Medford agreed to permit Alam to switch to Mountain Music machines and Alam paid Medford and Harrison each $3,000 in cash.

Harrison will take the stand again this morning at 9 a.m.

Proceedings adjourned for the day at about 5:30 p.m.