Medford trial: May 13, final testimony

Today’s proceedings began with continued cross-examination of Bobby Medford and concluded with character witnesses for co-defnedant Guy Penland, who declined to take the stand in his own defense. The defense has rested its case and the prosecution will not offer rebuttal, so the evidentiary portion of the trial is over. Tomorrow, Judge Tim Ellis will present proposed jury instructions to both sides at 9 a.m., rectify any disagreements at 10 a.m. and call the jury in at 11 a.m. to hear concluding arguments.

At the outset today, Asst. U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis continued to cross-examine Medford and elicited the claim that Medford was entitled to the proceeds of the golf tournaments he organized in non-election years, to disburse as he saw fit. Medford continued to insist that all funds were used for charitable purposes.

Ellis also elicited agreement from Medford that while he had a policy of excluding volunteers who violated department policy, he never excluded Penland despite violations of policy beyond telling him that he could no longer register video poker machines.

Medford confirmed that special deputy I.D. cards issued to Jerry Pennington bore his signature, but said that he signed multiple cards and had no idea who received them. Although he insisted that all recipients of special deputy IDs were subject to background checks, he was unable to explain how Pennington, with a criminal record, was able to obtain his deputization. Twice.

Medford repeated his testimony that he had garnered $2,500 to $3,000 from each golf tourney, then, when showed evidence that he had been handed at least $7,500 in proceeds in 2006, he denied knowledge of the payments. Ellis reminded him that he had reported more than $20,000 in cash donations from the golf tournament in the 2002 election and asked if inability to accept cash in 2006 (due to a change in election law) represented a problem that year. Medford denied concern about the cash problem.

The former sheriff indicated that correlation of phone calls from Medford’s cell phone to Demetre Theodosis with cash deposits to Medford’s account were coincidental, as were meetings and phone calls concerning a change of machines at Imran Alam’s stores, a withdrawal of cash by Alam, and alleged payments to Johnny Harrison and Medford.

Similarly coincidental were records showing $2.400 in cash moved from receipts in a 2006 golf tournament to Medford, deposit of $2,400 to his checking account, payment of $2,400 to a veterinarian and newspaper reports that Medford had paid the vet bill out of his own pocket. Medford’s girlfriend’s son, a deputy, had shot a dog who died after extensive efforts to save him, and Medford had grandly announced that he would pay the veterinary bills. Only he didn’t.

While denying that he had used proceeds from the golf tournament, Medford insisted that the money had come from six or so other department employees, though he could only name Pat Hefner, George Stewart and Randy Bradford as contributors.

Ellis also noted that Medford had claimed $45,000 in charitable donations on his 2006 tax return and asked if the $2,400 was part of that total. Medford expressed astonishment at the number and denied having made such donations and insisted that it was a typographical error. He said he would file an amended return.

Medford’s total itemized deductions for 2006 totalled $97,000 with a reported income of $215,000.

Ellis also noted that upon retirement Medford had claimed $20,000 in back pay for vacations he had never taken, despite the fact that he spent at least 160 work days at Harrah’s from 2003 to 2006. Medford said that he only counted vacation days when he was away from Buncombe County, and that Harrah’s was only 50 minutes from town.

Altogether, Medford dug himself deeper during his testimony.

Next the defense called Erik Lioy, an expert in forensic accounting, who had examined all of Medford’s and girlfriend Judi Bell’s financial records for the years in question. Lioy’s testimony seemed tapered to fit the defense. He used gross income figures to illustrate that the pair’s gambling losses were entirely explicable and affordable, instead of net income which, in 2006, should have deducted Medford’s alleged $45,000 in charitable giving. Lioy also glossed over the idea that the records he examined from Harrah’s ONLY INCLUDED gambling done while the pair used their membership cards. Gambling without use of a card would be invisible unless a person won more than $1200 at one time on one machine.

Asst. U.S. Atty. Richard Edwards shredded Lioy’s credibility on cross-examination.

Medford’s defense concluded with three character witnesses who all said Bobby is trustworthy.

Guy Penland’s attorney Paul Bidwell offered three character witnesses who all like Guy a lot. Then he questioned FBI agent Michael McNeely with the intent of casting doubt on the testimony of prosecution witness Tracy Bridges. Bidwell failed in the attempt.

That’s it for today.

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!

Gentlemen (mostly), start your engines

A longish post - but, trust me, not near as “longish” as the actual trial proceedings.
Jury selection in the Bobby Medford trial was completed at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, a full day later than initially predicted by Judge Tim Ellis. If this proves to be the rule we can anticipate a month-long trial.

Opening arguments commenced at 4:30.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards laid out the government’s case using three charts. The charts illustrated how the video poker permitting system was supposed to work, how the permit system allegedly worked under Medford’s administration and the complicated flow of cash, checks and money orders from campaign contributors and video poker operators into the sheriff’s office, the campaign coffers, a federal credit union, the U.S. Post Office and various pockets.

Starting in 2000, county sheriffs in N.C. were required to register video poker machines and issue permit stickers. The only machines which could be permitted were those which were in the state before Jan. 1, 2000 and in operation before June 1 of that year. (This was to stem an anticipated flood of machines from S.C., which had banned them.)

Edwards said, “This is a case about public corruption, the abuse of power … and an effort to enrich Bobby Medford.” He told jurors that the government would offer documents that correlated cash deposits, purchase of postal money orders, organized fraud concerning campaign donors, sale of video poker permit stickers (which were supposed to be free with registration) and laundering of money through George’s Mini-Mart and a Bi-Lo grocery store. He discussed Medford’s gambling at Harrah’s with his girlfriend Judi Bell and his secretary Sharon Stewart and the massive losses incurred there, losses which approached Medford’s income of $100,000 - $125,000 per year, as well as “worthless” checks written at Harrah’s by Bell which were covered in the nick of time by large cash deposits to her credit union account.

He also detailed the issuance of special deputy badges to various players in the organized gambling scheme and an attempt to subvert the actions of a federal grand jury. He concluded by reiterating the specific charges which he said the government would prove true.

Defense Attorney Stephen Lindsay was up next, and bent most of his effort toward painting Medford as a sad, sick old man who was taken advantage of by unscrupulous underlings while his attention was on the difficult work of running a large law enforcement department. “Let me take you back to 1994,” he started, “That was a significant election because Republicans got elected across the board.” He characterized it as a “tidal wave” in which Bobby Medford was first elected.

Lindsay noted that video poker was present in North Carolina before 1994 and asserted that it went all the way back past Sheriff Charlie Long’s administration into Sheriff Harry Clay’s era. [A footnote: Johnny Harrison, already convicted in this case, and referred to as “Medford’s bagman” by many of my sources, is married to Harry Clay’s widow. I suspect this will be enlisted in Lindsay’s effort to pin the whole scheme on Harrison.]

Lindsay reiterated Edwards’ observation that the N.C. video poker law was changed in 2000 in response to South Carolina’s ban on the machines. But he went further to describe the state law as an unfunded mandate from the state for local sheriffs, a burden on the overstretched departments which had to assign officers and manage records without extra funding.

The attorney talked about Medford’s sterling record as a police officer and deputy sheriff and his modest apartment in Weaverville. “He rented a little apartment and wore the clothes on his back, even when he went from an income of $25,000 per year up to $125,000 in his last year as sheriff.” [This to establish that he could afford to lose $90,000 per year at Harrah’s.] Lindsay described Medford’s hard work “24/7” as a sheriff, his serious health issues and constant pain which required prescription drugs and finally an implant, and the fact that the only relief he could find from the rigors of office and chronic hurt was to gamble.

Lindsay asserted that the reason small store owners had to violate the law and make illegal pay-offs to gambling customers was that if they stayed within the law no one would play the machines. He said that many mom-0n-pop stores depended on in come from the machines to stay in business. [The law limited winnings to $10 worth of store credit per day. This is a fascinating line of reasoning: Medford permitted illegal gambling in order to help small businessmen.]

As to the government’s assertion that Medford organized the video poker operators in the county by assigning them locations, Lindsay explained that the organization was to prevent operators from engaging in bidding wars for placement of machines. “Say one operator was offering stores a 50-50 split. Another might come along and offer 60-40. Bobby Medford didn’t want operators to be moving machines around the county.” [Another fascinating defense. He’s admitting restraint of trade, which isn’t legal.]

At one point Lindsay asserted that most of the witnesses in the government’s case had been convicted of crimes and that the government had offered them reduced time in prison “if they will say what the prosecution tells them to say.”

Judge Ellis immediately intervened. “Are you going to introduce evidence to that effect?” [See more about this odd interruption at the end of this post.]

“Yes,” was Lindsay’s reply.

In the end, Lindsay said that the “old man” Medford was a better investigator than administrator and suggested that the 350-person department was just too much for him to handle. Then asked that the jury find him innocent.

Next up was Attorney Paul Bidwell, representing Guy Penland.

Penland started out by assuring the jurors that crimes had been committed “things that were wrongful,” but he immediately took care to separate his client from Medford. “Behind me there are two separate people.” He noted that the prosecution had two Assistant Attorneys and an FBI agent while Medford had two attorneys, but he and Penland were facing all of that alone. “In this room it’s just Guy and me as far as I’m concerned.”

He explained that Guy was a volunteer, a man who all his life had wanted to be a police man. He painted a picture of a kindly old man who never had much education but late in life got a General Equivalency Diploma and went through officer training in order to become a Deputy Sheriff under Medford, only to pick up a D.U.I. and have his certification revoked.

But he still wanted to be a cop and Medford, with his unfunded mandate to register machines, needed help. So he enlisted Penland as a volunteer to help with that onerous task.

Unfortunately, Penland was just too nice a guy and got duped by Johnny Harrison and a video poker machine salesman named Jerry Pennington [who has also pled guilty in an associated case.] According to Bidwell, his client was just being helpful to Pennington, in finding locations for machines, because he was an old man “who knew everybody.” When Penland used his sheriff’s department gear to “run a tag” which exposed an undercover officer who was investigating illegal gaming, Penland was just “being helpful,” not obstructing justice.

Bidwell concluded that “The star witnesses for the government in this case are criminals … beyond those witnesses there is very little evidence at all. The evidence is going to fail to show that there was any protection of operators. The evidence will fail to show any connection between money to the sheriff’s department and failure of enforcement. You will find that Guy Penland is innocent.”

The jury was excused for the day at about 5:45 p.m. After the jury exited, Judge Ellis turned to Lindsay. “Mr. Lindsay, it appeared that were saying that the prosecutors were subborning perjury.”

Lindsay attempted to defend his characterization as simply indicating that the witnesses had reason to color their testimony because they were getting reduced sentences.

Ellis retorted sharply, “But that’s not what you said.” He asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis [no relation] for his opinion and the prosecutor quoted Lindsay from his notes, and agreed that Lindsay had done exactly that.

Judge Ellis said, “When I was on that side of these proceedings [meaning, when he was a prosecutor] I would have hit the ceiling if you said that.”

Lindsay apologized and suggested that he had misstated himself in the heat of his defense. The judge told him not to let that happen again, then ended the proceedings at 5:50 p.m.

As an aside, sitting back and looking at the courtroom scene one can’t avoid noticing that the players are mostly male and white. It is no wonder that people of color feel closed out of the justice system, and women need not apply. The five women in the room include two jurors, one of Medford’s attorneys, the assistant clerk and the court reporter. There is one black juror.

Who shot the sheriff? Medford and me

Progressive groups endorse candidates on WNC ballot

Often the best way to select candidates with whom you are unfamiliar is to look at who is supporting the candidates. The following endorsements are by generally progressive groups in the county and state,

Buncombe County Board of Commissioners
Cecil Bothwell (endorsed Obama early)
(endorsed by National Organization for Women, Sierra Club, Buncombe County Green Party, Democracy for America-Asheville, Progressive Democrats of America)

Holly Jones
(endorsed by Sierra Club, Democracy for America-Asheville, Progressive Democrats of America)
***
U.S. Senate Jim Neal (endorsed Obama early)
(endorsed by Democracy for America-Asheville, Blue America PAC, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg
***
Governor - Richard Moore (first governor candidate to endorse Obama)
(endorsed by Equality NC
***
Lieutenant Governor - Dan Besse
(endorsed by Sierra Club, Democracy for America-Asheville, Durham People’s Alliance, Progressive Democrats of North Carolina, ccnc.jpg Conservation Council of North Carolina, Sierra Club)
—-OR—
Lieutenant Governor - Hampton Dellinger
(endorsed by NC AFL-CIO, Char-Meck Black Political Caucus, NARAL, Durham People’s Alliance)
***
Auditor- Beth A. Wood
(endorsed by The North Carolina State AFL-CIO, Durham People’s Alliance Political Action Committee, N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers)
***
Commissioner of Insurance - Wayne Goodwin
(endorsed by Democracy for America-Asheville, Equality NC, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina Association of Educators, N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, United Transportation Union, The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People)
***
Commissioner of Labor - Robin Anderson
(endorsed by N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association)
***
Superintendent of Public Instruction -June Atkinson
(endorsed by AFL-CIO of N.C., NARAL North Carolina, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, Simkins PAC, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Central North Carolina, Equality NC)
***
State Treasurer - Senator Janet Cowell
(endorsed by Equality NC, NARAL, Sierra Club, Democracy for America, Conservation Council of NC, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, AFL-CIO of N.C., N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, Emily’s List, NASW -PACE )
***

(Back of the ballot, non-partisan judgeships)

Court of Appeals - James Wynn
(endorsed by North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers Endorsement, North Carolina Association of Educators Endorsement, Wake County Voter Coalition, The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, Raleigh Wake Citizens Association, NC Police Benevolent Association, Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Equality North Carolina, AFL-CIO)

Court of Appeals - Kristin Ruth
(endorsed by North Carolina Association of Educators, North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers,North Carolina AFL-CIO, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus, Raleigh Wake Citizens Association, Durham People’s Alliance, Equality NC PAC, Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, Simkins PAC -Greensboro)

Testing the currents of hope

by Mike Hopping

In any list of defining American values, hope and ambition have to rank high. European colonists and later immigrants landed on these shores hoping for a new and better life. Where they’d come from, the social order was well-established. Here they had a chance to remake it.

Hopeful ambition wrested the continent from indigenous inhabitants and built empires on every scale. We authored the book on modern free trade and created the most powerful military in history. The United States didn’t invent the law of the jungle, but American-style initiative continues to employ and even admire ruthlessness in the pursuit of private interests.

Former president Bill Clinton recently defended this trait before a West Virginia audience: “If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office. If a football player doesn’t want to get tackled or want the risk of an occasional clip he shouldn’t put the pads on. . . . Let’s just saddle up and have an argument. What’s the matter with that? That’s what America’s about, right?”

History is in no position to argue with him. But it was a different sort of hopeful ambition General Omar Bradley spoke of when he said, “It is to the United States that all freemen look for the light and the hope of the world. Unless we dedicate ourselves completely to this struggle, unless we combat hunger with food, fear with trust, suspicion with faith, fraud with justice - and threats with power, nations will surrender to the futility, the hopelessness, the panic on which wars feed.”

To read the rest, click here.

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

***
-Wendell Berry