Medford trial: Monday, May 12

In order to keep this record as unconfusing as possible, I will fill in the details from last week in the entry below this one, and try to keep up with current events in this and subsequent posts.

Yesterday the most interesting action in the trial was off stage. Judge Tim Ellis noted at the start that he had been notified by Medford’s defense team that prosecution witness Tracy Bridges had allegedly contacted two defense witnesses over the weekend: Sean Ledford and Ebony Nate Dickens. This opens two cans of worms at once.

Witnesses are not permitted to contact other witnesses once they have been notified of their status and provided with a list of the others. If Bridges contacted them he is liable for prosecution for tampering with witnesses. Furthermore, Bridges is currently on probation after pleading guilty to crimes connected with the Medford case. This opens the possibility that his plea deal will be invalidated, or that he will face trial for probation violation. Ellis assigned a probation officer present in the court room to investigate the matter.

At lunch time another bomb went off. Ellis informed the Medford defense team that he had received information that an investigator working for the defense had posed as a federal agent while conducting his work. The judge was careful to point out that the charge may not be true, but observed that if true it was a felony violation of federal law and would be subject to prosecution. Attorney Stephen Lindsay assured the judge that he would look into the matter immediately.

Bobby Medford spend most of the rest of the day in the witness stand answering a tedious list of questions from Lindsay. The main thrust of the defense effort seems to be to portray Medford as an incompetent administrator who was way over his head, with too many employees and too heavy a work load, making it impossible for him to keep tabs on something as incidental as video poker. Medford denied any knowledge of any wrongdoing, denied receiving money from anyone connected to gambling, denied the multiple meetings with operators which had been presented in previous testimony and talked about sending money to his grandsons’ mothers. He also insisted that the golf tournaments never netted more than $2,000 to $3,000 and that all money collected in non-election years was used as alms for the poor who flocked to his office seeking heating oil, food or clothing.

Medford flatly denied any involvement in cashing checks at George’s Mini-Mart, authorizing others to cash checks, permitting cash donations to his campaign once he was informed of the law or permitting money orders to be purchased with cash. He insisted that the cash used to purchase money orders “made out with the names of people who had always given me checks in the past” came from cashing those checks in the 2006. This is an interesting explanation of the source of the checks, and when the judge queried him, he couldn’t explain why the checks (if they existed) weren’t deposited directly into the campaign account, since they would have been completely legal contributions. Nor could he explain why he was purportedly “mad” about the purchase of money orders if the money was from a legal source.

Medford admitted to enjoying some gambling now and again, but only at legal casinos outside the county. (He insisted that he prohibited his deputies from gambling inside the county with a one-warning rule.)

Cross examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis began at 5:15 p.m.

Ellis started by challenging the golf tournament numbers with previously introduced documents that showed net profits of $11,650 and $9,270 in spring and fall of 2005. He asked Medford why those were so high if other tournaments were much lower. Medford obfuscated but didn’t really answer.

Ellis elicted further explanation from Medford about golf receipts during non-election years, clarifying what Medford insisted was a charitable operation from his office using unreported income. Medford claimed a complete disconnect from the golf tournament organization, no knowledge that many video poker operators funded the tourneys, no knowledge that Guy Penland styled himself as a “Captain” including references on repeated golf tournament flyers over several years, etc.

Then Ellis cranked up the heat and tried to elicit explanation for the tens of thousands of dollars of cash deposits made to Medford’s bank account over a six year period, as well as larger cash deposits to his girlfriend’s account. Medford obfuscated further with claims about an insurance settlement, cashing in his 401K and finally suggesting that he used his VISA card to obtain cash to put in his checking account, upon which he kept the loosest of tabs. Girlfriend Judi Bell balanced the check book.

Ellis pointed out that he was frequently overdrawn or teetering on the brink, and relying on his overdraft protection to kick in money and asked if it wasn’t irresponsible to gamble away upward of $50,000 per year with such shaky finances. Medford agreed that it wasn’t necessarily responsible but that “I knew I had cash coming in.”

Ellis: “From where?”

Medford: “My sister and my brother.” Then he added, “I had a VISA card.”

The trial will reconvene today at 9 a.m. Ellis estimates another hour and a half of cross examination.

Medford

Catching up on Medford trial: Monday, May 5

First a general observation: As Jon Ostendorf reported in the Asheville Citizen-Times over the weekend, testimony to date suggests that former Buncombe Sheriff Bobby Medford collected over half a million dollars in illegal pay-offs over several years.

What Ostendorf didn’t say is this: the prosecution has presented extensive evidence about two video poker operators (Henderson Amusement and Western Amusement, Jackie Shepherd’s company), it has mentioned others more or less in passing. Also, we have heard from a few store owners where the operators placed their machines.

This evidence cannot have accounted for even half of the machines in operation when I reported on the industry in Buncombe in 2005. Nor does it account for possible protection money paid to Medford by those running other forms of gambling in the county, though there was some indication of such payoffs from one witness. My guess is that a full accounting of all proceeds would place Medford’s take well above $1,000,000.

Monday, May 5
• Medford defense attorney Victoria Jayne kicked off the week with cross-examination of Anna Deaton. Deaton kept computer records for Henderson Amusement and was responsible for transcription of notes from that company’s salesman for WNC, Jerry Pennington. Pennington’s notes accounted for cash disbursements to Medford, Guy Penland, Johnny Harrison, Frank Orr, Ronnie “Butch” Davis, George Stewart and “the Haywood County sheriff” among others. There was also a cash payment of $1,000 to the “Buncombe County commission” in 2004.

Jayne pushed Deaton to tears while inquiring about the young woman’s arrest during an August, 2006, raid of Henderson’s Kings Mountain offices by state agents. (Deaton was released without charges.)

• Jerry Wayne Pennington took the stand. He said he had started placing machines in WNC for Henderson in the 1990s and explained that the usual arrangement was a 50/50 split with store owners, sometimes 40/60 (to store). He said that he was aware the machines were being used for illegal gambling. He explained the system of weekly or bi-weekly check-ups by Henderson personnel who settled with store owners and provided extra cash when pay-offs were too high for store owners to cover. Pennington also explained his role in illegal registration of out-of-state machines.

Pennington detailed his dealings with Johnny Harrison, Guy Penland and Homer Honeycutt. Harrison has pled guilty in this case, Penland is on trial with Medford, and testimony has implicated Honeycutt in aiding and abetting money laundering, though he has not been charged. Honeycutt was briefly responsible for video poker registration at the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department, but “made a mess of it” according to my sources and was quickly removed from that chore.

Pennington said he had put Guy Penland on his payroll. Penland was a wanna-be deputy who was volunteering at the department, and Pennington decided to pay him $450 per week plus $500 per location for all new locations in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties that Penland helped him land. He also reimbursed Penland for gas purchases. (Credit card receipts from Penland’s account matched disbursements recorded by Deaton.)

He testified that Penland, who posed as a Captain, frequently wore his uniform shirt, badge, captain’s bars and walkie-talkie when they made sales calls. Penland also drove a white Crown Victoria which could easily be mistaken for an unmarked law enforcement vehicle. (Pennington said he had procured the car for Penland from an acquaintance who dealt in retired police vehicles.)

Pennington said that after Ronnie “Butch” Davis took over video registration responsibility from Harrison (as well as the role of bag-man in the illegal pay-off scheme), Penland arranged a lunch date between Pennington and Medford. Medford evidently didn’t trust Davis and asked that all further payments be made directly to himself. So Pennington said he began to make regular cash payments of $2,000-2,500 directly to Medford, in his office, every couple of months. Some of those meetings occurred at the Waffle House restaurant He also made “campaign” contributions of $5,000 on two occasions.

Pennington also offered extensive testimony about payment for the Medford golf tournaments.

In addition, Pennington affirmed that the $1,000 donation to Buncombe County commissioners “had nothing to do with gambling.” Also, that his donation of $400 to a golf tournament for Buncombe Clerk of Court Bob Christy was made because “the Sheriff’s department asked that we give to him.” Both of these observations deserve closer scrutiny.

As I have noted elsewhere, there is no way that a cash donation of $1,000 to commissioners during an election year was legal. So, if the balance sheet entry is accurate, someone in the 2004 race received illegal cash. Also, why was Republican Medford urging a campaign contribution to Democrat Christy?

Pennington was one of the more than 1,000 recipients of special deputy authorization and a badge from Medford’s department. (In subsequent testimony it came out that other gambling operators also carried BCSD badges.)

Also Pennington testified that Penland had run plates for him twice: once concerning his girl friend, and once per the undercover agent. Also that Penland joined him in a stake-out of Asheville’s federal courthouse during a grand jury investigation, to see if they recognized anyone coming and going from the building.

Pennington’s testimony included discussion of convenience store owner Imran Alam who hosted Henderson machines in several locations. Alam was unhappy with Henderson’s business practices and sought permission from Medford to switch poker machine providers.

Pennington also testified per outright purchase of 100 machine registration stickers from Penland (for $10,000), for application to illegal machines to make them appear to be registered.

I had to duck out early for an election-related matter, but Alvin Ledford took the stand after Pennington and talked about his involvement in gambling over more than two decades.
•••
Tuesday, May 6

Start was delayed until 10 a.m. to permit jurors time to vote before traveling to court.
Attorney Stephen Lindsay was conducting a cross-examination of Alvin Ledford when I arrived about 20 minutes late (campaigning until the last.)

More soon. Stay tuned.

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.

****
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.

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.

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.

Slow as thick ketchup

The long-awaited public corruption trial of Buncombe County’s former sheriff, Bobby Medford, has commenced with a tedious day of jury selection. Seventy potential jurors were called from throughout the Western District with at least one traveling 150 miles to make a court appearance.

Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III, who refers to himself as “Tim,” announced at the outset that he had excused one juror due to recent serious medical issues. After introductory comments and delivering a brief overview of the federal charges, Ellis sent the jury pool to a meeting room to complete multi-page questionnaires and accorded them an hour for the task.

After an ensuing lunch break, the prosecutors and defense attorneys were handed thick folios containing copies of the completed questionnaires while Ellis was presumably reviewing them in chambers. At 2 p.m. the trial resumed. Ten jurors were dismissed out of hand with agreement from all parties, based on their written answers, and the judge commenced one-by-one interviews with the remaining 59.

Ellis questioned each potential juror to clarify answers, to ascertain whether each felt she or he could evaluate the evidence presented in the court room without bias, and, importantly, whether each entertained any strong feelings about gambling or video poker.

At 5:40 p.m. proceedings were concluded for the day with only 25 interviews complete. Jury selection will continue this morning at 9 a.m.

“Now it begins. Let it begin.”

Today I’ll be in a federal courtroom covering the trial of Bobby Medford. My intent is to follow this one gavel-to-gavel and file frequent updates here. At the same time, this is the final week of my campaign for county commission. Hoo boy!

Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III has promised that jury selection will be swift and that opening arguments will begin before adjournment today. Back atcha later.

(The title of this post seems appropriate to me, excerpted from John Lennon’s throw-away dittie “Clean-up Time.”"

Why I endorsed Obama

Newspaper priorities: exonerated death row inmate, not important

The following letter was sent to the Asheville Citizen-Times by local attorney Frank Goldsmith. We should all be paying attention.

***

Dear AC-T Editors and Publishers,

On Friday I was contacted by a nice young woman who is working as an intern for your newspaper, who asked if I would agree to be interviewed about the case of Glen Edward Chapman, the Catawba County man who was recently released from Death Row after being incarcerated for over 15 years for crimes he did not commit. I agreed because of the importance of the story, which exposes the substantial frailties of our system of justice. When I arrived for the interview, I was surprised to learn from the intern that her editor – I do not know which one – had decided that the story was not sufficiently newsworthy to merit inclusion in the weekend edition. The young lady did not tell me that in order to criticize the editor or the paper, but simply to let me know why I would not be reading the story in the Citizen-Times over the weekend.

I find this baffling – all the more so after weighing the significance of the stories that turned up in the weekend edition. This case is about a man who was very nearly sent to his death because police detectives lied at trial, covered up the existence of a confession by the real killer, ditched the results of a photo lineup in which someone else was positively identified, hid witness statements that pointed to innocence, and altered other witness statements to make them better fit the officers’ theory of guilt (it was those fabricated statements that were disclosed to the defense lawyers, to throw them off the track). It is a case of official corruption so striking that I cannot see how any responsible journalist could decide that it is not “newsworthy.” The deceit was compounded by the complete ineptness of the lawyers assigned to defend Chapman at his trial, as well as by other flaws, including forensic medical evidence that questions whether one of the victims’ deaths was actually a homicide at all.

I realize the Asheville Citizen-Times is a small regional paper that gives prominence to items of local interest. But even if locality is the criterion for coverage, this case has connections to Western North Carolina, if only any of the paper’s editors had bothered to inquire. Most people in the state consider Hickory, where the alleged crimes occurred, to be part of Western North Carolina. Every member of Chapman’s post-conviction defense team is from Asheville or Marion. Our mitigation specialist and investigator, Dr. Pamela Laughon, is a well-respected professor of psychology (and chair of that department) at UNCA. Several of her UNCA psychology students worked on the case under her supervision. Our other investigator, Lenora Topp, lives and works in Asheville. Jessica Leaven, my co-counsel, formerly practiced in Asheville and has family here, although she recently took a job in Chapel Hill. I practice in Marion and live in Buncombe County. Of course, I would hope the paper would not exclude any story that has significance for our system of capital punishment merely because the news is not sufficiently provincial.

I am not raising this issue merely to see my name in print. Frankly, having been interviewed about the case by all of the major newspapers in the state and by several television stations (including WLOS), as well as by CNN, NPR, and other media, I would be just as happy if a story ran about this case and omitted any mention of me. On the other hand, I am very concerned that our criminal justice system lacks any meaningful safeguard against the possibility that the truth-finding process will be perverted by unscrupulous officers bent on justifying an arrest, even when the result is to send an innocent man to his death in the execution chamber. I believe your readers need to understand the gravity of that flaw through a story about a man who was unjustly robbed of 15 years of his life. If such a story is not newsworthy, I do not know what is. The state’s major newspapers, including the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer, have each written excellent editorials (in addition to their front-page news coverage) about the case and its exposure of the frailties of our criminal justice system, yet all the Asheville Citizen-Times chose to do was bury a very small story taken entirely from a wire service in the inside pages of Section B. Even The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ran stories with more information.

If this were an isolated failure on your paper’s part, perhaps it would be understandable. But last November, after Judge Robert Ervin of Morganton issued his ruling finding that the officers had lied and concealed evidence, on the basis of which he awarded Mr. Chapman a new trial, your paper was completely silent, despite the statewide coverage at that time, including pointed editorials in the News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer. On that occasion I made sure you knew about this significant ruling by a respected judge, because on the day after it appeared, I e-mailed to you a copy of a press release from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation (which you should already have received from the Center the day before), as well as links to some of the other news articles. I followed that up with another inquiry to make sure my messages were received. I heard absolutely nothing in reply, and your newspaper completely ignored the story.

I gave an interview to the intern anyway, since she genuinely seemed interested in the case. She appears to be very competent and has, I believe, a bright future as a journalist. I can only hope that she succeeds in finding a position with a paper capable of recognizing news worth reporting.

Sincerely yours,

Frank Goldsmith