Posted on 06/08/2007 3:21:43 PM PDT by SmithL
CHATTANOOGA — State Sen. Jerry Cooper was found not guilty today of all charges in a federal land fraud case.
The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for less than an hour before acquitting Cooper of bank fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the 1999 sale of his lumber mill to an Alabama businessman.
Cooper didn’t testify at the weeklong trial. His attorney told the jury in closing arguments that federal prosecutors made the Democrat from Morrison a target because he is a lawmaker.
"The case wouldn’t be here if Jerry Cooper wasn’t a political figure," defense attorney Jerry Summers said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble argued that the evidence showed that Cooper was desperately in debt and used his state government connections to get a bank loan and state financial aid for the lumber mill buyer.
At the center of the case was a land appraisal that showed a rail spur on the property.
The spur was never built, although prosecutors presented evidence that Cooper used his political power to get the state to promise to help pay for one.
Summers told jurors the government’s evidence showed that the buyer, Tony Auyer of Huntsville, was a crook but failed to show any intent by Cooper to defraud anyone.
Auyer and his wife, Teresa, earlier pleaded guilty in the case while the man who prepared the appraisal, James Passons, was acquitted.
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
They must have drunk some of the Memphis kool-aid.
ping
Especially when you’re a Tennessee WHITE rodent.
Very strange. What did they plead guilty to? And if there was no crime committed that why did they plead guilty?
No mention of party affiliation, so he must be a Democrat.
That’s never made clear. Apparently a loan was obtained with the implication a railroad spur would be built, but you don’t know what they actually told the bank.
Could be they were guilty, or just a bank covering it’s tracks and over-zealous prosecution.
The appraiser was also acquitted. The whole thing sounds fishy to me.
He must be!
Info the AP failed to note.
only for Democrats.
Lot more to this. First, Cooper just happened to own the land where the TN State-paid spur was “supposed” to be built. At zero cost to him. Nice. (Also, the business where this was supposed to built was going bankrupt. Thank God he got the spur!) Then, he tells the appraiser to appraise it with the spur even though not one single thing had been done. He gets a shady buyer and shops the loan around until he finally gets John Wilder’s bank to give it. The buyer was so shady that the TBI got Cooper to wear a wire because they thought he was being scammed! OF course, the loan went into default quicker than Cooper can shoot a fifth of Jack Daniels.
Speaking of, Cooper should get the boot very soon anyway. He was drunker than cooter brown and about killed himself on I24. He blew like a .16. That should do it when it goes to trial in Rutherford Co.
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