Posted on 02/09/2006 9:23:17 PM PST by SmithL
Roane County General Sessions Court Judge Thomas Alva Austin was a liquor-swigging, marijuana-smoking extortionist who racked up $100,000 in "illegal payoffs" in the past decade, court records allege.
But even if that's true - and he certainly isn't conceding guilt - his defense team insists the judge's alleged crimes do not belong in federal court.
Defense attorneys Gregory P. Isaacs and Jerrold L. Becker filed a motion Thursday in U.S. District Court to dismiss federal extortion and money laundering charges against the judge.
The attorneys contend that even if Austin, 57, committed the litany of misdeeds outlined by the FBI in a search warrant affidavit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley cannot make a federal case out of it.
That's because Austin's alleged crimes were all "local in nature," involving local people, local cash and local pay-off locations, the motion states. The federal government, the attorneys argue, has failed to show the judge's alleged crimes affected or involved "interstate commerce," a key requirement imposed by Congress to delineate federal and state offenses.
Becker could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
"Our firm has been recently retained to represent Judge Austin along with Jerrold Becker," Isaacs said late Thursday. "Judge Austin has entered a plea of not guilty."
Isaacs declined further comment.
The tactic of using the interstate commerce clause to get a case booted out of federal court is a common one. It's rarely successful because most cases in which it is an issue involve businesses that at some point have sold or used some item, no matter how small, that traveled across state lines.
Austin's case, however, is markedly different.
He was charged last month in an eight-count federal indictment alleging he had been forcing kickbacks from three Roane County men, two of whom operated driving schools and a third who operated a private probation firm.
The indictment itself listed a handful of alleged instances of kickbacks totaling around $13,000. But a search warrant affidavit kept under wraps since Austin's arrest alleges Austin may have "received rewards of $100,000 in illegal payoffs over the course of the past 10 years."
The affidavit, authored by FBI Agent Robert Gibson, also paints a portrait of a judge run amok who drank liquor and smoked marijuana en route to judicial conferences, routinely strong-armed people to get what he wanted and showed no fear of arrest even after he learned he was the target of a probe by the FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
For instance, it details a trip Austin made to a judicial conference in Memphis last September. Before heading out, the affidavit alleged, Austin stopped by a storage building to pick up a bag of marijuana and liquor.
"Judge Austin (said), 'There is some booze and some wacky and everything right there; that's what you call the Judge Austin survival kit,' " Gibson wrote, referring to a secret recording.
During the same trip, Austin made a stop to gamble at a casino in Tunica, Miss., but did not want to use valet parking "for fear that his dope might be stolen," the affidavit stated.
"Trace" amounts of marijuana were seized from Austin's storage garage when he was arrested, court records show.
The affidavit alleges Austin warned one of his alleged extortion victims to keep quiet in a recorded chat in September.
"Judge Austin instructed him not to tell anyone, including law enforcement authorities about the kickbacks, even 'if they take you to Knoxville and put electrodes on your ,' " Gibson wrote.
By mid-December, the affidavit stated, Austin was captured on secret audiotape discussing "rumors that the feds were involved in an investigation of him."
That didn't stop the judge from demanding kickbacks, however, the affidavit alleged. Instead, he changed the method of payment, the document stated.
Austin, who has served as sessions judge for more than two decades, has been suspended with pay from his post and is free on bond. Atchley has not yet had time to respond to defense motions filed Thursday.
Judicial corruption in Tennessee? GASP!
If he's guilty, throw him in with the rapists, murderers, and meth cooks. It would be interesting to see how much fear he has going into that environment.
Electrodes on your what?
Yeah, judicial corruption in Tennessee. However, we try to limit general corruption as much as possible, unlike Alabamia.
Logan Young... enough said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.