Posted on 09/08/2006 10:46:23 AM PDT by SmithL
MEMPHIS — Sentencing for a former state senator convicted of taking bribes to push for a change in Tennessee law was delayed until next month during a court hearing Friday.
The sentencing of Roscoe Dixon was reset for Oct. 13. His defense attorney said his preparations for the hearing had been interrupted because of a relative's serious illness.
"Waiting is hard," Dixon said after the hearing. "Patience is long suffering, and you've just got be patient."
Dixon, a Memphis Democrat, was indicted last year along with four sitting lawmakers on charges of taking payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake company set up by the FBI for a public corruption investigation.
Dixon's trial jury saw video tapes of FBI payoff money changing hands in his presence, and on one clip, he could be seen picking up a stack of cash described as $100 bills. Prosecutors said he took bribes totaling $9,500.
Dixon spent 22 years in the state Legislature but had left the Senate for another government job before he was indicted. He was the first of the accused lawmakers to go to trial.
He denied guilt before and after the conviction and accused the government's two main witnesses against him of lying.
Dixon's faces up to 90 years in prison and fines of $1.2 million. Sentencing guidelines for Dixon, a first-time offender, will call for a much lighter punishment, however.
Just in time for the election.
Nancy Pelosi will be deeply disturbed
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