State Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bank fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. He also faces drunken driving charges in a separate and unrelated case. Posted on 06/04/2007 7:18:55 AM PDT by SmithL
CHATTANOOGA -- A state senator faces trial today on charges that he used his political influence in a bogus land deal, but the senator contends he has been singled out for prosecution because he is a public figure.
State Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bank fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. He also faces drunken driving charges in a separate and unrelated case.
He is accused of using a fraudulent appraisal and political connections to help an Alabama businessman borrow $1.7 million for the 1999 purchase of Cooper's lumber mill in Warren County, which is located between Nashville and Chattanooga.
Cooper's lawyers have unsuccessfully argued that the jury should be told that a co-defendant who will testify for the government at Cooper's trial was acquitted by another jury in April 2006.
The filing said the acquittal of McMinnville real estate appraiser James Passons would affect how jurors view Passons' credibility and would show that Cooper "is the subject of selective prosecution because of the position he holds as a political figure."
In a Friday pretrial order, U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier disagreed with the filing by Cooper's attorney, Jerry Summers of Chattanooga. Collier said jurors will not be told that Passons was acquitted.
Cooper since 1985 has represented Senate District 14, which includes Franklin, Bledsoe, Coffee, Grundy, Sequatchie, Van Buren and Warren counties in lower Middle Tennessee.
Cooper's federal trial was delayed a second time in March after the senator, while free on bond, was injured in a Feb. 7 wreck that led to a charge of driving under the influence.
A warrant in Rutherford County shows Cooper's blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent in the single-vehicle rollover on Interstate 24 after he attended three legislative receptions in Nashville. Tennessee drunken driving laws define intoxication as 0.08 percent.
Because the DUI charge violated the terms of his bond in the federal court case, Cooper was ordered to refrain from drinking alcohol and to undergo alcohol abuse treatment.
Cooper is the fifth incumbent Tennessee legislator indicted since May 2005. The others, plus a former state senator, were charged in the FBI's unrelated Tennessee Waltz bribery sting.
Jury selection is set to begin today as the General Assembly nears the end of its annual session in Nashville. The defense attorney and the chief prosecutor declined to comment on the case.
The buyers of Cooper's land, Huntsville, Ala., businessman Anthony Auyer and his wife, Theresa Auyer, pleaded guilty in the case and were sentenced to prison terms. Anthony Auyer was expected to testify.
Passons testified at his trial that he prepared an inflated appraisal of the 13.6 acres, but with assurances by Cooper that it would be used only to show the projected value with a planned rail spur.
An indictment contends Cooper sold the property to Auyer's construction company with a commitment from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development that a grant would be issued to build the rail spur.
Humble told jurors in the earlier trial that Cooper used the inflated appraisal and his political connections with then-Lt. Gov. John Wilder and former state economic development commissioner Bill Baxter in a borrowing scheme that led to the Auyers' guilty pleas.
Humble then said Cooper called Wilder, a member of the board of directors of BankTennessee, and faxed to the bank Passons' appraisal to line up a $1.7 million loan that allowed Auyer to buy the mill.
Wilder initially said he spoke with Cooper about the loan but later said he hadn't spoken with the senator.
Baxter said previously that Cooper called him about a 1998 economic development grant for a railroad spur in Warren County but never mentioned it would benefit him financially.
I had nothing to do with this “bogus land deal!”
laws are only for the peasants............
About time. To bad they din’t get Sen Wilder on his land deal.
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