Posted on 02/27/2008 12:44:08 PM PST by SmithL
John Ford fought federal prosecutors to a standoff this morning and will avoid prison for at least one more day.
U.S. Dist. Court Judge J. Daniel Breen ordered Ford’s attorney to find out when Ford’s ex-wife Tamara Mitchell Ford will be released from a DUI sentence she is serving in Collierville.
Breen will continue the hearing at 9 Thursday morning.
The former state senator was sentenced last August to serve five and one-half years in prison for bribery, but has remained free because he says there will be no one else to care for his four children if both parents are incarcerated.
Ford told the court this morning the children are in his custody and are staying at his ex-wife’s home which is in foreclosure. He said longtime companion Connie Mathews, with whom he has two other children, is at the home occasionally, but only “to provide cooking services.”
He said he’s at the home every day, but that he also has a two-bedroom apartment as a backup until he can find a four-bedroom home where all of the children can live with him until his ex-wife’s release.
“I have until Monday to keep that place or they’ll have to move out of the house,” Ford testified. “I’ve been doing everything I can to not have them be put out on the street.”
Federal prosecutors said Ford is making the same arguments he made in November when Breen postponed Ford’s prison report date for the second time.
“How is Mr. Ford any different than any other single parent who has to go to jail?” prosecutor Lorraine Craig said. “Many, many defendants are in the exact same position and they go to jail and they have to make arrangements.”
Ford, 65, the marquee defendant in the FBI’s wide-reaching Tennessee Waltz undercover public corruption sting, was convicted last April of taking $55,000 in bribes as a legislator.
When does William Jefferson D - LA get his day in court?
This is one of the few cases where I’d say the kids would be better off in a foster home under our local system. (Yes, I live in Memphis.)
What a complicated life this man has made for himself.
He deserves all the trouble he gets.
Chris Newton has young children, but he served his time..
It's not enough that this bum go to prison - he needs to be sent to what we all picture when we hear the word "prison".
What great role models he and his wife are for their children.
“...If he goes to federal prison you can bet it will be the prison in Millington...”
He’s not going to Millington. This is where he’s off to:
FCI LA TUNA
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 3000
ANTHONY, TX 88021
Looked it up on Google Earth. Looks like it’s in some part of a desert. There is some residential and commercils facilities around it but behind the prison and across I-10, there’s a LOT of sand. Hope John likes it. He’ll have five and a half years to get used to it.
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