In a striking turn of events, former Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada and his aide Cade Cothren have been cleared of three federal corruption charges by U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, as originally reported by WSMV. This decision, delivered during a telephone hearing on Tuesday afternoon, stems from Richardson’s assessment that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence tying the defendants to acts as agents of the Tennessee state government on these specific counts.
Following a conviction in May on over a dozen counts each, including fraud, bribery, and money laundering, the two men sought a new trial and acquittal, however, Judge Richardson chose to acquit only on the three particular charges, finding the evidence lacking, thus Richardson acquitted the men of count 2 – federal program fraud and counts 3 and 4 of federal program bribery yet the remaining charges cover a spectrum of illegal activities including conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering, as detailed by The Tennessean.
Despite this partial acquittal for Casada and Cothren, a considerable number of charges still stand against them, with a sentencing hearing looming on the horizon, this legal win might offer limited reprieve in light of the potential 20-year prison sentence that they could face for their convictions, information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville was referenced in NewsChannel 5’s coverage of Tuesday’s developments…