With the bribery trial of former state senator Roscoe Dixon now in the jury deliberation phase, a few questions are left unanswered by the surprisingly brief defense put forth by Coleman Garrett. Garrett's defense relied only on a few snowflakes selected from the prosecution's avalanche of evidence, one lost gambit with the race card, one well-played victim card, and the self-incriminating testimony of his own client.The remaining details of the story presented by the prosecution are left lying around in our minds; odd puzzle pieces that do not fit the now nearly complete picture before us, minus one jury's verdict. For starters, whatever happened with all those subpoenas?
Former state senator Roscoe Dixon of Memphis, whose federal trial on charges of accepting bribes totaling $9,500 starts next Tuesday, was back in the State Capitol today with a process server handling subpoenas inside the Senate chamber.
Dixon would only say that he was lining up potential witnesses for his Memphis trial. Asked if any senators were being served with the documents marked "U.S. District Court," he would only say, "There's a mix" of people. [...]
He arrived in the Capitol with a woman who would identify herself only as a process server as the Senate convened this morning. As former colleagues and others greeted Dixon, the woman spoke with the Senate sergeant-at-arms, who entered the Senate chamber twice before returning with chief clerk Russell Humphrey.
Humphrey escorted her into the rear of the chamber, where she remained only a couple of minutes and then left the building with Dixon.
Senate Speaker and Lt. Gov. John Wilder, D-Somerville, said he received a summons. "I was served with a subpoena to testify in Roscoe Dixon's trial," he confirmed.
"I didn't expect to be served, but I'm not surprised," Wilder said.
Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland, also acknowledged receiving a subpoena but told reporters he has "no knowledge" of the case. Miller was a co-sponsor of the legislation sought by a ficticious computer recycling firm operated by undercover FBI agents and acknowledged receiving a $1,000 cash campaign contribution from one its operatives. But he reported the cash on campaign finance-disclosure reports and has not been charged in the case.
It could not be immediately determined how many people were served.
State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz has been subpoenaed to testify at the federal bribery trial in Memphis of former state Senator Roscoe Dixon.For a minute there, it looked like things were about to get very, very interesting in Tennessee. One might think that this was just another wild gambit on the part of Dixon's defense attorney, but Garrett himself didn't seem to know what was coming next at the onset of the trial.
Goetz told WSMV-TV Friday that he received a subpoena and has been notified to be ready at the beginning of the trial Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors have estimated the trial will last two weeks.
But Dixon's lawyer, Coleman W. Garrett, said that estimate may be conservative.
"I don't know how many witnesses they'll have. Frankly, at this stage of the game I don't know how many witnesses I'm going to have."
If we are to take Garrett's comment at face value, then the subpoenas were part of a defense strategy known only to Roscoe Dixon. None of those witnesses were ever called to testify. What was Roscoe Dixon cooking up? Why did he never follow through on it?
Next, what are we to make of the accusations that went flying every which way? Barry Myers boasted to 'L.C. McNiel' about picking up "bags of money" for unindicted politicians like Lois DeBerry, Harold Ford, Sr., and (gasp) Harold Ford, Jr. Roscoe Dixon himself spoke about being part of "a network," including Harold Sr., Kathryn Bowers, and Mayor A.C. Wharton, among others. Even before Roscoe Dixon went on trial, Chris Newton described corruption in the General Assembly as "business as usual."
Even if the three of them are wrong, they all clearly have the same impression. It's an uncomfortable question, but it lingers in the mind: to what extent is the whole damn legislature corrupted?
The FBI has had Barry Myers' words on tape for two years. If the braggadocio was in fact telling the truth about the constellation of Memphis politicians he name-dropped on tape, can we assume that we would have heard about it by now?
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