SLOWPOKE PROSECUTORS
Eight years ago, the United States Attorney’s office in Memphis was pushing something called Operation Trigger Lock to combat violent criminals. You might say the feds have been in a different kind of trigger lock lately, unable to pull the trigger on four high-profile cases that have been around for anywhere from six months to almost two years.
The cases include the Albert Means football recruiting scandal, the terroristic attack on Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. O. C. Smith, the misuse of county credit cards by former county mayoral aide Tom Jones, and the political corruption in former Shelby County Juvenile Court Clerk Shep Wilbun’s office centered around Wilbun aide Darrell Catron.
U.S. Atty. Terry Harris and his staff, along with the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, haven’t said anything about progress in the Smith case since the reclusive medical examiner was bound with barbed wire and had a bomb tied to him 11 months ago. And the slowpoke prosecutors appear to be either befuddled or biding their time on Jones, Catron, and Lang.
As a result of the feds hanging fire, the citizens of Shelby County don’t know if the administration of former Mayor Jim Rout was rife with corruption and greed or just sloppy bookkeeping. The current administration of Mayor A C Wharton is hamstrung by a climate of suspicion and mistrust. A mad bomber with a grudge against the medical examiner apparently is still on the loose. And Logan Young, the University of Alabama football booster who supposedly paid Lang $200,000, remains unindicted but subjected to what amounts to water torture instead.
Taking the four cases in chronological order, here’s the latest:
But in 20 months since then, the prosecutors still haven’t moved the ball past midfield. Kirk, who thrilled readers of The Commercial Appeal all with his tales of “slave trading” by Lang and the University of Alabama, pled guilty to a minor charge. In November, Lang, who previously insisted he didn’t get any money from Young, reversed his field, made a guilty plea, and said he got $150,000. Once again, Young’s number seemed to be up. But the wealthy booster, who has said several times that he did not pay Lang, still has not been indicted.
So last week it was Alabama’s turn to get the football. Attorney Tommy Gallion represents former Alabama assistant football coach Ronnie Cottrell, whose career was derailed by being connected to the recruiting of Means. Cottrell has sued the NCAA, the university, and several individuals for $60 million. Gallion came to Memphis to take depositions from three Memphians he believes are behind the Means story Ñ attorneys Karl Schledwitz and Arthur Kahn, and UT football booster Roy Adams, aka “Tennstud.” Adams didn’t show up, so Gallion grilled Schledwitz and Kahn.
Gallion ran a couple of plays into the line for short gains but hinted that he will start throwing bombs soon. The bad blood between Young and Adams is well known since the publication in 2000 of Bragging Rights, Richard Ernsberger’s book about Southeastern Conference football, and Adams’ frequent Internet postings under his well-known alias, Tennstud. Without the star accuser, Gallion was forced to work around the edges of what he believes is a grand conspiracy against Alabama involving NCAA investigators, former Southeastern Conference Commissioner Roy Kramer, UT football coach Phil Fulmer, The Commercial Appeal, and the Memphis Three.
Schledwitz is a Tennessee graduate and fan who briefly represented Kirk then helped him find another lawyer. Kahn is a former assistant United States attorney who owns Arthur’s Wine and Liquor and set up a fund to benefit the mother of Albert Means before it was revealed that she had, according to Lang, received $10,000 of the payout for Albert’s services. Gallion noted that Kahn is married to Lisa Mallory, who was Logan Young’s former girlfriend at the time they began dating. Gallion asked Kahn if Mallory was “wired up” by federal prosecutors. After some jousting about whether this was a privileged communication by virtue of marriage, Kahn declined to answer, leading Gallion to conclude that she was.
Gallion said Cottrell is a “scapegoat.”
“I believe Logan Young is innocent,” he said, adding that he had not met Young until three weeks ago. “Apparently they’re having a hard time getting anything on him through the grand jury.”
Last week Lang’s sentencing was postponed for four more months.
A spokesman for the Shelby County Health Department said Smith remains shaken by the experience and is not doing interviews. The office declined to provide a picture of him, although Smith participated in a televised news conference the day after he was released. There has been no trace of the religious nut investigators believe sent threatening letters to Smith, planted a bomb in the office that didn’t go off, and then attacked him with razor wire and another homemade bomb, possibly over Smith’s testimony in a murder case.
Prosecutors and the FBI have interviewed Jones and his daughter and son-in-law about a honeymoon trip paid for through the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Memphis 2005 account. Sources told the Flyer that investigators are looking at other Memphis 2005 expenditures as well.
Memphis 2005 is a chamber-led effort to improve the Memphis business climate. Under the Rout administration, county government and the chamber were partners in a grab bag of loosely defined “economic development” projects with five- and six-figure appropriations. Chamber CEO Marc Jordan has said Jones was often his county contact and that his OK was usually good enough for funds to be released. The only person in county government with more power than Jones was Jim Rout.
Last week the government announced that Catron’s sentencing, scheduled for May 2nd, had been postponed until October 24th.
