EdmundFordTrial's Blog

A teary-eyed Edmund Ford Sr. shook hands with family members and even prosecutors as he left Federal Court Wednesday afternoon. A jury found the former Memphis City Councilman innocent of three counts of extortion and three counts of bribery in a U.S. Federal Court.

"I love the Lord everyday," Ford shouted as he left the courtroom.

A jury of five men and seven women exonerated Ford after deliberating for about a day.

Local politico Joe Cooper agreed to act as an informant after he was charged in a money laundering scheme by federal officials.

Cooper wore a recording device and secretly taped meetings with Ford over several months. The government alleged that during that time, Cooper gave Ford $8,900 for performing a variety of tasks.  

Cooper asked Ford to get a development project approved by the city council, arrange a review of the city's billboard ordinance and have a new chairman of the Board of Adjustment picked.

However, Ford and attorney Michael Scholl argued that the payments were part of a $10,000 loan Cooper had promised Ford and some of the money was to cover late car payments and was provided by the lease's cosigner.

The jury saw several video clips of Ford appearing to take thousands of dollars from Cooper while the pair were discussing city business.

Later this summer, Ford and former MLGW president Joseph Lee will face trial for allegedly swapping favors while in positions of official power.

FOX13 will have live coverage of the story at five.

Counts one, two and three are for extortion. 

Count one - not guilty

Count two - not guilty 

Count three - not guilty 

Counts four, five and six are for bribery. 

Count four - not guilty 

Count five - not guilty 

Count six - not guilty 

Ford, his family and his attorney have entered the courtroom. 

The government, Ford supporters and all the journalists are seated in the courtroom. Neither Mike Scholl nor Edmund Ford has entered the courtroom yet.

About ten minutes ago the eleven of the twelve jurors left the building. There are only four smokers on the jury. Perhaps they were getting some fresh air before announcing their verdict. 

We think we might have a verdict. We're in the courtroom waiting.

We're still waiting in the hallway. The jury's eaten lunch and presumably they're hard at work deliberating.

I still haven't seen any members of the Ford family outside the courtroom, but I might have missed them.

Stay tuned...

Not surprisingly, there aren't many people hanging around outside the courtroom. There are journalists and a single Ford supporter. That's it.

Judge Mays said that we'll have a five minute notice before the jury returns their verdict. 

I'm sitting outside the courtroom waiting on the jury to return a verdict. Actually, I think I'm waiting on the jury to actually arrive. I believe they're waiting on the last few to roll in this morning.

The consensus from the people in the courthouse and the other journalists is that it will be a long day, though I should point out that juries are notoriously hard to read. 

My hunch is that we'll get a verdict after lunch. Wouldn't you want to squeeze one more meal out of the federal government after serving on jury duty for more than a week? Seems obvious to me. 

Now that I've written that, they'll probably prove me wrong. In any case, I'll be here until there's a verdict. 

Edmund Ford's attorney Mike Scholl just told us that the jury is going to end deliberations for the day. The judge just entered the courtroom and announced that we'll reconvene at 9:30 in the morning.

There are still a large number of Ford supporters in the courtroom. 

Have a good night and I'l be back tomorrow.

The Fords have returned to the courtroom, but the jury is still out.
Many are speculating that the jury will not reach a decision today and will resume their deliberation in the morning.

The Ford family has left the courthouse while the jury deliberates. Judge Mays stated that there will be no time restrictions on today's deliberations, so the Fords plan to return to the courtroom at 6pm.

Judge Mays has given the jury their instructions and they've headed to the jury room to elect a foreman and begin their deliberations.

John Pierotti, FOX13's legal analyst, suspected that the jury would deliberate until 5:30 p.m. and then they would start again tomorrow morning. His belief was that they'll have to take time to watch the videos and review other evidence before they make a decision.

We'll have the decision as soon as they come to one. I'll be here until they're dismissed for the day or until there's a verdict, whichever comes first. 

Judge Mays is explaining what the jury's duty is. They must only consider the evidence and not be swayed by sympathy or prejudice towards either side.

The government's burden to prove guilt need not be beyond any doubt only beyond a reasonable doubt. There's a subtle but important difference here.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt" means that you feel certain enough that something is true that you would act on it in important personal matters. 

That's an interesting explanation. However, I'm not sure I was as clear as Judge Mays was.

I'll post when something catches my ear or seems interesting.

Laurenzi has finished and the jury will likely be charged in a moment.

Laurenzi holds up the lease for Edmund Ford's Cadillac and turns to the jury as it unfolds about 17 times in front of them.

He says that this was never a sale. The word "sale" never once appears, but the word "lease" appears numerous times on the paper work.

In the end, though, it doesn't matter, he says. Everything he accepted had some value and that's all that matters.