NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There was a bit of a surprise involving former Tennessee Rep. Robin Smith in the public corruption case involving former House Speaker Glen Casada and his aide Cade Cothren.
Casada, 65, and Cothren, 38, are charged in a multi-count indictment that accuses them of engaging in a bribery and kickback scheme in conjunction with a deal to provide state-funded constituent mailing services for members of the House Republican Caucus. Smith rounded out the group for Phoenix Solutions but decided to take a plea deal and help the prosecution in this case.
One less count
During the afternoon, the prosecution moved to remove one of the counts, meaning Casada and Cothren are now only charged with 19 counts. It involves one of the money laundering counts surrounding a $12,000 check to Rivers Edge Alliance, former Rep. Robin Smith's consulting group. NewsChannel 5 asked attorneys about why the count was dropped but they all declined to comment.
Illegal signals
Meanwhile, defense attorneys are alleging Smith has been receiving hand signals and communication from her personal attorney, Ben Rose, in the gallery. Rose can be seen in the video player above wearing a dark suit and holding an orange cup.
Attorneys for Cade Cothren plan to subpoena him, but Judge Eli Richardson expressed deep concern about having an attorney testify, considering it could violate attorney-client privilege.
Attorneys for Smith claim they were only chatting amongst themselves and weren’t signaling to Smith while she was on the stand. NewsChannel 5 could hear the attorneys chatting but did not see the alleged hand signals.
Smith's attorneys believe federal surveillance cameras inside the courtroom could back up that claim.
A final decision hasn’t been made on this.
Forensic Analysis
Alexander Hunter, a forensic analyst for the FBI, took the stand to talk about the alleged money laundering aspects of the charges. She showed how the parties paid each other to possibly hide where the money originated.
For example, in one transaction, the state of Tennessee paid Glen Casada’s consulting company, RightWay Consulting, about six thousand dollars and it was deposited in the company’s SunTrust (now Truist) bank account account. Casada, in turn, paid Cade Cothren the full six thousand to his personal First Horizon bank account. Then Cothren wrote a check from his personal account to Phoenix Solutions, who also had a First Horizon bank account.
The defense teams have long maintained that Casada, Cothren and Smith each legitimately earned their money because they actually did the work on each constituent mailer. The federal government calls those payments "kickbacks."
In cross-examination, Joy Longnecker, an attorney for Cothren, had Hunter point out that Casada and Cothren only earned just shy of $30,000 in profit on constituent mailers, that was then divided three ways.
Technically, this trial is only about the public money Casada and Cothren made on the state legislature mail work. But if you count the campaign and caucus work, that were paid using private dollars, Phoenix Solutions made nearly $230,000 in net revenue. The jury is not allowed to consider the work Casada and Cothren did on campaign and caucus work, since it doesn't involve public money. However, the prosecution believes it establishes motive. Once lawmakers trusted Phoenix Solutions with their constituent work, they might add on the more lucrative campaign and caucus work.
The jury will have to decide if all of this was illegal, or simply unethical.
What's next?
Late Thursday, the prosecution called the first of two FBI Special Agents to testify. That will continue Friday. It's unclear at this point when current House Speaker Cameron Sexton may take the stand. NewsChannel 5 has heard he's been on standby at his capitol offices for most of this week for when he'll be called to the stand.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me chris.davis@newschannel5.com.
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